Research Project (multimodal)
Difference and Belonging
Mode: Adobe Spark
Broad Theme: Navigating Difference and Belonging through Representations of Monster
Possible topics can include, but are not limited to gender and power, aging and eternal youth, violence and dominance, the uncanny, sexuality, trauma, aesthetics and appearance, othering (marginalization), and alienation and self-alienation.
Class Questions to Consider:
What are the consequences (both positive and/or negative) when we figure something or someone as non-human, sub-human, or super-human?
What is the cultural impact when difference becomes monstrous or other? On the reverse side: What is the impact when difference becomes powerful?
In what ways are we alienated from our society? In what ways do we as a society alienate others? In what ways are we alienated from ourselves?
How and why do we struggle to belong? How do our understandings of belonging differ depending on context and situation?
For your final research project, you will consider one or more of our class questions and/or topics as you analyze a fictional primary example or examples of your choice (you may use class texts or other texts of your choosing please avoid things that you have already used for other papers). The monster in your text may be an actual monster (vampire etc.) OR you may choose to focus on more metaphorical monstrous representation. In either case, you should be able to show why your topic and chosen text(s) matter the So What question.
Through your analysis and research, you will write a central argument and purpose statement that clearly demonstrates the implications of your claim. You will want to include specific examples from your text(s) and closely analyze them in the body of your project. You will also need 8 secondary sources which can be theoretical texts, which you may use via lensing techniques, and/or scholarly sources that comment on your primary texts, which you may use to complicate your argument throughout the body of your paper.
