English 76-101, Section LInterpretation and Argument:Punk and the Politics of Subculture Fall 2010College of Fine Arts, 102: MWF 11:30 – 12:20

Instructor: Sheila LimingOffice: Wean Hall, TBAE-mail: sliming@andrew.cmu.eduBox: Baker Hall 245, English Faculty OfficesOffice Hours: by appointment

Course Description

The word ‘subculture’ is loaded down with mystery. It suggests secrecy,masonic oaths, an Underworld. It also invokes the larger and no less difficult concept ‘culture’. So it is with the idea of culture that we mustbegin (Hebdige, Dick, “Introduction,” Subculture: The Meaning of Style).

This course begins with a question – what is punk, anyway? – to which it offers a range of answers. Punk is a style, a look, a language, a political movement, and a way of life; it’s teddy boys and riot grrrls and New Wave and Hot Topic; you can watch it on television, listen to it on vinyl, or buy it at the mall. You just can’t go calling it mainstream … or can you? To answer this last question, we will explore the link between punk and definitions of, and distinctions between, culture and subculture.

This section of 76-101 looks to chart the history, influence, and controversies of punk culture through several mediums, and will approach the topic through music, film, literature, and criticism with an eye for the politics of punk. The aim is not, however, to limit our discussion to punk itself, but to interrogate the larger problems of mass culture and lesser “subcultures” using punk as a primary lens for the viewing of this problem. Over the course of the semester, students will interact with texts in order to build a cumulative repertoire of critical thinking and writing skills. Students will develop an understanding of the controversy through a spectrum of arguments made for and against punk and, ultimately, will formulate their own arguments which contribute to ongoing debates about culture, subculture, and the forms of social resistance embedded in each.

Course Goals and Objectives

Interpretation and Argument is structured by the following overarching goals: To introduce students to fundamental practices of critical reading and academic

argument, including summary, synthesis, analysis, and contribution. To model a process of concept grouping for reasoning through multiple perspectives

about an issue. To demonstrate a rhetorical model of academic contribution that is socially responsible to

an ongoing, academic conversation. To help students understand and begin to meet the requirements of college-level

argumentation and composition. Becoming a competent writer in this way requires that students be reflective and strategic with their composing processes, particularly with planning, writing, reading, detecting and diagnosing problems within their own work, and finally with revising their own texts.

Overview and Major AssignmentsThe course employs personal narrative, film, music, critical essays and journalistic opinion pieces to develop students’ critical reading and writing practices. The major writing assignments are organized in a cumulative sequence of three essays:

1. Argument Summary• asks students to explain, in their own words, another writer’s argumentativestance on an issue• engages students in the act of critical interpretation, requiring them to reenact the argumentative moves of a given text

2. Argument Synthesis • helps students synthesize and analyze—or “tie together”—a number of distinctsources into one coherent description of a problem• shows students how to combine and criticize a number of distinct perspectives while highlighting their own argumentative position in the debate

3. Contribution • allows students to enter into a specific debate, choosing and arguing for their position• provides students the opportunity to hone research skills and draw fromadditional sources outside of our class readings• requires students to also prepare and give a brief oral presentation on their chosen contribution topic

Punk-of-the-Day:Each student will be responsible for one “punk-of-the-day” presentation. The schedulefor these presentations will be determined in the first week of the course. Presentationsshould be 3-5 minutes long and must include one visual representation of something orsomeone that is “punk.” Students should be prepared to argue for why their chosenitem is, indeed, punk at all.

Texts (available in campus bookstore)

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.

Additional Required Readings (available through Blackboard: https://blackboard.andrew.cmu.edu)

Adorno, Thedor. “The Culture Industry Reconsidered. The Culture Industry: Selected Essayson Mass Culture. New York: Routledge, 1991.

Hanna, Kathleen. Interview, Punk Planet. The Cultural Resistance Reader. New York, Verso (2002): 180- 182.

