1. Culture and Ethnic Studies
Instructions for writing a summary Summaries should be about 1 single spaced page,
approximately three paragraphs. The first paragraph must contain the following
information: • Author and title (Eg. Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots) • One sentence on the
topic of the piece (eg. Zerubavel looks at how Zionism recreated and reinterpreted Jewish
history. • One sentence on the data used, or about what is used instead of data (e.g.
Zerubavel looks at a range of rabbinical and Zionist texts about three historical moments, to
show how Zionists altered older interpretations to support new Zionist ideals). • One
sentence on a central concern or main argument (e.g. Zerubavel is interested in how
Zionists “negated the exile” or constructed Jewish life prior to the return to Israel as
backward, inauthentic, and depressing). • One aspect of the article that struck you. It does
not have to be something the author cared about or made central; this is about what struck
you. Use the second paragraph to elaborate on some example of the author’s analysis. For
example, Zerubavel goes into detail about how the rabbis were ambivalent about the
suicides at Masada, while the Zionists valorized them. You don’t have the opportunity to
summarize the whole piece if you only get three paragraphs, and I’d suggest focusing on an
example that you found either convincing or unconvincing. Your final paragraph should
contain some discussion, including any connections you can make between the reading and
the course questions or section topic (e.g. Zerubavel, to my mind, shows us how colonialism
and orientalism influenced Jewish nationalism, and begs comparisons with Arab
nationalism). It is fairly easy to get a pass; you only need to follow the above instructions,
convince me that you read the piece, and get the author’s argument mostly right. To get a
high pass, your description of the reading needs to be accurate, and your final paragraph
has to be interesting and intelligent. Over time, you should be developing your own
arguments on a set of issues you care about.#Culture #Ethnic #Studies
