Your objective: Analyze how the article constructs race/ethnicity. While this article may sound like a straightforward business news article that is all about statistics, products, and profits, upon closer reading, there is an underlying discourse about race and ethnicity, with meanings of progress, modernity, hygiene, lawfulness, etc, etc, etc inscribed in the report.
Guide questions: What meanings are attributed to Chinese-ness and American-ness? What words/phrases indicate constructs of "us" and "them"? How does the article position the reader? What emotions are invoked? How does the article agree or disagree with broader discourses about race in society? How useful are the concepts of othering, proper distance, and Orientalism in critiquing the article?
Output: (I have changed my mind) Please submit by Wednesday, Aug 20, 12nn, a 1- to 2-page typewritten essay that presents a discourse analysis of the article. Drop this paper in my pigeonhole, 3rd Floor of Social Sciences building. This counts as a 15-point quiz.
Bear in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to this exercise. There is more than one way to interpret a media text, after all. What I will look for are strong (or weak) arguments and mark you from there. I will examine how nuanced and in-depth you discuss the article, your attention to detail when you present evidence from the text (back up your argument with statements cited from the text), AND how well you integrate your analysis with concepts that we discussed in class. Remember: argument, argument, argument.
Post here or email me if you have any questions about the exercise.
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