Himelstein, Abraham Shalom and Schweser, Jamie. Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing. Baton Rouge: Dirty Mouth from the South Press, 1998.

Mason, Matt. “Punk Capitalism,” from The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture is ReinventingCapitalism. New York: Free Press, 2008.

O’Hara, Craig. Sections from The Philosophy of Punk: More than Noise. New York: AK Press, 1999.

“Riot Grrrl Is ...” Riot Grrrl #6½. The Cultural Resistance Reader. New York: Verso (2002): 178-180.

Sabin, Roger. “Introduction: Punk Rock, So What?” Punk Rock, So What? New York: Routledge,1999.

D’Ambrosio, Antonino. “Joe Strummer, Terrorist?” The Nation.com, 20 October 2006.22 July 2010 <http://www.thenation.com/article/joe-strummer-terrorist>

Williams, Raymond. “Culture is Ordinary.” The Raymond Williams Reader. New York: Blackwell, 2001: 44-60.

---. “Culture,” from Keywords. The Cultural Resistance Reader. New York: Verso, 2002.

Required Films:Fincher, David, dir. Fight Club. Miramax, 2000.

Fritz, Kevin, dir. Wasted Orient. Plexifilm, 2007.

Koch, Kerri, dir. Don’t Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl. Urban Cowgirl Productions, 2006.

Rachman, Paul, dir. American Hardcore. Sony Pictures, 2007.

Temple, Julien, dir. The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film. New Line Films, 2005.

Recommended Texts

A good college dictionary. Carnegie Mellon also grants access to the Oxford English Dictionary’s online database for on-campus users. Access at www.oed.com.

You must do the assigned homework and come prepared to participate in class. You are expected to contribute to general class discussions, to contribute to small group discussions, to seek feedback from other class members on work in progress, and to provide thoughtful feedback to other class members on their work. I expect all students to be prepared for class everyday; being prepared means paying close attention to scheduled assignments, doing the homework, and bringing relevant materials with you to class.

Arrive on time. You will not receive an A in this class if you do not arrive on time. Lateness not only disrupts the class but also demonstrates disrespect for your peers and for your instructor. For every two days you are late to class, you will be marked for one absence. If you are more than 15 minutes late to class, you will be marked absent for that day.

Attendance

Since this is a small discussion class, attendance is mandatory. You are allowed four absences without penalty— following your fifth absence, your grade in the class will begin to drop by a half-a-letter grade per absence. Plan ahead if you think you might miss class for religious holidays or for other scheduled events. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences – you are allowed four absences, may they be excused or unexcused, before your grade begins to decrease unless other arrangements have been made with me.

If you have extenuating circumstances that could affect your attendance throughout the semester (such as illness or a family emergency), it is your responsibility to notify me about your situation and obtain authoritative documentation to excuse your absences (usually from the Dean, your adviser, or doctor). If you miss more than the allotted days due to your situation, we will discuss whether it’s prudent for you to continue in the course.

If you miss class, you are responsible to contact your peers for materials and information you’ve missed. Thus, it is your responsibility to keep on top of the homework. Do not email me asking whether or not there was a daily assignment. Missing a class is no excuse for not completing the homework. Likewise, I expect you to have read the assigned readings and to be ready to discuss them, even if you were absent the class before.

Finally, you are responsible for keeping track of your own absences. A sign-in sheet will be used daily and absences will be thus recorded. Please be conscientious of your class participation – make sure you get the sign-in sheet, and please don’t expect me to do this for you!

Using Sources Properly

In this course, we will talk about the differences between plagiarism and the misuse of sources. There is a difference, and so the consequences for each are not the same. We will discuss how to use sources appropriately; and if you have any questions, always feel free to ask me. It’s been my experience that those writers who plagiarize are those who feel overwhelmed by the assignment and out of desperation, use someone else’s work to stand in for their own. If you get so frustrated with an assignment that you feel like your only option is to plagiarize, come see me. My role as a teacher is to help students, not to punish them— please use me as a resource to help you write, brainstorm or work out your essays.

