Write up your answers as a Word document (or some equivalent) and upload to Blackboard by the deadline • It doesn't matter if you go over the suggested word count, but you must make the minimal number of words in order to get your point(s) • Write in full, coherent sentences without any glaring spelling, grammatical or typographical errors • Please do not include the questions, only your answers
Follow up from Part 1 of class on Monday, June 24
The body in pain
Most sociologists who take a micro perspective start their analyses from very specific social contexts and/or specific human interactions. They consider individuals, couples, groups and whole communities, as well as the structural institutions these individuals, couples, groups or whole communities believe in, engage with or resist. Below are three different stories, which capture this idea, but which will also, hopefully, remind you not to forget the human body and how the human body absorbs physical and emotional pain.
Watch the documentary below carefully from the 0 mark until the 1:25 mark (i.e., one hour and twenty-five minutes) and then answer the questions that follow. You can't watch the video on this page. You have to click on the YouTube logo in the lower right hand corner of the video to watch it or you can just click here. You don't have to watch beyond the 1:25 mark since the rest of the video is just some repeat scenes from the first hour and twenty-five minutes.
Warning: This documentary contains descriptions of violent assault and sexual assault and rape - Contact me via text or email if the subject matter is too intense for you and you need an alternative assignment
The Brandon Teena Story (2001)
Pay attention to how many words each answer needs to be! They vary!
Need some notes from class? Try these
01. .05 points, 10-45 words > How did Brandon perform how a heterosexual cisgendered boy acted in the early 1990s in urban and rural Nebraska? Back up your response with specific details from the documentary above (i.e., something Brandon did or other people said he did) and be sure to explain and defend your response.
02. .05 points, 10-45 words > All of Brandon's (romantic, sexual) girlfriends were kind and understanding towards him once it was revealed to them that he was transgender - not that Brandon actually used these words. How would psychologist Carol Gilligan explain these former girlfriend's kindness and understanding? Be sure to explain and defend your response.
03. .05 points, 10-45 words > How was Falls City segregated by gender in the early 1990s? In order to get your full point here you need to reference at least one public and one private place where people socially interact and be sure to explain and defend your response.
04. .05 points, 10-45 words > Based on what you know about Kissimmee, Florida in the 2010s from The Florida Project (2017), (presented and discussed in class during Week 4) and what you know about Falls City, Nebraska from the documentary posted above where do you think it would be harder for a cisgendered woman to find paid work in the public sphere? Be sure to explain why you chose one setting over the other and to explain and defend your response.
05. .05 points, 10-45 words > Is Lana Tisdel's explanation of Brandon's gender and sexuality more like how Sigmund Freud would describe gender and sexuality or Erving Goffman would describe it? In order to get your full two points here you need to a) reference something Lana says in the documentary, b) identify and explain the difference between how Freud and Goffman would describe a person's gender or sexuality and c) explain and defend your response.
06. .05 points, 10-45 words > The Falls City Police Department outed Brandon publicly as a "female," according to Brandon's Driver's License and Police Record after Brandon got arrested for a speeding ticket (and, other, more serious crimes). According to the audio recordings below, (also featured in the documentary posted above), how did they treat Brandon using any one or combination of the following terms - cisgender male; transgender male; cisgender female; transgender male; heterosexual cisgender male; heterosexual cisgender female; homosexual cisgender male; homosexual cisgender female; a misogynist, heterosexist or transphobic slur? In order to get credit here you need to explain and defend your response.
07. .05 points, 10-45 words > According to the documentary posted at the top of the page, do John Lotter and Tom Nissen admit to beating, raping or killing Brandon Teena or a combination of any of these three things. Be careful here! There is a right and wrong answer and they admit to different things.
08. .05 points, 10-45 words, Note the word count here > Would you describe the actions of John Lotter and Tom Nissen against Brandon Teena as transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic or simply that of a typical Falls City boy? Be careful here and be sure to fully explain and defend your response!
09. .05 points, 10-45 words > Way back in the beginning of the semester you wrote about the beating and murder of Vincent Chin. Below is a little video to refresh your memory about this story. Make the argument that Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz beat and killed Vincent Chin for the same reason John Lotter and Tom Nissen beat, raped and killed Brandon Teena? Be sure to fully explain and defend your response.
