IST2009-1HY-WI14 - Christianity in the Modern World

Books for the Course

• George E. Tinker, Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide , (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993). ISBN 0-8006-2576-5
• David Walker. David Walker’s Appeal . With an Introduction by Sean Wilentz. Hill and Wang, Revised edition, 1995. ISBN 0-933121-38-5
• Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (expanded edition) Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. (with an introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre and afterword by Susan Gilson Miller). ISBN 978-0-8070-0301-5

Other course materials will be listed in the syllabus and posted on Canvas.

See Taylor Library's list of online book sellers for purchasing options.

Course Description

This course looks at the emergence of Christianity in the modern world, from the colonialism of the late fifteenth century to Christianities in the Americas, Asia and Africa. An examination of the Aboriginal-Euro-African culture of North America; the impact of Christian missions on indigenous cultures and religions; Christianity in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and the non-Christian world; contemporary theologies in their various contexts.

Course Objectives

To explore historically the interrelationship between Christianity and cultures in the Americas, Asia, and Africa in order that we might begin to:

1)      Trace the correlation between the expansion of Christianity and European colonialism since 1492

2)      Come to grips with the emergence of an economic and political world system in the modern period and the implicit and explicit participation of Christian institutions in that modern world system with its structures of power.

3)      Recognize the confusion of gospel with Euro-American cultural values that occurred in even the best-intentioned Christian missionary efforts, resulting in the unintended evil of destroying the cultures and values of other peoples in the name of conversion to the Christian gospel.

4)      Develop the intellectual and spiritual discipline to enter into the perspective of the historical “other,” and especially to confront courageously the meaning and continuing legacy of cultural contact in our common past.

 5)      Discover intellectual and spiritual resources for overcoming that past and participating in transformative processes that can lead to a world of genuine mutual respect among peoples, communities, and nations.

Requirements

1)      Postings – 40% of course grade

Students are expected to post on Canvas eight times throughout the quarter. Your postings should be concise and well-written, analytical and embodied responses to the content of the previous week’s readings and discussion threads. In some cases, guiding questions will be provided. The mere expression of personal opinion is unacceptable without coherent argumentation (based on the readings) to support one’s opinion. Critical argumentation must be founded on the assigned literatures, citing text wherever appropriate. You must post your blog by Wednesday at noon. See appendix to syllabus for detailed description of posting expectations.

 2)      Preparation for and participation in each discussion thread – 20% of course grade.

You will be responsible for participating in the discussion thread of a small group that you will be assigned to.  In each group one person will post their response to the guiding questions for that week and each person will be required to respond at least twice to that thread of conversation.  (The person doing the original post will also respond twice, once with their post and at least one other time to one or more of the responses.)  The group conversation threads will begin the second week of the quarter.    Some weeks there will also be audio recorded lectures that will be posted on Canvas and will provide context, interpretation, integration and/or present material not in the readings. The written assignments will test the depth and completeness of your readings. The discussion threads are particularly important for the class, they are the primary form of engagement that we will be able to have instead of an in-class discussion.

 3)      Final Posting – 40% of course grade

Write a final integrative posting of 6-8 pages (double-spaced, typed, 2500-2800 words).  The paper should address how I/we have come to grips with the content of this course, related again to the questions framed by the analysis you have done in your postings. You may use themes from your posting and integrate them into the paper, but you should not quote yourself at length. This is not a mere reflection essay. Build your reflection with careful analytical argumentation and on an analysis of actual text from the course. Grading for the final post will follow the same rubric for the rest of the postings, except that a letter grade will be assigned. Due by midnight Wednesday May 29th.   Length: double-spaced, typed, 2500-2800 words.  Please submit the final paper by email in a format that is MSWord 2010 compatible.  

