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CF 3333 Clash of Cultures

First Essay Assignment

Instructions:

1. Your essay is due at 6:30 on Tuesday, 2 October. Late papers will be accepted, but will penalized one letter grade for each day after the due date (e.g., B to C). No exceptions to this policy will be granted unless there is a legitimate (documented) excuse. Papers must be handed to your instructor.

2. Your essay should be no more than five pages in length.

3. Please follow the instructions found in the “Format for Out-of-Class Papers” found on pages xi-xii of the SourceBook. Review those instructions and the assignment with care.

4. Your essay should open with a “thesis paragraph” which presents the major ideas of your analysis; it should be a summary of that analysis.

5. Define the terms you use. Be sure to explain important terms, concepts, and ideas to support your major points with specific factual and/or documentary evidence, e.g., citations.

Assignment

1. The general topic for this essay is: "The Use of Institutions to Change Culture and Society."

2. Re-read with care the definitions of civilization, culture, institution, and society in the Source Book. Also re-read Morgan’s “Ancient Society” and “League of the Iroquois. Pay particular attention to political, religious, and economic institutions. Then compose a coherent, well-focused essay in which you:

a. note how Morgan wished to change the Iroquois institutions of his day and how those changes would have reshaped Iroquois society and challenged Iroquois culture;

b. discuss the standards used by Morgan to judge societies and link those standards to the changes he championed for Iroquois society and culture;

c. consider the dangers to the preservation of Iroquois culture that might have sprung from Morgan’s proposals;

d. suggest how institutions play a dual role by not only transmitting culture to society but also in reshaping culture.