Challenge Example PacketMikayla BeaudrieJamie Lee Marks

Contents:

1. ENC1101 (theme: food and culture) (collaboration between Mikayla Beaudrie and Jamie Lee Marks)

2. ENC1102 (theme: community and selves) (Jamie Lee Marks)3. ENC3254: Tech Writing in the Disciplines; Professional Communication Challenges

(Mikayla Beaudrie)4. ENC 2305 The Bad Guys: Writing About the Illicit Challenges (Jamie Lee Marks)5. The Anthropology of Sustainability Challenges (Jamie Lee Marks)

1. 1101 (Food Theme) Course Challenges

1. Purchasing FoodNext time you’re at the grocery store, whether it’s an organic friendly chain like Trader Joe’s, Citizen’s Coop, or Ward’s, or a more standard chain grocery store, take notes on the way the store presents itself to you. In what ways is the décor designed to appeal to you, the shopper? What assumptions about the typical shopper does the store’s design make? Visit at least one other market or store selling food items and compare.

2. Farmer’s MarketsVisit the City of Gainesville’s weekly farmer’s market on a Wednesday afternoon. How is the market set up? What types of goods do vendors sell? How does it present itself to you? Take field notes on anything of interest—whether it’s food type/price, politics/political discussions or social encounters. What sort of a social space is the Farmer’s Market—how does it compare to where you usually buy your food?

Extra Challenge: Visit the Farmer’s Market in Haile Planation on a Saturday. What differences can you see? Why would these differences exist? How is Haile Plantation a different setting for a farmer’s market than the city square?

3. Food JournalFor one week, keep a written account of all of your meals, including what you eat, what time you ate, where you ate, how healthy you believed your meal was, and how much it cost. Write a 1-2 page reflection on why you think you made the choices you did. Identify and evaluate the different norms, ideas, values, etc., that may play a part in your eating habits. How many of your choices were prompted by cravings? Nutritional concerns? How much was determined by non-food related factors—such as a feeling of obligation, time schedules, or finances? Do any of your decisions line up with topics discussed in class. What did you find?

4. Cookbook AnalysisFor this challenge, you will select a cookbook of recipes themed around (1) a particular nation or region (including our own); (2) a particular identity or lifestyle; or (3) a particular diet or health claim. How does this theme influence the recipes included? The text used to introduce the book and

sections of it? For example, if you’re analyzing an Animal Rights cookbook, do the authors try to make the theme more playful? Or is it serious? How do images factor in? Design? How do the elements of the book, both the text and other visual elements, relate to the cookbook’s content? What did you find?

5. Wholesale messagesFor this exercise, find some examples of the way food and eating are advertised: how restaurants, food brands, or diet gurus try to sell you on their products and the experiences of consuming them as positive ones. What elements of these products seem to be the most important in their advertisement? Taste? Fitness/health? Fun? Family? Do they appeal more to the use and preparation of the food, or to the experience of consuming it? Are there any appeals to identity (age, nationality, race, class, ethnicity, gender, language) or to how the audience conceives of her/his body? Write an essay analyzing either two print, online, or video ads for a restaurant or food item.

6. Food and PersonaeChoose a character in a film, novel, television show, comic book, etc., that you feel is described in terms of her/his relationship to food or food ideologies. How does food factor into his/her/its characterization? To his/her/its gender identity? Race? Political identity? Are issues like weight, hunger, or food obsession part of character development? What about eating meat, or not? What about social class and food choices? Write a 1-2 page analysis of how food and eating are used to sell or represent the character of your choice.

7. Local Food MovementsChoose from a list of Gainesville area organizations involved in community food reform. Contact the organization, attend a meeting, or download literature about its program(s). Interview someone from the organization about the food issues that organization is interested in addressing and how they wish to and/or are addressing them. Write a 1-2 page profile of an organization or program.