Additional Information on Research and Analytical Postings:

Posting length:  Students are responsible for answering all of the questions for posting. However many given questions there on any given week, we expect the total word count for all answers to be between 500-1000 words, absolutely no more than 1000.  In addition to the initial postings, you will also be required to respond to your classmates postings at least twice each week to engage with each other on the material (at least 200 words for each week, and this can be done in more than two postings if you so feel moved ).  You will be put in a small group to respond to each other’s analytical postings and the research postings will be posted as an entire class.  There will be four analytical postings and four research postings, each of which you will be required to participate in the discussion forums (responding twice).  I am envisioning the analytical postings to function as a discussion where you can wrestle with the information with each other as a learning community.  For the research postings I would like for you to see the breadth of information that the class has put together, and respond to the posts of two different people.  For the first week of class you will not be required to respond to any other person.  

Posting evaluation criteria: See note at the end of the syllabus.

Late postings: will be penalized one full point per day. Further, you must communicate with your instructor that the posting will be late, and when you intend to post within the coming week.

Required Texts:

George E. Tinker, Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993).

 David Walker. David Walker’s Appeal. With an Introduction by Sean Wilentz. Hill and Wang, Revised edition, 1995.

 Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (expanded edition) Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. (with an introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre and afterword by Susan Gilson Miller)

 Other course materials will be listed in the syllabus and posted on Canvas.

Course Outline

WEEK 1 – March 27

Introduction to the Course: Theoretical Perspectives

Readings:

• Tinker: Missionary Conquest, Chapter 1
• Memmi: The Colonizer and the Colonized, Preface, Introduction, Conclusion, and Afterword

POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

Please answer the following questions briefly in your posting:

WHILE THE FIRST SET OF QUESTIONS SEEK FAIRLY STRAIGHTFORWARD RESPONSES FROM THE MEMMI TEXT, BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ARE CONSIDERED ANALYTICAL POSTINGS.

1. A. Who was Albert Memmi and what was the historical context in which Memmi he was writing? How is his own identity described (by Memmi himself and the other commentators in the volume) within the colonizer-colonized relationship?
   1. In Memmi’s own words, what was his original purpose in writing the book?
   2. For Memmi, what is at the heart of the colonial relationship? According to Sartre,

what are some of the other features of the colonial relationship?

1. What language does Memmi use to describe what oppression does to the colonizer and the colonized? Sartre?
2. According to both Memmi and Sartre, why is reformation, transformation of the colonial system impossible? According to Memmi, what is the solution?
3. From your reading of Tinker’s Chapter 1, how is missionary history related to the phenomenon of colonialism as Memmi describes it?

WEEK 2 – April 3

Puritanism and Indian Missions/New England

Readings:

• Tinker: Missionary Conquest, Chapter 2, “John Eliot”
• Memmi: The Colonizer and the Colonized, Part I
• Michelle Burnham, “Anne Hutchinson and the Economics of Antinomian Selfhood in Colonial New England,” Criticism 39:3 (1997): 337+. This article is posted in more than one website. A convenient source is a site called BNET. The web address is: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_n3_v39/ai_20167523/pg_16/?tag=content;col1.

POSTING ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

Answer the following questions:

• ANALYTICAL POSTING QUESTION 1: Of page 3 of Memmi’s text he writes, “Today, the economic motives of colonial undertakings are revealed by every historian of colonialism. The cultural and moral mission of a colonizer, even in the beginning, is no longer tenable. Today, leaving for a colony is not a choice sought because of its uncertain dangers, nor is it a desire of one tempted by adventure. It is simply a voyage towards an easier life.” The following pages continue to describe the colonial context. How does this context fit or not fit with the description of the New England colonial context which we read about for today’s class?
• ANALYTICAL POSTING QUESTION 2: In your own words, describe what Memmi means by the colonizer as “usurper.” How do we see the three discoveries of colonization – profit, privilege, and usurpation (p.9) – being played out today?

