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AHS 113

Tips on addressing the main features of analytical exposition, cont.

AHS 113

Unit 3 Assignment:

Analytic Exposition and Catalogue Entry

The Unit 3 assignment has two parts: you will submit an analytic exposition based on the article “Hybridity and its Discontents” and a catalogue entry on an object you select from the course’s Image Gallery.

The instructions for each part of the assignment appear in your syllabus. Be sure to re-read the text carefully. Please put the analytic exposition and catalog entry in the same document; do not submit each part separately.

Tips on addressing the main features of analytical exposition: 

· Problem: Remember that telling us the view that authors oppose is not yet telling us why they think there’s a problem with that view.  That being said, it is a good idea to say something about the "normal picture” since the authors are concerned with refuting it in the article.  

· Grounds: Dean and Leibsohn’s discussion of older frameworks that scholars have used to explain cross-cultural interaction in the section immediately following the pg.6 claim constitutes the grounds for this claim. As you look over the various frameworks for understanding cross-cultural interaction they discuss, consider the unique contribution each case makes towards bolstering the pg.6 claim.  You need not—and probably won’t have room—to mention each kind of framework.  The point is to tease out the main ways that models for explaining cross-cultural interactions—in all their multiplicity—suggest the inadequacy of the “normal picture” and how a new framework, like hybridity, does not resolve that problem.  

· Stakes: Please stick to Dean and Leibsohn's claims in the essay when discussing the stakes of the pg.6 claim.  Also, remember that when we're asking about the stakes of this claim, we mean the stakes  for Dean and Leibsohn.  The authors are art historians talking to other scholars who work on Latin American material culture, though they may not be art historians.  They are not interested in what society, in general, thinks about cross-cultural interaction or art.  Their goal is to draw attention to material culture as evidence and make theoretical advances in their field’s understanding of cross-cultural interactions. Consider what the pg.6 claim does for them argumentatively in the essay.  You may think about local and global stakes here (what they can do next in the article because of what they established in the pg.6 claim vs. what that claim accomplishes towards the theory of cultural mixing implicitly set up in the essay general).  Or you may forget that "local/global" terminology for now and discuss what you take to be the central claims that the authors can make because they have called attention to the pitfalls of seeing a correspondence between the visible properties of an object and the identity of the maker/user.

· A note about “warrant”: This is a way of discussing how authors link up reasons/evidence to claims. When offering a piece of evidence for a claim, you want to make clear to the reader how exactly that piece of evidence functions in support of that claim: Don’t make us guess. A common pitfall of this essay assignment is to summarize the case studies without explaining how these function in support of the pg. 6 claim (or tacitly assuming that they all function in the same way). “Warrant” is also essential for the part of the essay where you discuss the stakes of Dean and Leibsohn’s pg.6 claim – Make sure to point the reader to why precisely the pg. 6 claim allows the authors to make whatever further claims they do in the pages following it.   

Some general writing tips for analytic exposition

· Ensure you do  every part of the assignment (i.e., your paper should cover the problem/claim, grounds, and stakes, though not necessarily in that order).

· Do your best to  write clearly, use words precisely, and avoid unnecessary figurative language.  I understand and share the desire to be a good prose stylist, but believe me, using unnecessarily fancy prose typically distracts from an argument rather than strengthens it. Also, think about breaking up long sentences with multiple clauses; these are generally very hard to follow, especially when trying to explain a subtle and complex argument. Finally, remember that if your reader can’t understand what you are saying, they can’t properly assess the validity of your argument.

· Ask yourself if every sentence does its own work. Sometimes you’ll write a sentence that does nothing but provide a bridge between the two sentences on either side of it. Analytic expositions are very short—you don’t have this kind of space to waste. Every sentence has to move your argument/ account forward. Also, watch out for extraneous words.

· Use your own words/paraphrase when possible, rather than quoting big chunks of the article. Relying on quotations usually means that you are not doing the work of explaining an author's core concepts and ideas.  And your task here, after all, is to explain, in plain English, how Dean and Leibsohn’s argument works to your reader. 

Tips on addressing the main features of a catalog entry:

· Theme: Catalogue entries are short. Even so, they should make a case for what the object illustrates about the museum exhibition’s theme. It could illustrate a theme, featured material, iconography, or technique, help narrate a historical event, elucidate an idea, or even raise a provocative question that’s relevant today. Imagine your object being displayed in a museum exhibition about Mexico in the sixteenth century. Briefly explain what insights about the subject of this course emerge from looking closely at the object.

· Hook: What is noteworthy about the object for you? It could be a specific feature or something about the object’s moment of making, its function in the past, or even what it illustrates about the history of (art) history. A good hook connects this puzzle to the theme of the catalog entry. Try to draw in the hypothetical viewer. What would you point out first if confronted with this object in a museum, and why would you want someone to notice that feature?

· Context: In one sentence, or even a clause, explain where the object was made, by whom and when, and what materials or techniques they used. Even better, relate the information about the object’s facture to the theme of your catalog entry. For example, what can the object help us to better understand about life in Mexico at the moment of its making?

· Motivated description: The task here is to teach the reader how to examine a work of art. Every detail you mention becomes part of an argument about the object’s significance. Try to focus in on one feature and give written attention to unpacking its form, style, or iconography. Think about transitions between elements and the sequence in which you present your ideas. It should resemble, as closely as possible, the kind of oral performance you would make in the museum in the presence of the artwork. Be attentive to new vocabulary and terms, and explain them to the reader.

· Takeaway: The conclusion in a catalogue entry is short, sometimes only a clause. Nevertheless, a good catalog entry ends with a key point or idea intended to prepare the reader to encounter other artworks in the exhibition. You can reiterate an idea, pose a question, or gesture toward the main theme. Just don’t leave the reader hanging like a painting in a gallery…