Abundant Edible LandscapesAlachua County Ag ExtensionAlachua County Beekeepers ClubAlachua County Nutrition AllianceBlue Oven KitchensBuy LocalCampus Kitchen Project at U of FCitizens Co-opEdible Plant ProjectFlorida Farm Bureau

Florida Organic GrowersForage

8. Restaurant Ethnography

Visit a restaurant that caters to a particular dietary community, such as vegetarians, vegans, low gluten, local fare, etc. Additionally, review the restaurant’s website (if it has one) or advertisements

Gainesville Area Bee ClubGainesville Blueberry Farm FriendsGainesville Catholic WorkerGainesville Farm FreshGainesville HarvestGrow GainesvilleHogtown HomegrownSlow Food GainesvilleSt. Francis HouseSustainable Alachua CountyWeston Price - Gainesville

(if you’ve seen any) While you’re in the space, pay attention and take note of the menu’s aesthetics and content. What kind of food does it offer? How is it organized? Does the restaurant market itself, and if so, how does it do so? Have you seen online or print advertisements? What does the website look like? How does it present itself? What information, graphics, etc., does it include? Does the restaurant seem to be marketed to appeal to everyone, or be marketed to a niche group? Who is the target audience and how does this affect the experience of the restaurant and the way it presents itself to potential users? What was your experience of the restaurant?

8. Food on the TVThis challenge involves watching television programs concerning food. This can be any food preparation show (30 Minute Meals, Barefoot Contessa), reality (Man v. Food, Cake Boss), competition (Cupcake Wars, Iron Chef), or talk show (The Chew). As you watch, take notes on how food is presented to the audience and how the idea of food is explored. If you are watching a food preparation show, what assumptions does the chef make about you as a viewer and your level of skill in cooking? For a reality show, how do food and people interact? In a competition-based show, what is the relationship between food and art? What aspects of food or its use or presentation are the most important in the competition? Why would that be? In a talk show, evaluate what sort of information the host(s) convey to the audience about food. Finally, analyze how food is used not only as a means of health, but also as entertainment. What cultural interests or beliefs about food contribute to food programming as a television genre?

9. All of These Are Boring. So. No. Drawing on Freire, acknowledge yourself as much more than an observer and receiver of course design. Design your own challenge that you feel fulfills the pedagogical goal intended by challenges—to urge you to connect you, as a Self, to important questions, ideas, etc., raised by course concepts. Complete the challenge, but in your write up describe why it is an awesome, appropriate challenge for the course. The challenge could involve creative writing, media/film, gaming [indie, PC, console, portable, etc. RPG, simulation, just tell us how it works and how it connects! ], coding, other social media outlets, blogging, fieldwork challenges like some listed here. All media and approaches are open for consideration. Each of you knows something I don’t. Get into it. Ask for advice and encouragement as needed, but know that you are creative and capable.

2. ENC1102 (theme: community and selves)

By the end of the semester, you must choose one challenge from the list below and complete it. These exercises urge you to pick one concept we mention/think about in class and pursue it in further detail through connecting it to your life. You will choose in early February, and write short check-in posts twice before the finale date. Your responses should be between 1.5-3 pages double-spaced. You will be evaluated on your engagement with ideas, your ability to give a thoughtful, synthetic response to the challenge’s questions, and on general writing mechanics. You may, of course, ask for direction with these as needed. That’s what I’m here for.

1. Shared ItinerariesLocate yourself as a UF student in a community that exists outside of the university. Select an RTS route that runs at least partially off campus (more than a mile). Get online and determine where the route

begins and ends. Hop on the bus at a stop of your choosing (this is free to you as a UF student) and take it to the end of its route and back. Plan for adequate time, as bus routes can often take one or more hours to complete. Take notes about who gets on and off and any interactions that that transpire. Take notes about parts of Gainesville you encounter. Have you been there before? What did you feel/experience? Compose a brief report of what you saw, heard, felt, thought, imagined, and/or daydreamed about when you were there.

2. “Describe your street. Describe another. Compare.” Georges Perec, L'infra Ordinaire

Many of our readings this semester have urge us to rethink the everyday as spectacular, strange, and a ripe site for analysis and creation. For this challenge, follow Perec’s suggestion that “what we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us” observe and narrate “your street.” How it looks, feels to be there, etc. Push the descriptive. Narrate a particular street encounter if you feel it would help your reader understand the space. Then, narrate another you encounter, but less frequently—or have never encountered before. Your choice. What’s different? What seems relevant about those differences? What social relationships do each space make possible? Hinder? Require? What about the material(s)--is one in disrepair, why? Would that affect the experience one would have on or around that road/street?