WEEK 3 – April 10

Religious Freedom and Worldview/Ideology

Readings:

• Memmi: The Colonizer and the Colonized, Part II
• Steven Waldman, March 11, 2008, NPR interview with Terry Gross (“Fresh Air”). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100755359.
  • Thomas Jefferson, “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” (Posted on our course Canvas site; and available on-line.):  http://www.religioustolerance.org/virg_bil.htm.
  • James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance.” http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/cs/blcs_txt_MadisonMR.htm (for the text) and http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/cs/blcs_what_mrintro.htm (for an interpretive essay). Link from online syllabus to websites or links on Canvas.
  • http://www.beliefnet.com/resourcelib/docs/62/The_Jefferson_Bible_The_Life__Morals_of_Jesus_of_Nazareth_1.html
• Dr. Loring Abeyta’s  handouts on worldview.

POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK: (Due Wednesday by noon):

Research Question #1:  From the cues in this week’s readings (and especially Dr. Abeyta’s handout) do some research to come up with a working definition of both worldview and  ideology.  Try as much as you can to be able to both make distinctions between the two and give examples to clarify your definitions.  (be sure to cite your sources so that your classmates can follow your arguments.)  

Research Question #2:  Apply your definition of worldview and ideology to the concept of religion.  Is religion in your opinion a worldview or an ideology and why?  Also, considering the conflict between indigenous cultures and that of the European colonizer, is religion a cultural universal, or is it particular to Christianity, or maybe the three Abrahamic Faiths? 

WEEK 4 – April 17

U.S. Southwest and Latin America

Readings:

• Memmi: The Colonizer and the Colonized, Part II
• Tinker, Missionary Conquest, Ch. 3, “Junípero Serra.”
• Ronald Takaki, chapter 7: “Foreigners in the Native Land: Manifest Destiny in the Southwest.”  Posted on Canvas.
• Lara Medina, “Nepantla Spirituality: Negotiating Multiple Identities, Faiths, and Practices,” in Wading Through Many Voices: Toward A Theology of Public Conversation (in press). Posted on Canvas.
• “Walks Between Two Worlds,” TT response to Medina: in Wading Through Many Voices. Posted on Canvas

 POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday by noon):

Answer the following questions.

ALL THREE POSTINGS ARE ANALYTICAL POSTINGS

• According to Memmi’s analysis (and making concrete references to his text), how do you evaluate the colonial context (i.e., the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized) in relation to the U.S. Southwest and Latin America (also making reference to these readings)?
• How do you evaluate our place in the outcomes of that colonization (colonial relationship) today (for example, as people who live in Colorado)? Assuming we are people who resist oppression, how do we evaluate our own position in the colonizer-colonized relationship today in light of Memmi’s analysis?
• Considering that we are all persons of some relative privilege who desire to resist oppression in this U.S. context, how do we respond to Memmi’s questions of the colonizer who refuses on page 20?
  • “He participates in and benefits from those privileges which he half-heartedly denounces. Does he receive less favorable treatment than his fellow citizens? Doesn’t he enjoy the same facilities for travel? How could he help figuring, unconsciously, that he can afford a car, a refrigerator, perhaps a house? How can he go about freeing himself of this halo of prestige which crowns him and at which he would like to take offense?”

WEEK 5 – April 24, 25

19^th Century: Gender Construction and Colonization

Readings:

• Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860),” American Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2, Part 1, (Summer, 1966), pp. 151-174.
• Tracy Fessenden “Gendering Religion,” Indiana University Press, Vol. 14 No. 1, (Spring 2002).
• bell hooks’ Chapter 4 “Racism and Feminism” from Ain’t I a Woman?Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).
• Emilie Townes Chapters 1, 5 and 6 on Ida B. Wells-Barnett from Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope (Atlanta: AAR, 1993).
• Maariadzo Mutambara. 2006. “African Women Theologies Critique Inculturation,” in Inculturation and Postcolonial Discourse in African Theology (Edward Antonio, ed). (Chapter 8, pp.173-191). Posted on Canvas.

POSTING ASSIGNMENT THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

1)      Analytical Posting:  Considering the readings for this week, how does the lens of gender help to complexify the colonizer/colonized dualism that Memmi uses to describe the colonial situation? How can we use this analysis to think about the role of women within the colonial landscape?

      2) Given this material, how might we begin to think about the intersections of race and   gender in Memmi’s framework of colonization?