Academic Integrity

At Carnegie Mellon, we believe in the excellence of our students and in the integrity of our academic programs. We also believe that your good ideas become better when you test them against the ideas of others. So for this course, feel free to discuss your ideas about the major writing assignments with other students. Collaborating on question/answer homework assignments or open-book quizzes, however, is not acceptable; these types of assignments are designed for me, your instructor, to monitor how you are handling specific parts of the course materials. Blatantly taking someone else’s words, ideas or concepts, and using them without citing your source is plagiarism. So is using another student’s essay, or part of his or her essay, as your own. In the world of writing (academic writing especially), this is a serious crime, and is treated as such. Anyone who uses non-documented material from another source, including online sources, will receive a failing grade for the entire course and will be referred to the Dean’s office for possible further disciplinary action.

DeadlinesAll written assignments must be submitted on the due date, and missing the class when the assignment is due doesn’t mean your assignment isn’t late. Turning in an assignment on time is part of doing the assignment, and late work will be graded down, regardless of how well it’s executed.

Lateness penalties are as follows: Rough drafts and Peer Reviews. For every day – that is, every day of the week, and not

every class period – that a rough draft or revision statement is late, your final draft will lose two points. If you do not hand in a peer review or a rough draft, I will not grade a final draft.

Final drafts. For every day that a final draft is late, you will lose five points. Daily assignments. All late assignments may receive a maximum of half-credit,

regardless of how late they are.

Cell Phones, Laptops, etc.Students are expected to participate and be engaged in class discussion. Therefore, students are required to silence or turn off cell phones before coming to class (there is, quite obviously, to be no text messaging during class). All laptops must remain closed unless you have made prior arrangements with me and have demonstrated that using a laptop is necessary for your learning.

Religious Observance

If you have a conflict between a religious holiday and a graded assignment, please contact me in advance so that we can make appropriate arrangements.

Learning Disability

If you have a learning disability that could impair your progress in this course, please contact Equal Opportunity Services on campus (http://hr.web.cmu.edu/dsrg/students.htm). We can arrange to accommodate your learning style based on EOS recommendations. Please notify me at the semester’s beginning of your learning needs—do not wait until the semester becomes overwhelming to acknowledge the problem.

General Guidelines on Submitting Assignments

Please note that to receive a passing grade, you must hand in the three major papers and complete the presentation component of the final assignment.

All papers, including daily assignments, must be typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins. The three main papers must be submitted both in electronic and paper forms.

Electronic format means that papers are submitted through the “digital dropbox” function on the Blackboard site. Papers submitted in electronic format alone will not be accepted.

Papers must be stapled, paper clipped, or otherwise affixed; if you expect me to be your secretary and do this for you, you will forfeit five points on the paper in question.

Include page numbers on all assignments longer than one page. Carefully edit and proofread all texts to eliminate problems in grammar, spelling, and

punctuation. Spell-check your documents. A hint in this regard: typos typically occur in the last

minutes when you are making final revisions to a text. Be sure, therefore, to always do a final spell check on at least the section of the document in which you have been making changes.

Any time you cite an essay, film, or book in your main essays, you will need to include a Works Cited section of your essay that provides complete and accurate bibliographic information of the material mentioned in your essay. If you’re not sure how to cite sources, please consult the Citation Guidelines in this course packet.

Documents that do not meet these and other assignment-specific requirements will not be graded. They will be returned to you and when resubmitted will be treated as late submissions.

On-Campus Writing ResourcesInternational students and non-native English speakers are encouraged to take advantage of Carnegie Mellon’s Intercultural Communications Center to receive help in preparing assignments.

ICC web address: http://www.cmu.edu/icc/index.shtml

All students are welcome and encouraged to take advantage of the peer tutoring service provided through the office of Academic Development.