3. a mixtapeThis challenge provides you the opportunity for you to curate your own music compilation. The content of this compilation is based on the theme of your choice. In your liner note (the written component) you will state what theme or genre you engage and why. It consists of your commentary and analysis of a few of the musical materials that you have selected and why you’ve selected them. Perhaps the playlist relates to a period or event, an existing emotional narrative, genre, canon, place, time, etc. Something you want to work out for yourself. Perhaps a playlist about why writing is terrible, or amazing. Or a list of songs that all mention a particular item, event, person, or circumstance. Whatever you would like! Be thoughtful, reflect. Your playlist can be made using Spotify, a YouTube playlist, a DropBox folder, another medium or burnt to disc if you would like. Just make sure you can make it available to your ENC guide. 4. InstaENCCreate and curate an Instagram feed during the course of the semester. Follow our ENC account, ENC_2014. Take, edit, share and tag photos as you wish. You could choose to share things related to course content (like a themed photojournal), or to share things that just feel appropriate for the feed and then analyze your choices later on. Reflect in April as you write your written analysis. Think of your feed as a text—something produced by someone in a particular context or set of contexts. Comment on trends in your feed, why you posted particular images, how you edited them and why, how you tagged them. Speak about a few posts in further detail. Posts could relate to spaces, experiences, course materials, how you felt in particular contexts, things you thought were strange, a commentary genres of Instagram photos. They could be humorous, serious, beautiful. Whatever you like. Be thoughtful in your write up, though: reflect and draw specific connections to course content.

5. “You’re born naked, and the rest is drag.” RuPaul

What’s the difference between clothing and costume? We cover our bodies in particular ways as part of our routine, often rendering it invisible as a practice of social communication. This challenge involves looking back at the assemblages of clothing that you wore during a week and charting when, why, and how you wore these items. Make a calendar and write down what items you wore on which days, and what you did those days. Think about classes or activities you participated in. Why do you wear specific items of clothing? Are particular items endowed with transformative powers that make you feel differently? How does this relate to social expectations of gender, age, nationality, race, etc.? Do you feel regulated/managed via clothing expectations? Do you have a secretly lucky item of clothing? Use your calendar and notes to write up a piece reflecting on these feelings and experiences. Write reflexively about these feelings and experiences.

6. Valentine’s Day and the Peddling of Things/IdeasValentine’s Day, like other holidays, is highly ritualized and commoditized. It carries with it particular texts, advertisements, social expectations related to gifting, etc. In this course, we will read an essay about romantic and sexual relationships during the month of February (you’re welcome). Drawing on Kipnis’ suggestion that we take representations of love seriously, choose an advertisement that draws on or uses a particular representation of love around Valentine’s Day. What assumptions about love and reciprocity or gifting does this advertisement draw on? What underlying arguments about the nature of commitment, emotions, monogamy, etc., are present, or does the ad rely on to be emotionally appealing? Are they gendered? Related to age In your written analysis, describe the advertisement (video or print) and provide a link or copy. Discuss it’s genre, audience, and purpose. Then, analyze it. How does the advertisement draw on appeals to emotion? Logic? To what effect? What’s going on there?

7. All of These Are Boring. So. No.Drawing on Freire, acknowledge yourself as much more than an observer and receiver of course design. Design your own challenge that you feel fulfills the pedagogical goal intended by challenges—to urge you to connect you, as a Self, to important questions, ideas, etc., raised by course concepts. Complete the challenge, but in your write up describe why it is an awesome, appropriate challenge for the course. The challenge could involve creative writing, media/film, gaming [indie, PC, console, portable, etc. RPG, simulation, just tell us how it works], coding, other social media outlets, blogging, fieldwork challenges like some listed here. All media and approaches are open for consideration. Each of you knows something we don’t. Get into it and put it to work for you. Ask for advice and encouragement as needed, but know that you are creative and capable.

3. ENC3254: Tech Writing in the Discipline. Professional Communication Challenges

Due Date:Length: 900 wordsPoints: 100

By the end of the semester, choose one professional communication challenge from the list below to complete. Choosing one of these exercises will urge you to connect what we have discussed in class with your professional life. Many of these exercises are open to interpretation so that you may use your own creative energies to evaluate, synthesize, and locate your own knowledge(s), and challenge yourself.

Your responses should be between 1.5-2.5 pages double spaced. You will be evaluated on your engagement with course ideas, your ability to give a thoughtful, synthetic response to the challenge’s questions, and on general writing mechanics.

You will have three check-ins scheduled throughout the semester to keep you on track, as the Challenge is a semester-long project. You should be working on your Challenge throughout the semester so that it is not rushed and incomplete at the end of the semester. Do not wait until the last minute to complete this assignment as you will not get anything out of the activity, and it will show in your writing.

