Gender Stereotypes and the Changes in Gender Roles

Identity & Culture Reflection Paper

Project A – Identity & Culture Reflection Paper and Video Summary

The paper prompt:

As we learn about identity, relationships, communication, and culture, I would like you to reflect upon how these categories intersect and influence one another. In a 3-4 page paper, I would like you to do the following:

Choose a personal narrative (story) in which you or someone you know failed to carry off a “natural” performance of identity – because she/he/they fell short of or exceeded expectations, and thereby highlighting (and possibly challenging) the norm. You may choose to write about gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, or some combination thereof. Spend one to two paragraphs offering an overview of this particular story.

After you’ve shared the story, you can include any contextual information needed to understand the story. You might want to consider what cultures the person is a part of and/or what roles they hold in that culture. If there are specific cultural norms that you need to explain for someone else to understand the story, this is where you can provide that information. Spend one paragraph offering this information, if needed.

Once you’ve chosen the story to share, the rest of the paper should flush out the details of the story with an extended analysis of your/their experience examined through the lenses of identity, culture, and interpersonal relationships. You can use the following questions to guide your analysis of what happened:

-          When are you acutely aware of the parameters that exist in society in the form of social norms?

-          Does your story involve the establishment, observance, policing, or subversion of normative boundaries?

• How are these boundaries communicated?


• Are these normative boundaries enacted in institutions? If so, what institutions are involved?


• Are these boundaries universal or do they only exist within a particular culture?

-          Do the people in your story have to negotiate multiple/differing sets of cultural boundaries and expectations? If so, how does that play a role in the events of your story?

-          How do the people in your story manage their own perceptions of self? How do they manage the perceptions of others?

-          Do the bodies involved in your story feel the weight of history? If so, how?

-          Do the bodies involved in your story subvert or reinforce norms of identity?

You should include theories from chapters 1-6 in your analysis to support your claims. Be thorough, give details, and do not be afraid to dig deep. If you wish to protect the identity of yourself or another person, you can change the names in your story and indicate that you have done so.

There are two parts to the paper portion of this project – a draft and a final submission.

-          The draft of your paper will be due at the halfway point for this project. You do not have to have the entire paper written at this point. You should submit at least two pages.

• The draft submission is meant for me to give you feedback before you submit your final paper.

-          The final submission is your completed paper.

-          Both of these should be submitted via “Submissions” on Blackboard.

 Paper Formatting:

-          All papers should be typed in 12pt. font, double spaced, and contain one-inch margins all around.

-          You do not need to create a works cited page if you are only using the textbook as a reference; instead you can simply use in-text citations.

-          If you are citing any sources outside of the textbook, you should include a works cited page in MLA format. (I suggest using the Purdue OWL website to help you with your citations)

Video Summary:

Once you’ve written your paper, I would like you to create a video recording of yourself summarizing your project. The video summary doesn’t have to be anything fancy – sitting at a table in-front of your webcam, talking directly to the camera is fine. Though you are welcome to be more creative with the video if you would like.

You should include the following in your video summary:

-          An overview of the story you chose

-          Key points of your analysis

• You have freedom to include whatever information of your analysis you would like and are comfortable sharing. You might choose the pieces that you think are the most interesting or the pieces that you like the best.

The video summary should be 3-4 minutes long. It will be due the same day as your paper.

I suggest recording the video summary using whatever software you feel comfortable and then either uploading it to Kaltura via Blackboard or to YouTube. If you choose YouTube as your platform, I suggest selecting “Unlisted” as your visibility setting. This way it is can just be accessed via link. You will then share the video or link via a discussion forum on Blackboard.

Responses to Video Summaries:

You will be responsible for watching the video summaries for your classmates. You should respond to two of your classmates’ video summaries, in the same style as we would respond to a discussion board post. Your responses should be 3-5 sentences in length, though you can write more if you would like.

Important dates:

-          Thursday, April 9 - Draft of paper (at least two pages/50% of project) due via Submissions

-          Thursday, April 23 – Final Paper due via Submissions & Video Summary due via Discussion Forum

-          Sunday, April 26 – Responses to video summaries due

All assignments are due by 11:59 PM on the dates listed above.

** I will open the submission option for the final paper and the video summary on Monday of that week. You can submit these assignments at any point during the week up until 11:59 PM on Thursday.

Grading Breakdown:

This entire project is worth 20% of your overall grade.

-          The paper draft – 2%

-          Responses to video summaries – 3%

-          Your video summary – 5%

-          Final Paper – 10%