Academic Development web address: http://www.cmu.edu/academic-development/

Communications

You can reach me via e-mail, office phone, or a note in my mailbox in the Baker 245 Faculty Office. The best way to reach me, of course, is through email – I check it frequently and, while I cannot guarantee an immediate reply, it is certainly the fastest way to reach me.

If you have questions about the policies of this class, review the syllabus first, and then come to see me.

Assessing your class participation

Since 76-101 is a discussion course, it’s important that you participate in class. Participation which includes both classroom involvement and physically being in class – makes up roughly 10% of your total grade. Your in-class participation grade falls to my discretion and can nudge a borderline grade higher or lower. When you contribute to class discussion, be sure that your comments are helpful ones and not tangential to the current threads of conversation. You should be ready to participate in general class discussion at least twice a week, and you should always be prepared to generate thoughtful input in small-group discussions and peer review work. Be sure to be supportive of your peers’ ideas, even when you disagree with them. When you raise disagreement within class discussion, do so respectfully by articulating your grounds for disagreeing with an idea rather than with your peers. Of course, all discussion should refrain from language and tone that could be considered inappropriate or offensive.

Course Schedule

Unit I: Locating Culture, Locating SubcultureMonday, August 23 Introduction; course overview, syllabus

In-class assignment: defining culture

Wednesday, August 25 Williams: “Culture” and “Culture is Ordinary”DUE: 1-pg. typed response summarizing and commenting on Williams’ major argument in EITHER ONE of these essays

Friday, August 27 Adorno, “The Culture Industry Reconsidered”Discuss Williams and Adorno

Monday, August 30 Graff, Chapter 1 of They Say, I Sayclaims/grounds/warrants; discuss Adornoand Williams using this vocabulary

Wednesday, September 1 DUE: final Williams response pageSabin: “Introduction” from Punk Rock, So What? Introduction to punk and punk historyPunk music samples

Friday, September 3 Discuss SabinBegin screening The Filth and the Fury

Monday, September 6 NO CLASS: enjoy your Labor Day!

Wednesday, September 8 Continue screening The Filth and the Furyin-class assignment: analyzing argumentation

Friday, September 10 NO CLASS: enjoy your no-class-on-Friday-Day!

Unit II: The Politics of PunkMonday, September 13 Hebdige, “Introduction” and Ch. 7 “Style as

Intentional Communication” from SubcultureDUE: Hebdige “Keywords” AssignmentPrepare a one-page typed response containing two lists:1) a list of “keywords” in Hebdige’s argument2) a list of words you do not fully understand

Wednesday, September 15 Graff, Chapter 2 and 4 in They Say, I SayIn-class work with summarizing strategies for Hebdige

Friday, September 17 D’Ambrosio, “Joe Strummer, Terrorist?”Introduction to Argument Summary Assignment

Monday, September 20 thesis/introduction workshopDUE: 3 typed thesis sentences summarizing D’Ambrosio

Wednesday, September 22 Plagiarism Handout: read before coming to classdiscuss plagiarism; finish discussion of D’Ambrosio

Friday, September 24 DUE: rough draft, Argument Summary Essayin-class peer review; please bring two copies of essay to class

Monday, September 27 Screen: American Hardcore

Wednesday, September 29 NO CLASS: mandatory conferences

Friday, October 1 Continue screening American Hardcore

Monday, October 4 DUE: final draft of Argument Summary EssayPlease submit essay in electronic format only

Discuss American Hardcore and compare toFilth and the Fury

Wednesday, October 6 O’Hara, “Anarchism” from The Philosophy of Punk

Friday, October 8 Continue to discuss anarchy, political agendas of punkPunk music samples

Monday, October 11 Mason, “Punk Capitalism”

Wednesday, October 13 Discuss MasonIntroduce Issue Analysis Essay

Friday, October 15 No class, mid-semester break: huzzah!