1. Graduate School ApplicationFind a graduate school that you think you might want to apply to in the (perhaps not-so-distant) future. Focus your search down to one specific program at a university and complete the application materials. Usually, this will include a letter of intent/personal statement and a writing sample. Then, write the materials that the program application requires to turn it in with your response. In your reflection, describe the process you went through and perhaps any revelations you had. Did the amount of writing surprise you in any way? Was it easy or difficult to complete the application? Why did you choose that specific program?

2. Attend a Professional Development/Career Workshop (UF CRC)The UF CRC offers many professional development and workshop opportunities. Attend one (or more!) of these events. In your response, reflect upon your experience. The Career Showcase is not acceptable for this challenge. What did you learn in the event? Are you as prepared for a career as you thought you were? Why did you choose that specific event? What other areas of professionalism are you still hoping to learn about after the event?

Find a list of the events at: http://www.crc.ufl.edu/students/StudentCenterEvents.html

3. Evaluate Professional Writing in Your Current JobIf you currently have a job, whether it is in your field or out of your field, consider how much technical writing and professional communication has an impact on your position. For instance, how much writing do you have to complete? How conscious are you of your writing skills? Do you see yourself “performing” when you write for you job, and if so, how? What is the most common genre/medium you write in while at work?

4. Scandals and TabloidsFind a contemporary and local (i.e. Florida or Gainesville) political, celebrity, or other cultural text that you consider a "scandal." Discuss the event or phenomenon by describing the people involved and how the professional communications played an important role in the event’s representation. Discuss how individual traits (e.g. gender, religion, class, etc.) motivates popular understandings of "scandal" and how those individual traits are interpreted in relation to communication. For instance, what types of rhetoric surrounded the case and what did it demonstrate about the person(s) involved? How did the gender(s) of the individual(s) involved contribute to popular understanding of the event? Did media outlets or legal representatives attempt to use information about a person to "prove" something? One example might be the media portrayal of the Benghazi/Clinton scandal (but don’t use this scandal! come up with your own!)

5. Advertising in the SouthAdvertising is its own genre of professional communications. Advertising, or the marketing of a specific product or idea, can be done in any number of ways. Southern Advertising is a specific genre that exists in the United States. Essentially, advertisements of the South depict the southern US states, people, and cultural ideals in any number of ways, but tend to portray Southern culture in repeating themes with formulaic motifs or tropes. Common themes of Southern Advertising include: folklore, magic, gender stereotypes, poverty, simplicity, right-wing social and political views, aristocracy, and slavery. Southern Advertising can be located in film and television (e.g. Alpha House, ), literature (e.g. Southern Living magazine), and a variety of other mediums (commercials, political advertising, magazines, etc.).

A. For this option, perform a rhetorical analysis on a specific advertisement about/for/in the American South. Your response will analyze the effects of advertising the Southern United States. You should analyze the ways in which the text portrays the South and how the South is subsequently consumed by audience members. Utilize the various rhetorical skills you have learned in this class to critique the rhetoric of the advertisement and its applicability in the field of technical or professional communications. For instance, you might analyze how Alpha House represents southern political leaders and the social and political consequences of that depiction. On the other hand, you could analyze about how a specific company, like Hollister, advertises differently in the southeast than northwest.B. In this option, you will create your own piece of advertisement. You can create an infographic, print ad, commercial -- it is entirely up to you how you want to create your advertisement. For example, you might create a professional website for a particularly Southern-esque brand (like “Florida Fried Chicken” in a KFC-type manner). In your response, explain your reasoning behind your advertisement and explain how and why you chose specific rhetorical approaches to advertising in/for/about the South.

6. Communicating with First Year Students Since you have either completed or are currently completing your first year as a college student, use your experience to enlighten other first-year or pre-first year students in a specific academic discipline. Things you might want to talk about on your website: application processes (e.g. nursing program), integrating writing with the discipline, job/internship/organization opportunities, links to helpful resources (department/program-specific and university-wide). Design your site in such a way that is user friendly, informative, and employs effective visual rhetoric. In your response, include a link to your site as well as reasoning behind your logic. In other words, explain why you chose to include certain information. You can create free sites/blogs using: Blogger, Tumblr, Wordpress, Wix, Weebly, Yola, Google Sites, etc.

