ANT 351 Week 5 Final Paper

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You will conduct any follow up observations, visits and interviews to complete your ethnography of a religious event. You will return to your field site for a minimum of one hour to conduct further participant-observation. Adhere to the Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association while conducting your field work, and inform the community, that you observe, of your intentions. Any follow up interviews should be conducted based on instructor feedback or questions that came up when you conducted library research on the topic. Use the article by Melinda B. Wagner in chapter 1 of your text book "The Study of Religion in American Society" as a guide for preparing your research. 

Your paper must address the following:

•   Take into account instructor feedback on Parts I and II of the research conducted in Weeks 2 and 3.
•   Description of the event. Where did you conduct your observation (be specific)? When was it conducted?
  Whom did you interview? Who attends the event? Make note of gender, ethnicity, class, age, and economic
  status.
•   Describe the ritual. How do these people act before, during and after the ritual? Observe special movements
  or gestures. Observe the environment (aura, art and other objects around). Ask about any special words people
  utter in prayer or chanting, its order, and its message.
•   Is there a particular religious official? Who is in charge? If there is someone “in charge” of the event, how is
  this manifested? Does this person act or dress differently from the rest of the people at the event?
•   What is the flow of the event? Do people participate individually or en masse? What is the express purpose of
  the event?
•   Final discussion on the answers to the questions you listed in Week 2. These should be in narrative form.
•   To what extent are the religious practices of the people representative of their religion? What branch or sect of
  faith do the practices represent?
•   How do the practices of the people differ from the principles and tenets of their religious dogma?
•   Using Eller's article "Studying Religion Anthropologically" as a guide, analyze your observations using three
  - of the six social functions of religion - listed on page 12.
•   Library Research: After conducting follow up participant-observation on the religious event and based on the
  data you have, you will look for one more scholarly source, article from peer-reviewed journals and/or Ebook from Ashford Online Library or another database, or a printed book, to the research your conducted in Weeks 2 and 3. Your completed reference list should have at least five scholarly sources, in addition to the textbook. You are welcome to include non-scholarly sources in addition to the five sources and the textbook and consult encyclopedias and dictionaries. Also analyze the ritual using terms, concepts and examples in the textbook. 
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