Monday, October 18 DUE: Issue Analysis QuestionPlease have your issue analysis question ready (that means written down) to share with the classDiscuss Issue Analysis Maps & Trees

Wednesday, October 20 Graff, Chapter 4Discuss response options presented by GraffDUE: Issue Analysis Map/Tree

Friday, October 22 Graff, Chapters 8 and 10

Unit III: Punk FictionsMonday, October 25 DUE: rough draft of Issue Analysis Essay

in-class peer review; please bring two copies of essay to class

Wednesday, October 27 Himelstein and Schweser, selections fromTales of a Punk Rock Nothing

Friday, October 29 Halloween Extra Credit: dress like a punk!Zines: review and report on zines

Monday, November 1 Begin screening Fight Club in class[Note: you must finish watching this film outside of class;a copy will be placed on reserve in the Hunt LibraryVideo Collection]

Wednesday, November 3 Discuss Fight Club in classCharacter analyses

Friday, November 5 DUE: final draft of Issue Analysis EssayDiscuss reviews of Fight ClubIntroduce final Contribution Paper and presentation

United IV: Sub-subculture?: New Faces of PunkMonday, November 8 “Riot Grrrl Is …” and “Kathleen Hanna: Punk Planet Interview”

Discuss Riot Grrrl, music samples

Wednesday, November 10 Screen Don’t Need You in class

Friday, November 12 Finish discussion of Riot Grrrl; review art samplesDUE: Contribution Paper topic proposal:Prepare a 1-2 page typed proposal which must include:1) 1 paragraph explaining your topic2) 1 paragraph explaining your argument3) A preliminary Works Cited page listing at least four

sources to be used in your final paper

Monday, November 15 Screen: Wasted Orient in class

Wednesday, November 17 Discuss Wasted Orient, and punk today

Friday, November 19 DUE: rough draft of Contribution PaperPresentations: Group A

Monday, November 22 Presentations: Group B

November 24-26 No class, Thanksgiving! Enjoy your tofurky!

Monday, November 29 Presentations: Group C

Wednesday, December 1 Presentations: Group D

Friday, December 3 Course evaluations and wrap-upDUE: final draft of Contribution Paper

Argument Summary Assignment

76-101: Interpretation and ArgumentCarnegie Mellon University

The AssignmentPrepare a 3-4 page paper that summarizes Antonino D’Ambrosio’s argument in “Joe Strummer, Terrorist?”

You have, I’m sure, had assignments in the past where you’ve been required to summarize material; this is different. In this paper, you will be required to analyze, summarize, and reconstruct D’Ambrosio’s argument, not just the content of his writing. There are three main points to this process:

• CLAIMS: identifying D’Ambrosio’s thesis• GROUNDS: identifying the main points of D’Ambrosio’s argument that allow

him to accomplish, or work towards, that thesis, and his methods of argumentation

• WARRANTS: identifying D’Ambrosio’s objectives and stakes: why is he writing? To whom is he writing? What is his main purpose in writing? What does he want to accomplish? What is at stake (or what does he believe is at stake)?

An academic summary is really an argument analysis—it is the first step toward enteringan academic conversation because it requires us to rearticulate another author’s point of view. The key to this assignment is not trying to account for every point D’Ambrosiomakes, but rather focusing on isolating the main point of his argument and the main argumentative “moves” he makes in order to get there.

Supporting your argument.It is important to provide textual evidence from the article to support your argument. Use direct quotes or paraphrased material to support your opinions of D’Ambrosio. Be selective in this regard and, as you incorporate textual material, ask yourself: “Is this material important to my argument? Is it important to D’Ambrosio’s argument?” If it’s isn’t, cut it!NOTE: Be sure to consult the citation guide.

