GSD3DDD Diversity Democracy Dissent - Reflection Assignment Help

Assessment Task Two: 20%

Option One

GROUP OR INDIVIDUAL TUTORIAL PRESENTATION (if you do not like presenting,look at option two below)

DUE DATE

You will find two other people to form a group of three, or decide to work on your own by 13 April. You will then present in group, by yourself, or arrange an alternative with lecturer in one of the following weeks: 9, 10, 11 or 12.

If you present, you will write a reflection of no more than 400 words to be uploaded to Turnitin the week following your presentation

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Upload 300-400 word appraisal of your presentation/alternative in word document to Turnitin. 

DESCRIPTION OF TASK

Forming tutorial presentation for part two

This assignment aims to assess your ability to work in teams, but it is not compulsory that you form a group if group work causes too much anxiety for you, or you prefer to work alone. If you do opt for group work, find two other students that you want to form a 3 minute tutorial presentation with (yes, that is one minute each). If you work on your own, you will present for 3 minutes. It is permissable to make a three minute clip of yourself and present that if you prefer (see below). You must stick to time limit.

PRESENTATION TASK

1. Decide who you want to work with, if you want to present alone, or if you prefer a written assessment do option 2

By the second or third week of writing mock tweets, you should have some idea of what interests you, as well as some idea of what other students are interested in also. BEFORE the tutorial on April 13, you are expected to find two other students to form a tutorial presentation group with. The weeks for presentations will be sorted out in this class.

Please note that you are free to work on your own and if you do not like to present at all, please see Carol.

1. Decide on a topic to present on. Below are some ideas for how you can form your topic
2. a)     You can use what any one of you have been writing about in blogs (or form a group because you are all writing about the same topic)
3. b)     You can base your presentation on a topic outline from the course, a reading, a public debate related to the course, a theoretical concept, a government policy, an activist campaign or event, or anything else listed above  in topic choices for your blog posts
4. c)      In this part of the assignment, your brief is to think of a way in which you can extend the principles of democracy in some way

1. Decide on the format of you presentation. This can take the form of:
2. a)     a three minute clip (this could be labour intensive)
3. b)     a poster that you speak to for three minutes (one minute each)
4. c)      a panel (one asks questions, two give answers over three minutes)
5. d)     a panel where each presenter speaks for one minute each
6. e)     a theatrical action that is performed over three minutes
7. f)      a pitch to a newspaper, film or documentary producer, or magazine
8. g)     a format of your own choice with the approval of the lecturer

1. Delivery and submission of reflection
2. a)     Whether group or individual presentation, you must stick to time of three minutes
3. b)     You will not be penalised if you are nervous – most people do get nervous
4. c)      Write your 300-400 word reflection on why you chose to present in group, as individual or alternative, give appraisal of how you think the preparation process went, and write appraisal of how you think presentation went.  

(Alternative) Assessment Task Two:  20% 

OPINION PIECE

Please note that topics listed below can also be used to write an academic essay. If you prefer to write an essay from that list of topics, rather than an opinion piece as listed here that is also ok

Due Date: 15 May by 11.59pm

800-1, 000 words

RATIONALE FOR WRITING AN OPINION PIECE

In the academy, we learn to back up opinions with evidence-based arguments. Some would go as far as saying that scholars should not disclose their own personal opinion on a topic. As you know, GSDS was built on redressing the way in which personal everyday lived experiences of the marginal were entangled in political issues that connected to a history of much deeper and broader struggles of inequality, power and justice.

Popular opinion about marginalised social groups is often phobic, misleading and harmful, so GSDS scholars often start on the back foot when engaging with public debates. This assignment asks you to rise to the challenge of using your GSDS knowledge to engage with public debate. The aim of such writing is to influence and persuade readers of a position, perhaps introduce a new or nuanced perspective on a tired argument, or even change the very terms of debate.

