Essay Assignment 1

Assignment Goal: For this assignment students will create an argument that identifies what "morals," if any, the rioters share in the texts and videos we discuss until the assignment comes due, as well as what "morals," if any, are conveyed by the authorities present in those texts (by authorities, I refer to the persons and parties opposed to the rioters). In their argument and claims, students will discuss the significance of those morals.

Note: If students cannot detect any overlapping 'morals' among the rioters, they may consider what cluster of morals are evident in the texts/rioters separately, or they may focus on any common strategies the rioters employed as they rioted, and why those strategies are significant.

Assignment Description: Structurally, this assignment follows the standard ENG 101 thesis-driven essay form: an introduction and thesis backed up with supporting claims, textual evidence that's interpreted, and a conclusion. For more details about this structure, click HERE. Also, see the "They Say / I Say" text on the right-hand side of this page.

In terms of content, this assignment asks students to consider the riots they read and watch in class texts and consider both 'the moral economy of the crowd' (which we'll discuss more as the semester continues) and the 'moral authority' of those persons and parties opposing crowds, rioters, and protesters. Intellectually, our task is to see the perspectives of both rioters and authorities and to convey, in our own words, what they believed to be the larger ideas, or values, that justified their actions. In your conclusion, but only in your conclusion, you may venture to state what side, if any, you would take in the conflict or conflicts you've read and written about.

Please see the WIKI page for "moral economy," linked HERE, although I don't recommend you cite it directly in any future blog or essay. You may seek out the sources referenced in it, however, for this essay, although I will be providing in-class definitions and terms you may use as well.