Follow up from Part 2 of class on Monday, June 24
What makes people really, really mean
10. .05 points, At least 45 words > In the late 19th century, both Émile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud believed that society had an effect on people's psyches. Would you call Durkheim's research on suicide in the late 19th century "Freudian?" Explain and defend your response. I assigned this reading on Durkheim's Suicide (1897) on assignment WA5 here if you need a quick refresher on his ideas and findings. If you want some notes from what I said about Freud in class you can click here. And if you need a definition of Freudianism, here is one for that: Relating to or being in accordance with the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. n. A person who accepts the basic tenets of the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, especially a psychiatrist or psychologist who applies Freudian theory and method in conducting psychotherapy.
11. .05 points, 10-45 words > Make the argument that Stanley Milgram's Obedience To Authority experiment, conducted in the 1960s and published in 1973, offers insight into the beating and murder of Brandon Teena. Explain and defend your response. I first introduced Brandon to you in class during Week 5 and his story is also at the top of this assignment
Short version
12. .05 points, 10-45 words > First, read this recent critique of another famous American experiment, Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) by Brian Resnick. Now watch the footage of the experiment Zimbardo has made available since 1971. Do you think recent criticisms of this experiment could have been made in the early 1970s when it first was published? Explain and defend your response and make sure your answer is at least 45 words.
13. .05 points, 10-45 words > Learn about Vivian Paley's research, posted below. Based on her findings, what are the social similarities between life in a prison and life in a kindergarten? Use Philip Zimbardo's famous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment as the basis for your understanding about prisons, i.e., See Q02 above.
- Listen to this 11-minute story, "Human Nature, The View From Kindergarten "(1996); A transcript is located here, Scroll down and look for "Act 3," "Human Nature, The View From Kindergarten, TAL-27, The Cruelty of Children (1996)
14. .05 points, 10-45 words > How does psychologist David Boder's own voice caught on his field research tapes support Stanley Milgram's findings in his famous Obedience to Authority experiment. In order to receive this point you must describe what Boder's voice sounds like (i.e., you can't just read the transcript) and you must articulate what Milgram's findings were. You can listen to audio tapes of Boder's research by following the links directly below and Milgram you can find directly above.
- "David Boder Vanishes," TAL-197, Act 1 of Before It Had A Name (2001), 31 minutes
- Transcript to use alongside the audio
15. .05 points, 45-90 words, Note the word count change here > Below is a statement David Boder made about his work documenting the stories of people who had survived Hitler's concentration camps. Based on this statement, what do you think he would have thought of Philip Zimbardo's famous 1973 experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment. Be sure to explain and defend your response. I first introduced Zimbardo's research directly above.
- David Boder: And I can't speak. I don't remember the names now because I'm just in a trance after this woman's report. I'm completely distraught. The automobile is waiting. I'm going to Frankfurt. Who is going to sit in judgement over all this? And who is going to judge my work? Illinois Institute of Technology via recording. I'm leaving tonight for Paris. The project is concluded. Want to see the whole transcript from where this quote comes from? Click here.
Follow up from Part 2 and 3 of class on Wednesday, June 26
Click here to hear TAL 204, 81 Words (2002), 50 minutes. • Here you will find a transcript.
17. .05 points, 10-45 words > Who do you think got treated better by the American criminal justice system - Brandon Teena, when Brandon reported that he was assaulted and raped by John Lotter and Tom Nissen to the Falls City, Nebraska Police Department or Vincent Simmons, when he came up for parole at Angola State Prison in the late 1990s? I posted Brandon's interview with the Falls City Police below and Vincent's parole hearing below. I screened and discussed Vincent's parole hearing during the final week of class. You must choose either Brandon or Vincent for your answer here and be sure to explain and defend your response.
For Vincent Simmons parole hearing, scroll to the 20'13 minute mark and then watch until the 29'10 minute mark; I screened this in class on Wednesday, June 26; Again, you are looking for parole hearing of Vincent Simmons
18. .05 points, 10-45 words > Based on the "Very Brief Socio-History of Puritan Infrastructure" I outlined in class on Wednesday, 6/26, do you think it would be possible to set up prisons in the United States like the ones Norway has? You must reference specifically what I said about the ways the Puritans laid the groundwork for American infrastructure in class during the last week of class meetings and to be sure to explain and defend your response. See AR4 if you are unsure how to answer this.