religion and popular culture

Order Description

ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES
This assignment will be your first chance to demonstrate to me how well you have understood the lessons so far. It will also give me a sense of how you write, your ability to think critically about popular culture, and whether or not you can practically work through the theoretical issues raised in class. The assignment will also provide you a chance to get one on one feedback from me and gauge how you are doing in the course.
You will be marked on 3 areas:
1) Comprehension of the class and reading material
2) Your ability to apply this material to Little Mosque
3) Your ability to write in an organized, clear and concise manner. This includes grammar, spelling, writing style, length and ability to follow instructions. For a detailed list of the kinds of things I will be looking for, see the document called “Hagerman’s tips for writing strong essays.”
TASK OVERVIEW
Watch Little Mosque on the Prairie (Season 4 Episode 16, “Keeping the Faith” and Season 4, “Episode 17: Farewell to Amaars”) and comment on them in light of the Forbes and Mahan typology, drawing on the issues we have looked at in class. You can stream these episodes on the CBC website at http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/episodes.php?sid=4&eid=416. Each episode is 20 minutes long. You will find that watching at least the first 10 minutes of Zarqa Nawaz’s 2005 documentary Me and the Mosque (available to stream or download at (http://www.nfb.ca/film/me_and_mosque) will help you with this assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS
Watch the assigned episodes of Little Mosque and read Lesson 4. You are to offer a critical reading of the episodes. Critical here means to analyze the episodes using academic theories. The opposite would be to provide a surface reading that simply describes what happens in the episodes. A critical reading looks beneath the surface and applies, for instance, Forbes’ and Mahan’s theory to the show or examines how the creator deals with orientalism. Here’s what I want you to do: First: Think about Forbes’ and Mahan’s typology (remember, typology means a group of types). Start by asking yourself: does Little Mosque fit the typology? If so, what characteristics of religion’s engagement with popular culture are present here? Describe how this television show does or does not fit into each one of the four categories (Religion in Popular Culture; Popular Culture in Religion; Popular Culture as Religion; Religion and Popular Culture in Dialogue). You must provide specific examples from the show to support your arguments. If you do not feel the show fits a category explain in detail why not. Second: How does Little Mosque address/resist/combat orientalism? You may want to think about the show’s dialogue, characters, narrative and creator and how each functions in response to orientalism. You may include your analysis of orientalism in your discussion of the typology. You must provide specific examples from the show to support your arguments.
RESEARCH
**You do not need to do additional research for this assignment. You should be able to complete it after having read all required class readings and lessons, and having watched the assigned shows. You do not need to include citations or a bibliography with this assignment. If you do include a quotation from outside the episodes, though, you must cite them.
LENGTH
One of the keys to strong writing is effective editing. Many students fail to proofread and edit their papers and lose marks accordingly. For this paper I want you to present your ideas succinctly, this is why I have given you a strict word limit of no more than 1400 words. By obligating you to edit your ideas within a specific word count your writing will become more concise and will compel you to proofread. And yes, I will take marks off if your word count goes above 1400.

Here are two resource you may go through.
Romanowski, William D. “Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry” in Religion and Popular Culture in America, p103-122.
Zine, Jasmin; Taylor, Lisa K.; Davis, Hilary E. “An Interview with Zarqa Nawaz.” Intercultural Education; v18 n4 p379-382 Oct 2007.