Considering your audience.Your immediate audience is, of course, myself. All academic writing, however, is generated with the idea of a “hypothetical audience,” which usually includes a community of academics. In summarizing D’Ambrosio’s argument, try to position yourself as speaking to a community of educated people who know nothing about your topic; you never know exactly who may end up reading your work.

Common Mistakes/Misconceptions(aka “The Top Six Most Common Ways to Not Get an ‘A’ on this Paper”)

• (Erroneously) believing that an argument summary does not require you to make an argument. Every time you articulate an opinion – however unconsciously or casually – you are making an argument. Take responsibility for your opinion of D’Ambrosio’s writing; be persuasive, be thorough, and remember that your objective is to convince me that you have read him thoroughly, correctly, and intelligently.

• Writing an argument summary about culture, subculture, or punk, and not about

Antonino D’Ambrosio. In other words, I don’t care what you think about punk (or culture, or subculture), I care what you think D’Ambrosio thinks about punk (or culture, or subculture). That is your bottom line.

• Organizing your essay chronologically. That’s not a summary, that’s just boring! If I see a paper that includes phrases like “In paragraph number one, Temple says …” “On the first page, D’Ambrosio claims …” or “Then, Temple goes on to …” I will be, as the British say, most annoyed.

• Assuming that there is only one correct thesis in D’Ambrosio’s argument, and picking that one just to go along with popular opinion. As already mentioned, this paper demands that you craft an argument of your own. Try to consider Temple’s writing from all angles, and pursue the one that interests you the most. Unpopular or “strange” readings are often the most important. Also, the thesis you identify ought to encompass the “what’s at stake” component of Temple’s writing – that is to say, it must appear to be significant to a set of given problems/issues.

• Forgetting to talk about “warrants.” The assumptions an author makes are the easiest, and most available, way to critique and understand their argument. What does D’Ambrosio assume in this piece? What does he take for granted? How does this help or harm his argument?

• Forgetting your works cited! Automatic ten points! Don’t be silly!

Important DetailsPlease remember to bring two copies of your rough draft to class for purposes of aiding the peer review process.

Also, final drafts must be submitted electronically via the “digital dropbox” function on Blackboard.

And, please, remember to staple!

Issue Analysis Essay76-101: Interpretation and Argument

Carnegie Mellon University The AssignmentWrite a 4-5 page paper that interrogates a central issue presented by our course readings so far. This issue is itself to be first generated by an issue analysis question. For your analysis question, you may create your own (so long as you run it by me first!), or you may choose from the following list:

1. What is the relationship between punk and culture?2. What is the relationship between punk and subculture?3. How does punk exhibit or entail social resistance?4. How, or in what ways, does punk relate to ideas of “the popular” and to cultural

conformity?5. What is “punk aesthetic”?6. What are the politics of punk?

The goal of this paper is to explore a topic related to culture, subculture, or punk, which is commonly debated or discussed among the authors we’ve read (though perhaps not explicitly). In answer to this question, you must develop your own thesis and then use the authors from our course syllabus to defend this thesis. Not all of the authors will agree with your thesis; indeed, that’s the challenge of the paper. You must comprehend and reconstruct authors’ argument to show either a) how the agree with/ support your thesis, or b) where they disagree/ diverge, and how those disagreements/ divergences may be refuted. The perspective you offer on the debate will naturally reflect your own opinion, but the main purpose of this paper is not to argue your own opinion but to persuade others on the source of a controversy. If we refer to Kenneth Burke’s model of the cocktail party, this process represents the “synthesizing” stage of entering the conversation.

The Procedure1. Select a research question that interests you. As previously stated, this may either come

from the list of questions provided, or you may create your own. NOTE: if you do draft your own research question, please bear in mind that is must begin with either a “how” or a “what,” and that it must be broad enough to encompass all the authors we’ve read so far (in some manner).

2. Develop a thesis statement. Your thesis serves, in effect, as the answer to the research question you originally posed, and it is towards this end that you will group your authors into “camps” which offer different interpretations of the issue.

