This assignment will allow you to practice an anthropological approach, which includes: ATTENDING A BAR MITZVAH PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION: A BAR MITZVAH for which you can attend, ideally have the opportunity to participate in it. If this is not possible, interview your informants in a setting related to their subculture or where their events/traditions take place (e.g. workplace, sacred place, studio, university campus, etc.). Try to gain an emic perspective as best as you can (in addition to an etic perspective). OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS: in addition to making observations, you need to collect your data by interviewing at least one person who are members of this subculture (face-to-face interviews are best!). Construct questions that allow your informants to provide you with detailed responses. You must devise in-depth questions that are structured around the topics in the outline. Put a lot of careful thought into this! You might find it necessary to interview your informants more than once to collect enough data with which to write your paper. CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON, HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE AND APPLYING CULTURAL RELATIVISM: you’ll be doing this when you address the sections and follow instructions in the outline below. INTERVIEWS: Choose at least one informant. This is NOT a research paper, but one that is based on information that you’ll obtain through interviews, observation and, if possible, participation. To use an unbiased approach, interview your informants individually so they don’t influence each others’ answers. Devise your own, open-ended questions that will allow you to obtain in-depth information to address all of the sections below. Each individual will likely have a slightly different experience as a member of that culture. Take advantage of that, by tailoring your questions to your informants. In other words, ask each person questions that pertain to his/her individual roles, positions or experience in the subculture. Submit your informants’ responses and observation notes as a separate assignmetn. Whether you take notes by hand or make audio/video recordings of your interviews, you must provide a typed transcription of your interview notes with your assignment (including the dates, times and places of your interviews at the top. FORMAT: Your paper must be typed using Microsoft Word, include each of the sections in the outline on the next page and follow the format below: at least 9-10 pages in length not including the cover page or reference page. Must include a cover page that includes: Your name, my name, class name, date - Each paper must have 1-inch margins all around - Each paper must be in Times New Roman font, size 12. - Each paper must be double-spaced - Each paper must be submitted as a .doc file, otherwise it may not open. - Must use APA (6th ed.) citation as outlined in the approved APA style guide (Links to an external site.) to document all sources. - Must include, on the final page, a reference page that is completed according to APA - Source must be academic. Refrain from using most internet sources. NO Wikipedia! -10% will be automatically deducted for not following these instructions. OUTLINE/GUIDELINES FOR THE PAPER: Make sure your paper is VERY detailed - as if I have never heard of this subculture before! Since you’ll be writing about your own experience and understanding of this subculture, as well as describing the culture from others’ perspectives, you need to use both a first person and third person voice throughout the paper. Organize your paper in the following six sections (include the headings/titles in your paper in the same order they occur below: Introduction, Worldviews, etc.). Introduction: Provide a brief description of the culture that practices this ritual. Introduce your informant (not necessary to include their names, but describe their roles or positions in the subculture and some brief details about them). Briefly describe when and where the interviews, events, etc. took place. 2. Worldviews, Ideals and Beliefs: Describe some of the worldviews, beliefs, values, attitudes, etc. shared by members of this religion. (This is where your scholarly sources come in). 3. Traditions, Rituals and Symbols: Include detailed descriptions of the ritual you observed. Apply the emic and etic perspectives as best as possible. Make sure you include descriptions of the activities, people involved, as well as any important objects used in the tradition/ritual/activity. Choose a particular aspect of a ritual/tradition/activity – such as an action, object, article of clothing, color, etc. – for which you can discover and describe: 1) it’s symbolic significance (emic perspective), and 2) the practical reason(s) behind it, or a cultural materialist explanation for it (etic perspective). Choose an action, object, piece of clothing, color, etc. 4. Conclusion: Briefly provide a description of this ritual and religion using an etic perspective. Think about how “outsiders” view this group, their traditions, cultural rules, beliefs and/or ways of speaking (positive or negative). Use cross-cultural comparison, to compare and contrast one or more aspects of this subculture to mainstream American culture (or a subculture to which you belong). Describe some of the similarities and differences between the two groups. Discuss the importance of practicing Cultural Relativism when studying, observing and learning about a culture that’s different from your own. THIS ESSAY MUST INCLUDE 3 SCHOLARLY ARTICLES: Hilton, M. (2014). Bar Mitzvah, a History. Philadelphia [Pennsylvania: The Jewish Publication Society. Korber, I. (2017). A Bar Mitzvah Year: Rethinking Ritual. European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 50(1), 136-154. Retrieved March 8, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44631753 Seidman, A. (1973). BAR MITZVAH—AN APPROACH TO SOCIAL MATURITY. Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, 13(3), 85-89. Retrieved March 8, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23257401