HAGERMAN’S TIPS FOR WRITING STRONG ESSAYS, RE220(must read)
Writing tends to be something most students do reluctantly but don’t really “get,” yet students are often assessed based on their ability to write. The bookstore has copies of Northey, Margot, Bradford A. Anderson and Joel N. Lohr. Making Sense: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing in Religious Studies. Don Mills: Oxford, 2012.I encourage you to read through this as it has several helpful tips for writing undergraduate essays (and is applicable to fields other than Religious Studies). In particular, pay attention to chapters 3 (Writing and Thinking), 5 (Writing Essays), 10 (Writing with Style), 16 (Common Errors in Grammar and Usage), 17 (Punctuation) and 18 (Misused Words and Phrases). Additionally, here are a few basic tips on avoiding common problems in undergrad essays: 1.Proofreadseveral times (seriously, my head hurts when you don’t proofread) 2.Avoid colloquial, conversational or otherwise informal language. This is an academic essay not a tweet or post. 3. Strive for clarity in your writing. Keep in mind that the purpose of writing is communication. Poor grammar, meandering sentences, disorganized ideas and over use of jargon hamper your ability to convey meaning to your r e a d e r.4.“Don’t” use contractions in academic essays5.Do not put spaces between paragraphs or change fonts in the middle of an essay (which tells me you probably cut and pasted that section from somewhere else).6.Remember paragraphs? Most students don’t. New idea = new paragraph.7.When I see an essay filled with quotes it tells me that you are letting your sources speak instead of providing your own analysis. I want to see your mind working. It’s ok to put a few quotes in, but paraphrase any examples you want to draw on and spend more time on your own brilliant analysis. When you do add a quote, make sure to set it up and connect it to your analysis. Never let a quote stand on its own or use it to directly answer an assignment question. Also, maintain the grammar rules of your sentence when incorporating a quote.8.It is ok when writing essays for me to use the first person singular. However, I am asking you to undertake an academic analysis of a case study using a course theory or concept and this is an objective exercise. As such it will weaken your paper if you include subjective musings like “I learned so much about religion from the book” or “I think the author should have been more open-minded.”9. Critically evaluating a case study does not mean simply “liking” it or “not liking” it. This is not Facebook.10.Remember to use apostrophes to show possession (Brent’s sandwich) not plurality (Brent has two sandwich’s)11.If you don’t capitalize the first letter of a sentence or a proper noun like zarqa nawazor christianity, this is incorrect (and it just looks weird).12.In an academic essay there is never a good time to use the adjective “great.” It is too vague; choose a more specific descriptor. Likewise if you are tempted to use the term “bring forth” (as in Little Mosque on the Prairie brings forth challenges that the Muslim community faces) change it to “introduce”—you will look smarter. And while we’re on the topic “push-back” is not an acceptable term for academia. “Resistance” works much better.13.When writing about authors and scholars never use their first name only. It is Nawaz, not Zarqa.14.Titles of books, television shows and albums should be italicized while titles of chapters, episodes and songs should be in quotations.15.When writing papers with a thesis statement (argument) make it clear in the first paragraph. A thesis must assert something—a position taken in response to a question—not just offer description of what the essay is about. You might want to introduce your thesis with the words, “This essay will argue…”.16.Besides an argument an introduction should also have an indication of your theory (“This essay will apply Mehta’s ideas regarding fixed images of India in popular culture to Sarah Macdonald’s Holy Cow…”) 17.Every paragraph thereafter should be designed to further prove your thesis by suggesting reasoning and evidence that convinces the reader why it is true. Use a transitional statement if this helps. However, avoid sequential description about your author’s points or the show’s plot(e.g. “Macdonald then talked about…” or “Next Mehta mentioned….l”) as this is conversational.18.Avoid tangents. Any thought that is not directly related to convincing your reader of your thesis’s tenability is a tangent and should be avoided.19.Avoid generalizations. Students seem to love beginning essays with sweeping generalizations: “Ever since humans arose out of the primordial depths of time, religion and popular culture have been engaged in a dialectical interplay….” Stronger papers offer specific information about the essay in the first sentence.20.Avoid vague arguments and ambiguous examples. You must demonstrate to me that you have read the required material and can follow instructions. Always be specific, precise, explicit, and unambiguous. If I think you don’t know what you’re talking about, your mark will reflect this. Convince me you do.21.Unless you really know how to use a semi-colon, don’t. (Correct usage: a semi-colon goes between two independent clauses as long as they are related. E.g. I like to use semi-colons; they make me look smarter.)22. Finally, read all assignment instructions carefully. If you, for instance, don’t know how to use the word typology or call Macdonald’s book a novel, I will know that you did not pay careful attention to the instructions. This will not bode well for your mark.