7. Video PresentationChoose one of the major assignments you completed this semester and present the information within that document in a video presentation. To complete this prompt, first choose a document (i.e. Technical Definition, Instruction Manual, Research Report, Proposal). Then, create an account with a video hosting website (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion). Thereafter, you will film a presentation focused on the information written in your document. Your presentation can take on any number of styles. For instance, you might film as if you were presenting a conference paper, create a flash video, screen captures and voice overs, etc. For your response, include an accessible link to your video. Your written response should focus on how you adapted written content for a visual audience.

8. Social Medias

Throughout the semester, you will have had the opportunity to write in a variety of different genres. This challenge asks you to write for another genre: social media. Using your knowledge about technical communication, create a social media account about technical writing, professional communication, and/or writing in your discipline. You can choose from any social media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Pinterest, etc. In your response, include a link to the social media account. Explain the content on your social media account/profile and how it complements and/or conflicts what you have learned about technical writing and/or professional communication.

9. Submit to an Academic ConferencePart of professionalism is attending or presenting at conferences. While many of you probably won’t be doing this until graduate school, it is helpful to attend these events early on, or at the minimum, research them. This challenge urges you to find a conference which directly applies to your field of study and create an abstract which you might submit if you wanted to present at the conference. If your research in this class allows, use the opportunity to draft an abstract to present your findings at the conference. Include your abstract to the challenge and then write your response. In the response, you might reflect upon writing the abstract, finding a conference, and what you would do differently if you were to actually send the abstract out. Use the following "call for papers" websites to find an upcoming conference:

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/ http://www.cfplist.com

10. What’s Your Story?At the beginning of the semester, you were asked to write your own digital literacy autobiography. In a similar manner, this prompt asks you to create a mystory. Mystory is a new genre created by UF's very own Greg Ulmer. So, complete a mystory (instructions available here). Since you are creating a longer piece of text, your Challenge response will not need to be as long. In .5-1 page, describe your experience writing your mystory and what you learned as a result of completing the mystory.

For the mystory prompt, please visit http://fycmystory.blogspot.com/p/discourse-promps.html

4. ENC2304 (The Bad Guys)

By the end of the semester, you must choose one challenge from the list below and complete it. You will post your choice, progress, and findings in Sakai using the blog function along the way. These exercises urge you to pick one concept we mention/think about in class and pursue it in further detail through connecting it to your life. You will post updates twice before turning in final responses using the blog function in Sakai. Your final responses should be between 1.5-3 pages double-spaced. You will be evaluated on your engagement with ideas, your ability to give a thoughtful, synthetic response to the challenge’s questions, and on general writing mechanics. You may, of course, ask for direction with these as needed. That’s what I’m here for. As the required blog update posts indicate, these should be ongoing participation challenges and thus constitute almost a letter grade. Do not wait until the last minute, you will not get anything out of the activity, and it will show in your writing.

First post due September 24

Second post due: November 14

Final post: no later than December 10

COURSE HACK: Most of these could lead to final paper ideas.

1. InstaBADGUYSCreate and curate an Instagram feed during the course of the semester. Follow my ENC course account, ENC_2014 so I can follow you back. I’ll post things, too, and tag them with #ENC2305 or #badguys. Take, edit, share and tag photos as you wish, as you feel they relate to many minor or major ideas, themes, concepts that we touch on (even lightly) in the course. Discover what interests you as you post. Share things that just feel appropriate for the feed and then analyze your choices later, if you like. Reflect in April as you write your written analysis. Think of your feed as a text—something produced by someone in a particular context or set of contexts. Comment on trends in your feed, why you posted particular images, how you edited them and why, how you tagged them. Speak about a few posts in further detail. Be thoughtful and self-reflexive in your write up.

2. The MixtapeThis challenge provides you the opportunity for you to curate your own music compilation. The content of this compilation should relate to a theme we discussed or listed in our critical glossary wiki. In your liner note (the written component) you will state what theme or genre you engage and why. It consists of your commentary and analysis of a few of the musical materials that you have selected and why you’ve selected them. Perhaps the playlist relates to a period or event, an existing emotional narrative, genre, canon, place, time, etc. Something you want to work out for yourself about prohibition, appetite, regulation, law, taboo. Or, perhaps a list of songs that all mention a particular item, event, person, or circumstance. Be thoughtful, reflect. Your playlist can be made using Spotify, a YouTube playlist, a DropBox folder, or be made on a physical medium if you would like. Just make sure you can make it available to me.