3. Create “camps”. You ought to find, after completing steps 1 and 2, that your authors fall into 2-4 major groups; these groups will be characterized by a common opinion on in the issue. For example, if you choose to pose an answer to research question #2 (“What is the relationship between punk and culture?”) you may create three groups thus: a. A group who believes that punk entails, and enacts, cultural resistance

(subculture)b. A group who believes that punk entails, and enacts, cultural conformity,

complicit with the idea that “culture is ordinary”c. A group who believes that punk constitutes efforts to revise, change, or

revolutionize culture for the sake of everyone4. Create a issue analysis map/tree. This step will be discussed in-class, but basically

requires you to visually chart, through whichever means you prefer, the way your “groups” diverge in relation to your chosen question/thesis.

5. Find a paradigm case. This is an example that you will position at the beginning of your paper to show or illustrate the issue (research question)at the heart of your argument. This may come from the popular media (newspapers, television, movies, etc.), from music (song lyrics, albums, a particular punk rock group), from history (a historical event or fact), statistics, or anything else you can think of!

NOTE: Do not be surprised if you find that you must reshape your question(s) as you begin to work through the different arguments you’ve read. Likewise, expect to spend some time re-reading material as you think through this project. This is not an easy paper to write; you will need to carefully consider the topic you choose and the way you understand each author’s argument in relation to that topic.

Important detailsHand in two-copies of the rough draft. Don’t forget to staple.Submit the final draft in hard copy and electronic format. The paper copy must include the rough draft and peer review sheet.You know the drill.

Contribution Essay76-101: Interpretation and Argument

Carnegie Mellon University ________ The AssignmentPrepare a 6-9 page paper devoted to an original topic which relates to the broader topics of culture, subculture, and/or punk.

So far you have summarized, synthesized and analyzed perspectives in a debate. By now, you surely know enough about culture, subculture, and punk to begin to craft a topic, and argument, of your own. This is the point (to recall Burke) where you enter the academic conversation with your own, original contribution. Your contribution, however, does not stand alone: you must devise a list of sources (6 min.) who help you to accomplish, or explain, your argument. Two of these sources must come from class readings; the others may come from anywhere you choose, but must present a debate or argument which can be incorporated into your own academic essay (that is to say, they must be somewhat scholarly in nature, and you must be the judge of that condition).

Assignment OptionsYou have two different options for writing your contribution essay.

1. Case Study Analysis and Evaluation. Choose one text that, to you, represents a particular aspect of punk that has been central to our discussion of the topic this semester. You could, for instance, extend our analysis of the movie Fight Club and show how it presentspunk politics or punk aesthetic. You could also choose another movie, show, musical work, video game, novel, or short story, and perform a similar analysis. Also, you could select another subculture which, in your opinion, operates similar to the way wehave seen punk operate (for example, hip-hop culture, the politics of gothsubculture, or pretty much anything you may find yourself interested in!).

2. Theoretical argument. Here you may choose to either a) argue for a perspective youfeel has been missing from the authors we have reviewed/studied, or b) attempt toanswer a large, significant question about culture/subculture/punk that has beenposed by some of our authors, but for which you must do additional outside research.For instance, many authors toss around the infamous question, “Is punk dead?” Youcould attempt to answer this question yourself using a variety of sources. A theoreticalargument must, however, include examples to ground itself, so you will find yourselfincorporating “case studies,” but they will not be the focus of your paper.

Things to keep in mind• Mapping your argument. Practice the process of writing the Issue Analysis Essay

to identify opinion groups, arguments, etc.• Don’t forget to include alternative opinions. The best arguments pay attention

to their naysayers (instead of ignoring them). What are the plausiable/populararguments against your argument? Why are they wrong?

Important detailsHand in two-copies of the rough draft. Don’t forget to staple.Submit the final draft in hard copy and electronic format.You know the drill.