religion and popular culture

Order Description

ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES
This assignment will be your first chance to demonstrate to me how well you have understood the lessons so far. It will also give me a sense of how you write, your ability to think critically about popular culture, and whether or not you can practically work through the theoretical issues raised in class. The assignment will also provide you a chance to get one on one feedback from me and gauge how you are doing in the course.
You will be marked on 3 areas:
1) Comprehension of the class and reading material
2) Your ability to apply this material to Little Mosque
3) Your ability to write in an organized, clear and concise manner. This includes grammar, spelling, writing style, length and ability to follow instructions. For a detailed list of the kinds of things I will be looking for, see the document called “Hagerman’s tips for writing strong essays.”
TASK OVERVIEW
Watch Little Mosque on the Prairie (Season 4 Episode 16, “Keeping the Faith” and Season 4, “Episode 17: Farewell to Amaars”) and comment on them in light of the Forbes and Mahan typology, drawing on the issues we have looked at in class. You can stream these episodes on the CBC website at http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/episodes.php?sid=4&eid=416. Each episode is 20 minutes long. You will find that watching at least the first 10 minutes of Zarqa Nawaz’s 2005 documentary Me and the Mosque (available to stream or download at (http://www.nfb.ca/film/me_and_mosque) will help you with this assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS
Watch the assigned episodes of Little Mosque and read Lesson 4. You are to offer a critical reading of the episodes. Critical here means to analyze the episodes using academic theories. The opposite would be to provide a surface reading that simply describes what happens in the episodes. A critical reading looks beneath the surface and applies, for instance, Forbes’ and Mahan’s theory to the show or examines how the creator deals with orientalism. Here’s what I want you to do: First: Think about Forbes’ and Mahan’s typology (remember, typology means a group of types). Start by asking yourself: does Little Mosque fit the typology? If so, what characteristics of religion’s engagement with popular culture are present here? Describe how this television show does or does not fit into each one of the four categories (Religion in Popular Culture; Popular Culture in Religion; Popular Culture as Religion; Religion and Popular Culture in Dialogue). You must provide specific examples from the show to support your arguments. If you do not feel the show fits a category explain in detail why not. Second: How does Little Mosque address/resist/combat orientalism? You may want to think about the show’s dialogue, characters, narrative and creator and how each functions in response to orientalism. You may include your analysis of orientalism in your discussion of the typology. You must provide specific examples from the show to support your arguments.
RESEARCH
**You do not need to do additional research for this assignment. You should be able to complete it after having read all required class readings and lessons, and having watched the assigned shows. You do not need to include citations or a bibliography with this assignment. If you do include a quotation from outside the episodes, though, you must cite them.
LENGTH
One of the keys to strong writing is effective editing. Many students fail to proofread and edit their papers and lose marks accordingly. For this paper I want you to present your ideas succinctly, this is why I have given you a strict word limit of no more than 1400 words. By obligating you to edit your ideas within a specific word count your writing will become more concise and will compel you to proofread. And yes, I will take marks off if your word count goes above 1400.

Here are two resource you may go through.
Romanowski, William D. “Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry” in Religion and Popular Culture in America, p103-122.
Zine, Jasmin; Taylor, Lisa K.; Davis, Hilary E. “An Interview with Zarqa Nawaz.” Intercultural Education; v18 n4 p379-382 Oct 2007.