3. The Outlaw HeroChoose a film, short story, novel, television show or other cultural text in which you feel the figure of the bandit/outlaw hero is present. Why is/was this particular character or set of characters that are considered "criminal" by authorities considered honorable, moral men (or women) by their communities in different times and places? What might this say about the interaction between of the state, cultural ideas of justice, and crime? Why did this “hero” appear when s/he did? How can we compare a community's lifting of individual "criminal" men to heroic heights with its "criminalization" of other types, as discussed in our classes? Why are some individuals criminalized, and others somehow rewarded for what one could argue is illicit behavior? Analyze the outlaw hero in his or her context. Use textual evidence.

4. Narrating the IllicitAs we discuss, much of ethnographic fieldwork relies on memory work or “head notes.” To participate in this challenge, write up a memory of an experience with an illicit behavior or crime (whether as the “criminal,” the “victim,” a “bystander,” or some other social position). Narrate the

event. Push the descriptive. Take us there. Think Molano. If ethnography is moving experience to text, while simultaneously maintaining an analytical focus, show me what about this event and your memories of it seems important to you. What social relationships seem interesting to you? Did it change or challenge existing beliefs? Did something about human social life and connection become apparent? (SAFETY NOTE: you do not have to participate in this unless you elect to and may not, under any circumstances pursue and experience for this activity).

5. Charged SpacesDescribe a place in which you feel fearful, in danger; then contrast this with place where you feel safe. Then draw a map of your daily trajectory, signaling which spacetimes (places) "feel" more dangerous. Consider what it is about the environment, or your experience, stimulates these feelings. Be as descriptive about the spaces and your movements through them as possible. Narrate concrete, glass. Narrate memories and hearsay. How would a space take on these qualities? How does the material or outside world become virtual, part of our emotional landscape? (SAFETY NOTE: Don’t go somewhere dangerous you don’t normally go for this. This challenge asks you to choose somewhere you already engage in your day-to-day life for analysis).

6. Fragments of the IllicitThe study of illicit actions, persons, or objects cannot be separated from the study of their representations in the media. Most ideas about legality, transgression, taboo, and deviance, are channeled through the widely disseminated representations of the illicit or extralegal in newspapers and television and film, non-fiction and fiction. For this challenge, conceive of media as an institutional actor in society, and as an intimate presence in homes. Consider how mass media are constantly seeking to "discover" new phenomena in order to make news. What relationship do particular media have to the production of “moral panics," or periodic waves of fear and outrage about groups of societies conceived of as “bad” or transgressive. For this challenge, locate multiple descriptions of a “bad” happening or event (perhaps a crime, massacre, riot, disaster). Discuss how the event was constructed. How are actors involved with the event portrayed? Do the articles perpetuate any kind of stereotypes (gender, race, ethnicity, age, nationality, language, etc.)? What kind of world is assumed and created by the text?

7. Gender and TabooDiscuss an event or the depiction of an event in which the gender of either the victim, or the “bad guy (or gal)” played an important role in its representation. Discuss how gender motivates popular understandings of deviance. For example, how did the gender of either person contribute to popular understanding of the event? Was motherhood/fatherhood at stake, for example? What things did the rhetoric surrounding the case demonstrate about the actors? For example, if character evidence or testimony was described, what did it highlight about that person? Likewise, did any media outlets or legal representatives attempt to use information about a person that relates to his or her gender or sexuality in order to “prove” something? You may consider political scandals, crimes, tabloid/celebrity gossip, or any other cultural text you may like. You could even choose to analyze one representation of that event or text.

8. Queen of the SouthOver the course of the semester, read the novel Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Even a chunk a week would do it, and it’s riveting. Pat yourself on the back for having read such an intense and interesting novel based on real events. Then, discuss the transformations of self experienced by the character of Teresa Mendoza. What does her portrayal suggest about the specific techniques required to adapt to situations charged by prohibition? To seek some sense that one has not changed too much? Alternatively, consider predation in the text. Describe what Perez-Reverte refers to as “the Situation.” What do the passages that refer to it suggest about the ways in which engaging with illegal/illicit things can haunt or transform one’s future?

The original text was written in Spanish. Feel free to read it and write it in Spanish, if you’re a native or near native proficiency Spanish speaker.

