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ETST 310: Theories and Concepts in Ethnic Studies (Professor Jason M. Perez) [Spring 2021]

ETST 310 Research Project Prompt (Dr. Jason M. Perez)

*Always consult Cougar Courses for full research assignment guidelines.

Research Project Prompt

Dr. Perez's research project comprises several brief and focused assignments and activities that serve as building blocks which will ultimately result in a finalized research project (knowledge object) prepared for submission and potential local distribution to peers and other community members.

Through research practice, you will consider the following questions:

  • What are the silences, the gaps in the archive, the community memories, that "haunt" the present day?
  • What is the effect of these silences, these gaps, these hauntings?
  • What histories or bodies of knowledge would help us understand more deeply our "complex personhood"? Why and how so?

Ultimately, this project invites you to assemble resources for yourself, your peers, and your communities so that you and they might do the critical work of tracing a "haunting," attend to the gaps and silences of the archive, make visible that which is rendered invisible, complicate how we encounter the most pressing racial and social justice questions of our contemporary world. This research project will take shape in an organic form/practice that centers both your creativity and your intentions for distribution. (Note: you are not required to distribute this project, but you are required to consider an audience and a distribution plan.) Thus, you might write and design: a portable mini annotated bibliography; a series of infographics; a series of tweets or IG posts; a series of posters/flyers; a chapbook/pamphlet. 

 

 

ETST 310 Research Project Format (Dr. Jason M. Perez)

Research Abstract

Summarizes in broad strokes the key theoretical/conceptual and methodological/practical principles and frames you will use for your project. Put simply, introduce the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your study. Length: 7-8 sentences.

 

Research Design Plan

Describe the form and shape through which your ideas will be represented. Express in detail how you will go about the completion of your research and the practical design of your project/knowledge object. Who is your intended audience? What form is appropriate for your knowledge object? How will you go about designing this objective given your skills and capacities? Length: Completion of 1-page worksheet.

Sample of Research / Analysis

Prepare a rough sample or plan (of writing or visual design) of your project so that your peers can get a sense of what your project will look like. This can take the form of a graphic design mock-up, a series of rough sketches and concept maps, a written paragraph/annotation, drafts of tweets, posts, etc. Length: one written paragraph, mock-up graphic design, or the equivalent.

 

Peer Review & Collaboration

We will engage in peer review synchronously and asynchronously, and use it as an opportunity to collectively help clarify the researcher's vision for their research project. Length: verbal feedback, and 1 paragraph of written feedback (for 2 different peers) in the asynchronous forum on Cougar Courses.

 

Research Project

The final version of this research project will be a knowledge object prepared for distribution to a specifically identified audience. The form/shape is open, i.e. a portable mini annotated bibliography; a series of infographics; a series of tweets or IG posts; a series of posters/flyers; a chapbook/pamphlet. Length: 4-5 double-spaced pages of written text, or the equivalent.

Critical Reflection

Reflect on your experience through every stage of this research project. What questions did you start with? How did your questions and thinking develop throughout the research process? How did you respond to peer comments? What did you learn about yourself as a researcher and producer of knowledge? Length: 2-3 double-spaced pages.