The difficulty with writing an opinion piece with academic knowledge is that the language of the public sphere aligns more readily with mainstream common sense and unfortunately sometimes also with popular prejudice. The task of the opinion piece is to engage the reader and get them thinking, talking and acting. The tone is thus quite different from the supposed position of neutrality and objectivity of much academic writing. The challenge is to find your own voice in your acquired academic knowledge (with as little jargon as possible) to engage with public debate.

CHOOSING YOUR AUDIENCE AND TOPIC

Opinion pieces need to be tailored to a target audience and the topic needs to find a way of connecting to readers. Imagine you are writing for a newspaper or popular journal. The type of opinion piece could suit anything from the Herald Sun, through to TeenVogue, The New Yorker, or Overland. Also have a look at opinion writing on the ABC and SBS websites. Writing a piece for a publication that you read yourself is probably the best way of working out what you want to write about and who you want to talk to.

Like the mock tweet exercises on padlet, this assignment also asks you to find something that you are passionate about that relates to democracy diversity and dissent. Feel free to use the same topic you have chosen for your mock tweets, or choose a new one. Contact Carol via email or arrange a zoom meeting if you want to discuss your choice.

STRUCTURE OF OPINION PIECE

With a length of 800- 1000 words  you will usually around 4 or 5 paragraphs, inclusive of introduction and conclusion.

There are plenty of how to guides on the internet – a simple wikihow high school-ish guide provides a good overview of the structure that can be applied to more complicated topics. The WritetoDone website offers a nice general guide, which is useful for thinking about voice and how to write for an average (non-academic) reader. 

It is also useful to have a look opinion columnists whose work that you like. Search for opinion pieces by Celeste Liddle, Gary Younge, Alana Lentin, Chelsea Bond, and GSDS lecturer, Yassir Morsi for examples of good op-ed writing.

ASSESSMENT

You are assessed on the task of engagement for this assignment, not the end product. You are not expected to write like those who have been doing a couple of op-eds per week for decades. You will be assessed on getting the task done and taking the risk of engaging with a public issue. Please feel free to explore your voice in writing such a piece, and enjoy the process.

 Possible questions:

1. Examine the problem of speaking for others when the matter of legitimate representation is at issue. Use one case or more to illustrate to what extent the identity marker of a representative matters. (think about the following in constructing your answer: Do they have to belong to the identity group that they are representing? What strategies would make the matter of representation more just and enabling for marginalised groups?)
2. Assess the claim that ‘authentic democracy is not compatible with representation’, particularly for under-represented, marginalised groups.
3. Assess how ‘culture wars’ take place in relation to constructions of Australian National Identity. Pay particular attention to ways in which one or more of such categories as gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality play a part in these debates.
4. Assess how controversial artworks have been censored or threatened censorship on the grounds of one of the following: obscenity, blasphemy, sexual explicitness, or propaganda. What does the case reveal about the status of social identity involved, and what does this imply for dealing with comparable cases?
5. To what extent do you think art is a powerful means for inciting social change? Use case studies to illustrate answer
6. To what extent do you agree with Saba Mahmood that laws around free expression are not neutral, but produce ‘normative notions of religion and religious subjectivity’ (Is Critique Secular? p. 150) Using one case study or more (hijab debates, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism, satirising religious deities) to answer the question.
7. Evaluate ways in which feminism has figured in public debates regarding the politics of the hijab/headscarf/veil. Do you think there is a way of moving the debate beyond opposing feminism to Muslim women’s dress? If so, how?
8. Discuss what the case of the Charlie Hebdoshootings (or pick another case after discussing appropriateness of example with lecturer) has given us to think regarding free speech, incitement to hatred and the means by which we assess the place of satire in relation to minority identities.
9. Pick a case where an identity struggle has been accused of political correctness going mad (eg. Cultural appropriation, no platforming, trigger warnings, call out and pile on culture), and highlight the most important issues that need addressing to move discussion forward.