9. Joint Itineraries

Locate yourself as a UF student in a community that exists outside of the university. Select an RTS route that runs at least partially off campus. Get online and determine where the route begins and ends. Hop on the bus at a stop of your choosing (this is free to you as a UF student) and take it to the end of its route and back. Plan for adequate time, as bus routes can often take one or more hours to complete. Take notes about who gets on and off and any interactions that that transpire. Think about social difference and alterity. Take notes about parts of Gainesville you encounter. Have you been there before? What did you feel/experience? Compose a brief report of what you saw, heard, felt, thought, imagined, and/or daydreamed about when you were there.

10. All of These Are Boring. So. No.Drawing on Freire, acknowledge yourself as much more than an observer and receiver of course design. Design your own challenge that you feel fulfills the pedagogical goal intended by challenges—to urge you to connect you, as a Self, to important questions, ideas, etc., raised by course concepts. Complete the challenge, but in your write up describe why it is an awesome, appropriate challenge for the course. The challenge could involve creative writing, media/film, gaming [indie, PC, console, portable, etc. RPG, simulation, just tell us how it works and how it connects! ], coding, other social media outlets, blogging, fieldwork challenges like some listed here. All media and approaches are open for consideration. Each of you knows something I don’t. Get into it. Ask for advice and encouragement as needed, but know that you are creative and capable.

5. The Anthropology of Sustainability Challenges By the end of week 5, you must choose one participation challenge from the list below and complete it. You will post your choice, progress, and findings in Sakai using the blog function. These challenges urge you to connect what we have discussed in class to your life or to a particular extra-curricular project. Your final responses should be between 600-800 words. You will be evaluated on your engagement with course ideas, your ability to give a thoughtful, synthetic response to the challenge’s questions, and somewhat on general writing mechanics. You may, of course, ask for direction with these as needed.

Timeline and Blog Posts Required:

By Friday, May 23rd: Post which Challenge you have chosen and why

By Thursday, June 6th: Progress update; Show what you’ve done. Make notes.

By Friday, June 12th: Challenge Write-Up Due

1. SustainableUFExplore the University of Florida’s Office of Sustainability. You may choose to go visit them on the third floor of Tigert to interview a representative (please email to arrange) or explore their online materials at http://sustainable.ufl.edu. Review the literature they disseminate online or in their office related to how students can get involved with sustainability movements on campus. What behaviors and beliefs is the office seeking to affect or change? What particular version of sustainability activism does our local office think is important? What sorts of beliefs about history, the future, and people are circulated in the literature?

Extra Challenge: try one of UF’s Office of Sustainability’s suggestions for helping the cause (One Less Car; Vote with your Dollar; Consider the Source). Write about the experience. Was it difficult? What barriers to success existed? http://sustainable.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/GreenGuide2011-small.pdf

2. Local Controversy: Gainesville’s Superfund SiteAccording to the EPA, a Superfund site is “an uncontrolled or abandoned place where hazardous waste is located, possibly affecting local ecosystems or people” (n.d).1 There’s a superfund site in Gainesville—Cabot/Koppers. For this challenge research this issue on the EPA site for official discourse and background. Then, check out what’s going on locally to address the issue environmentally and in terms of mitigating the social and health impacts of this contamination. What’s the problem? Who is it affecting? Are all neighborhoods affected in the same way? Or does it impact one social group more than another? What are affected citizens told to do? Who is doing what to address it? How are citizens involved? Use the following weblinks to get started. Get in touch with me as needed when questions come up! Your write up should include some key insights you learned while investigating this local issue.

Federal, state, and county documentshttp://www.epa.gov/region4/superfund/sites/npl/florida/ckopfl.htmlhttp://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/EPD/Pollution/Pages/CabotKoppersSuperfund.aspxhttp://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/quick_topics/publications/wc/sites/summary/007.pd

Civic Organizationshttp://koppersgainesville.comhttp://protectgainesville.org

Citizens speaking at meetings and writing letters:

1 http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKM21ap6lqU&noredirect=1http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/StatementsEPA2010/Gainesville,%20FL/Maria%20Parsons%20-%20Gainenville,%20FL.pdf

3. Joint ItinerariesPublic transportation is central to urban planning and discussions about sustainable cohabitation. Access to public transportation in Gainesville affects not only students, who count on free access to campus buses, but to residents of our city more broadly. Locate yourself as a UF student in a community that exists outside of the university. Select an RTS route that runs at least partially off campus. Get online and determine where the route begins and ends. Hop on the bus at a stop of your choosing (this is free to you as a UF student) and take it to the end of its route and back. Plan for adequate time, as bus routes can often take one or more hours to complete. Take notes about who gets on and off and any interactions that that transpire. Take notes about parts of Gainesville you encounter. Have you been there before? What did you feel/experience? Compose a brief report of what you saw, heard, felt, thought, imagined, and/or daydreamed about when you were there. Are there any challenges to transportation accessibility you noticed and would care to mention?