WEEK 6 – May 1

Slavery and Africans in America: Abolitionism and Resistance

Readings:

• David Walker’s Appeal.
• Watch the video “Traces of the Trade” prior to class. [We will arrange for a public viewing of this during the Journey Days on Campus.]
• Vincent Harding, Chapter 2 “American Bondage, American Freedom” and Chapter 4 “Symptoms of Liberty and Blackhead Signposts” from There is A River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1991). Posted on Canvas.
• Watch Video links for Dr. Will Gravely’s lecture on abolition, and follow his lecture notes, all posted on Canvas

 POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

RESEARCH POSTING: Do some research about African-American slavery and abolition. Pick a person, story, event, community, narrative and apply the Memmian analysis of colonizer who accepts, colonizer who refuses, colonized who accepts, and colonized who refuses and put it into play with your choice of topic.  As best you can, show the usefulness as well as the limits of the tetradic (four way) Memmian analytical lens.  As many of you are recognizing in your papers, Memmi’s analysis is sometimes useful, and sometimes situations are more complex than what a dichotomy of acceptance/denial can offer.  Only give a brief telling of your specific topic, as we are most interested in the analysis that you provide of the situation.  You may use the readings or videos from this week, or you may look at something else that you are already familiar with.  Also, don’t forget your thesis statement.  In this assignment it will be much easier for you write one as you have more freedom to engage in this material, and I would like you to practice as it is an important aspect of writing, and especially for your final papers. 

 WEEK 7 – May 8

Indian Removal and Indian Reform

Readings:

• Tinker, Missionary Conquest, Ch. 5 “Henry Benjamin Whipple”
• Takaki, Ronald. From A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Chapter 4, “Toward the Stony Mountains: From Removal to Reservation.” Posted on Canvas. Also note these very short sources of information:
  • PBS website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html Click on “Related Entries” at the bottom of the page.???
  • Note also this short page from the website “Digital History:” http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=638
• A chapter from McGlouglin’s Cherokees and Missionaries.  Chapter 10, “The Amearican Board and the Removal Crisis, 1829-1833.”  Posted on Canvas.
• Tink Tinker, “Tracing a Contour of Colonialism: American Indians and the Trajectory of Educational Imperialism,” In Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools by Ward Churchill (City Lights Press, 2004), pp. xiii-xli. Posted on Canvas.
• Mohonk Conference Primary texts

 POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon): Answer the following questions.

• RESEARCH POSTING: Give a brief history of Indian boarding schools run by the denomination with which you are affiliated. If you are unaffiliated, or your denomination has no such history, shift your focus to the history of boarding schools in your home state.  Be as specific as possible as to when the school was opened, who it was run by (this may have changed during the period that the school was opened) as well as when the school was closed.  Pay attention also to who is authoring the literature that you are citing.  For the posting, only give a brief accounting of the historical facts, we are most interested in putting the readings for this week in conversation with the literature that you research.  In this instance, we are looking for a critique of the information that is out there.

 WEEK 8 – May 15

Africa, Missionaries, Colonialism, and Indigenous Christianity

 Readings:

• V.Y. Mudimbe. “Domestication and the Conflict of Memories,” Chapter 4 in The Idea of Africa, (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1994): pp. 105-134. Posted on Canvas.
• Maluleke, Tinyiko Sam. 2006. “The Africanization of Theological Education: Does Theological Education Equip You to Help Your Sister?” in Inculturation and Postcolonial Discourse in African Theology (Edward Antonio, ed). (Chapter 3, pp. 61-76) Posted on Canvas.
• Antonio, Edward. 2006. “The Hermeneutics of Inculturation” ?” in Inculturation and Postcolonial Discourse in African Theology (Edward Antonio, ed). (Chapter 2, 29-59). Posted on Canvas.
• Revisit the Mutambara reading from October 14^th assigned readings.

 POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

REASEARCH POSTING:

• Do some research on the activity of your denomination (or if you are unaffiliated choose a religious group or denomination to research) in contemporary Africa.  Give a brief description of the work that you are focusing on, and then give a critique of that work by using the analytical tools from this week’s readings, as well as any other readings from the course (especially Memmi and Tinker).  Are there ways in which the churches are repeating the same histories that in the African context that they have already participated in there as well as in other areas of the world?  Have the relationships between the churches and the people changed?  Have the power dynamics between the church and the people shifted?  Why or why not?

 WEEK 9 – May 22

Asia and Asian Immigration Experience

Readings:

• Tissa Balasuriya, “Christologies in Dialogue in EATWOT: An Asian Historical Perspective” and Tinker, “Asian Christologies: An American Indian Response,” both in Voices from the Third World, (Fall, 1995): pp. 47-73. Posted on Canvas.
• Nami Kim, Chapter 2 “The ‘Indigestible’ Asian: The Unifying Term ‘Asian’ in Theological Discourse,” from Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology Brock, et. al., eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007).

POSTING ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK (Due Wednesday at noon):

 WEEK 10 – May 29

Where Do We Go From Here?

Readings:

• Tinker. “Blessed are the Poor. A Theology of Solidarity with the Poor in the Two-Thirds World,” Church and Society, 84, (1994): pp. 45-55. Posted on Canvas.
• Tinker. “Culture and Domination: A ‘Post-Colonial’ Quandary.” Chapter from Tinker’s American Indian Liberation. Posted on Canvas.
• Todd, Julie. “Confessions of a Christian Supremacist.” Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, Winter 2010. Posted on Canvas.

FINAL POSTING DUE WEDNESDAY MAY 29th AT MIDNIGHT

 For your final paper, please write a 2,000-2,500 word essay using one primary concept in Memmi’s colonization framework. Be sure to cover the three following areas thoroughly.

1)      Choose one primary concept from the list of concepts in Memmi’s The Colonizer and the Colonized. While making textual references, describe the concept and how it functions in Memmi’s framework in your own words.  Choose one concept from the following: usurpation, justification, dehumanization, racism, revolt, assimilation, paternalism, privilege, Nero complex.

2)      After you describe the concept and how it works in Memmi’s framework, apply the concept to some of the readings from our course. Make reference to at least three different weeks’ contexts/regions and the materials relative to each. You must include regional materials from both the U.S. and outside of the U.S. How is Memmi’s framework complicated by these different contexts? In other words: what works and doesn’t work in translation, partially works, might be missing?

3)      Given the concept you chose from Memmi, how are you implicated in your own analysis? How do these implications impact your future work, whatever it may be?

The concept you choose from Memmi should be the central theme throughout all three phases of your analysis. Clearly these concepts overlap and you may mention one in relation to the other, however, you should try to maintain one primary theoretical focus throughout your essay. You may use ideas from your previous postings, but do not quote yourself at length. You are not asked to do research outside of the course materials. Since we are familiar with all of the texts, you are welcome to use a parenthetical reference style (Author, Page; lecture/lecturer, date). Unless you make reference to outside materials, you do not need to provide a bibliography.

The paper is due by midnight, Wednesday May 29. This 2,000-2,500 word essay should be double-spaced, have one-inch margins, in a Microsoft Word-compatible document. You do not need a title page. There will be an assignment module in Canvas under the last week’s materials to which you should upload your essay as a document. Do not cut and paste your paper into the response section. Upload it as a document.

We will use the same grading rubric (as found in the end of the course syllabus) to evaluate the final papers as in the posting assignments (thesis, writing, organization, clarity, textual evidence, depth of reflection/analysis), except that we will be assigning a letter grade A-F.