HAGERMAN’S TIPS FOR WRITING STRONG ESSAYS, RE220(must read)
Writing tends to be something most students do reluctantly but don’t really “get,” yet students are often assessed based on their ability to write. The bookstore has copies of Northey, Margot, Bradford A. Anderson and Joel N. Lohr. Making Sense: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing in Religious Studies. Don Mills: Oxford, 2012.I encourage you to read through this as it has several helpful tips for writing undergraduate essays (and is applicable to fields other than Religious Studies). In particular, pay attention to chapters 3 (Writing and Thinking), 5 (Writing Essays), 10 (Writing with Style), 16 (Common Errors in Grammar and Usage), 17 (Punctuation) and 18 (Misused Words and Phrases). Additionally, here are a few basic tips on avoiding common problems in undergrad essays: 1.Proofreadseveral times (seriously, my head hurts when you don’t proofread) 2.Avoid colloquial, conversational or otherwise informal language. This is an academic essay not a tweet or post. 3. Strive for clarity in your writing. Keep in mind that the purpose of writing is communication. Poor grammar, meandering sentences, disorganized ideas and over use of jargon hamper your ability to convey meaning to your r e a d e r.4.“Don’t” use contractions in academic essays5.Do not put spaces between paragraphs or change fonts in the middle of an essay (which tells me you probably cut and pasted that section from somewhere else).6.Remember paragraphs? Most students don’t. New idea = new paragraph.7.When I see an essay filled with quotes it tells me that you are letting your sources speak instead of providing your own analysis. I want to see your mind working. It’s ok to put a few quotes in, but paraphrase any examples you want to draw on and spend more time on your own brilliant analysis. When you do add a quote, make sure to set it up and connect it to your analysis. Never let a quote stand on its own or use it to directly answer an assignment question. Also, maintain the grammar rules of your sentence when incorporating a quote.8.It is ok when writing essays for me to use the first person singular. However, I am asking you to undertake an academic analysis of a case study using a course theory or concept and this is an objective exercise. As such it will weaken your paper if you include subjective musings like “I learned so much about religion from the book” or “I think the author should have been more open-minded.”9. Critically evaluating a case study does not mean simply “liking” it or “not liking” it. This is not Facebook.10.Remember to use apostrophes to show possession (Brent’s sandwich) not plurality (Brent has two sandwich’s)11.If you don’t capitalize the first letter of a sentence or a proper noun like zarqa nawazor christianity, this is incorrect (and it just looks weird).12.In an academic essay there is never a good time to use the adjective “great.” It is too vague; choose a more specific descriptor. Likewise if you are tempted to use the term “bring forth” (as in Little Mosque on the Prairie brings forth challenges that the Muslim community faces) change it to “introduce”—you will look smarter. And while we’re on the topic “push-back” is not an acceptable term for academia. “Resistance” works much better.13.When writing about authors and scholars never use their first name only. It is Nawaz, not Zarqa.14.Titles of books, television shows and albums should be italicized while titles of chapters, episodes and songs should be in quotations.15.When writing papers with a thesis statement (argument) make it clear in the first paragraph. A thesis must assert something—a position taken in response to a question—not just offer description of what the essay is about. You might want to introduce your thesis with the words, “This essay will argue…”.16.Besides an argument an introduction should also have an indication of your theory (“This essay will apply Mehta’s ideas regarding fixed images of India in popular culture to Sarah Macdonald’s Holy Cow…”) 17.Every paragraph thereafter should be designed to further prove your thesis by suggesting reasoning and evidence that convinces the reader why it is true. Use a transitional statement if this helps. However, avoid sequential description about your author’s points or the show’s plot(e.g. “Macdonald then talked about…” or “Next Mehta mentioned….l”) as this is conversational.18.Avoid tangents. Any thought that is not directly related to convincing your reader of your thesis’s tenability is a tangent and should be avoided.19.Avoid generalizations. Students seem to love beginning essays with sweeping generalizations: “Ever since humans arose out of the primordial depths of time, religion and popular culture have been engaged in a dialectical interplay….” Stronger papers offer specific information about the essay in the first sentence.20.Avoid vague arguments and ambiguous examples. You must demonstrate to me that you have read the required material and can follow instructions. Always be specific, precise, explicit, and unambiguous. If I think you don’t know what you’re talking about, your mark will reflect this. Convince me you do.21.Unless you really know how to use a semi-colon, don’t. (Correct usage: a semi-colon goes between two independent clauses as long as they are related. E.g. I like to use semi-colons; they make me look smarter.)22. Finally, read all assignment instructions carefully. If you, for instance, don’t know how to use the word typology or call Macdonald’s book a novel, I will know that you did not pay careful attention to the instructions. This will not bode well for your mark.