4. MixtapeThis challenge provides you the opportunity for you to curate your own music compilation. The content of this compilation should be based on one or more core course concepts. In your liner note (the written component of this challenge) you will state what theme or genre you engage and why. The note should consist of general commentary and a deeper analysis of a few of the musical materials that you have selected and why you’ve selected them. Perhaps the playlist relates to a concept we explore one week? Is an overview of multiple themes that work together? Are all the same genre? From the same place? Time? You could use this as a space to collect interesting songs that relate to sustainability in general, or explore a particular genre’s engagement with ecology/activism/etc. I, for example, would probably create a surf rock playlist and write about how newer bands engaging the genre (like the Growlers) make environmentalism one key lyrical theme This could also be a list of songs that all mention a particular item, event, person, or circumstance.. Whatever you would like! Be thoughtful, reflect. Your playlist can be made using Spotify, a YouTube playlist, a DropBox folder, or be made on a physical medium if you would like. Just make sure you can make it available to me.

5. #InstaANTHRO #SUSTAINABILITY Create and curate an Instagram feed during the course of the semester. Follow our course account, Marks_UF. Take, edit, share and tag photos as you wish. Share images you feel related to course ideas or concepts and tag them as you wish. You may choose to be very meticulous about this as you do it, or to share things that just sense are right for the feed and then analyze your choices later on. Reflect during the last few weeks of class as you write your written analysis. Think of your feed as a text—something produced by someone in a particular context or set of contexts. Comment on trends in your feed, why you posted particular images, how you edited them and why, how you tagged them. Speak about a few posts in further detail. Posts could relate to spaces, experiences, course materials, how you felt in particular contexts, things you thought were strange, a commentary genres of Instagram photos. They could be humorous, serious, beautiful. Whatever you like. Be thoughtful in your write up, though, and reflect.

6. Farmer’s MarketsVisit the City of Gainesville’s weekly farmer’s market on a Wednesday afternoon. How is the market set up? What types of goods do vendors sell? How does it present itself to you? Take field notes on anything of interest—whether it’s food type/price, politics/political discussions or social encounters. What sort of a social space is the Farmer’s Market—how does it compare to where you usually buy your food? Could you purchase all of your food at the Farmer’s Market if you so chose? What difficulties would arise? Pay special attention to any encounters, materials, conversations, signs, etc., that raise issues related to sustainability, eating local, etc. Feel free to speak to vendors, shoppers, etc. to ask them why they frequent the market. Extra Challenge: Visit the Farmer’s Market in Haile Planation on a Saturday. What differences can you see? Why would these differences exist? How is Haile Plantation a different setting for a farmer’s market than the city square?

7. Sustainability and PersonaeChoose a character in a film, novel, television show, comic book, etc., that you feel is described in terms of her/his relationship to one aspect of sustainability activism (Green movements, local food movements, environmental activism, preservation/conservation, etc.). How does sustainability factor into his/her/its characterization? To his/her/its gender identity? Race? Political identity? Are issues like food sources, conservation, or activism part of character development? What about eating meat, or not? What about social class and personal choices? Is this depiction used to undermine a character? Or build her/him up as a hero? [The film The Dictator comes to mind]. Write a short analysis of how food and eating are used to sell or represent the character of your choice.

8. Local Food Movements Choose from a list of Gainesville area organizations involved in community food reform. Contact the organization, attend a meeting, or download literature about its program(s). Interview someone from the organization about the food issues that organization is interested in addressing and how they wish to and/or are addressing them. Write a profile of an organization or program.

9. All of These Are Boring To Me. So. No. (See previous)

Abundant Edible LandscapesAlachua County Ag ExtensionAlachua County Beekeepers ClubAlachua County Nutrition AllianceBlue Oven KitchensBuy LocalCampus Kitchen Project at U of FCitizens Co-opEdible Plant ProjectFlorida Farm BureauForage

Gainesville Area Bee ClubGainesville Blueberry Farm FriendsGainesville Catholic WorkerGainesville Farm FreshGainesville HarvestGrow GainesvilleHogtown HomegrownSlow Food GainesvilleSt. Francis HouseSustainable Alachua CountyWeston Price - Gainesville