Standard Syllabus Annotations

• Iliff School of Theology ADA Note: Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.  Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303.765.1146..
• Incompletes: Iliff has a clearly stated “incomplete policy.” If you are in a position where you have no other choice but to request an incomplete, do look the policy up in the “Masters’ Student Handbook” or retrieve a copy of it from Iliff Student Services or the Registrar. Because it is difficult for a teacher to read a paper and evaluate it fairly outside of the context of reading other students papers which were turned in on time, work turned in late will always suffer some lowering of the grade—depending on how late the work is submitted but regardless of the legitimacy of the excuse for the late submission. This also (necessarily) applies to work submitted to satisfy an incomplete.
• Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism: Please understand clearly that plagiarism is considered an academic crime. It is punishable by the issuing of a failing grade for the class in which it occurs and possible dismissal from school. If you are not sure what constitutes plagiarism, please do look the word up. Reference your “Masters’ Student Handbook” for an explanation. Read up on the definition on-line or in a variety of library resources.
• Technology and communication: We owe each other our strict and undivided attention during a seminar session. Our process of discussion builds an intellectual intimacy that is shattered by someone’s attention to other business. Please turn off all cell phone and communications devices for the duration of the class time. You are certainly permitted to use a laptop for taking notes during discussions. But that must be the only purpose for opening a laptop during class times. NO on-line surfing during class. We need to give each other our full and undivided attention during all class time discussions and lectures. Activities that would be a violation of our trust with one another in the classroom would include: receiving or sending text messages via cellphones; receiving or sending twitter messages; reading or composing and sending email messages; surfing the net; stepping outside the classroom to take a cellphone call; and all other sorts of related activities.
• Excessive absences: Because classroom participation is so critical, a student cannot expect to pass this seminar when absences accumulate excessively. It should be remembered that each seminar session represents a full ten percent of the course. Every effort should be made to insure faithful attendance and full participation. Even tardiness (both at the beginning of class and after the break) necessarily affects one’s participation in a seminar—and thus will be duly noted.

A general word about assignments:

There will be no examinations in this course.  However, since the quarter system is notorious for the term being over before students [or faculty] realize it, it is crucial to plan your reading and writing carefully.  There will be a penalty for a late final paper and, in accord with the faculty’s more stringent policy on Incompletes, no Incompletes will be given except in the case of a bona fide emergency.

Criteria / Points for Grading Postings and Final Paper

Every research posting, analytical posting, and the final paper will be graded in relation to four overall criteria: Thesis, Textual Evidence, Writing, and Reflection.

Thesis  (Make a claim that answers the question)

2.5 points  - Thesis is evident, is clearly and concisely stated, and meaningful. (When provided, guiding question is answered)

2 points – Attempt at formulating thesis is evident, lacks clarity / only partially answers guiding question

1 point – No thesis / failed to respond to guiding question

Textual Evidence  (Integration of material)

2.5 points - Variety of course materials are used and appropriately cited. Evidence that material was understood and applied appropriately. Connections between different materials are made, using texts in conversation with each other and in relation to the thesis.

2 points – Some course materials are used. Some course materials are misunderstood. At times, material is incompletely cited or inappropriately used (original material does not support thesis or claim made).

1 point – No or little material used or no appropriate citation. Material misunderstood.

Writing (Organization and Clarity)

2.5 points – Well organized, coherent and structured. Writing strategy to develop arguments evident (chronological, spatial, or comparison / contrast). Organization supports overall goal for the paper. Writing remains focused on central point, appropriate transitions assist reading, conclusion serves thesis and goal for the paper. Writing style is appropriate to intended purpose, shows variety of sentence patterns and rhetorical effectiveness, avoiding jargon and discriminating language.

2 points  – Organized and structured, appropriate style and word choices. At times lacks cohesion or relevancy to main goal of paper unclear.

1 point – Lacks structure and organization. Uses inappropriate language. Lacks focus.

Reflection (Depth and Quality)

2.5 points – Thesis is developed throughout the paper with well-chosen, appropriate argumentation. Arguments are used to show rather than tell, assertions are well defended and logical. Personal reflection shows understanding of complexity and context of issue discussed as it relates to embodied context of student.

2 points – Most arguments support thesis, at times claims miss supportive evidence or lack clarity. Reflection at times appears to miss contextual connections or complexity of issue, remains abstract.

1 point – Arguments do not support thesis or lack evidentiary nature. Issue is discussed without attention to complexity and context or personal context of student.

Policies and Services

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community.