Projects for Anthropology 230

• uses hypertext on the Web as the mode of presentation, and
• has a potentially global audience (and not just the prof...)

The topic you develop into a project will be negotiated with me, and should

• be based in some real interest of yours, either one already developed, or an exploration of a curiosity,
• be a synthesis of the topic undertaken --not merely descriptions, but an exploration of a concrete problem, stated as the outcome of the negotiation,
• represent research using multiple sources (books and periodicals and Web sites), with responsible citation of the works used.

Anthropology can be stretched to cover all sorts of subject matter. I'm mostly concerned that your project have a clear East Asian focus, in space and time, and somehow involve human concerns. It should have a clear and specific problem as its focus, which might begin as a question. YOU need to make the case that your topic fits within these very broad guidelines --what I mostly want is for you to work on something that you really CARE about.

Some examples of possible topics, just to give you an idea of scope and variety I can imagine:

Why do Chinese smoke so much, and what problems does this cause?
J-pop (or Cantopop) and MTV
What is Iron Chef REALLY all about?
Foot-binding and the status of women in Imperial China
Soy protein and/or fermented foods in East Asian cuisines
Social responses to SARS or H5N1 in Hong Kong (or Singapore...)
Three Gorges Dam: resettlement and projected consequences
Japanese adolescents as marketing bellwethers (e.g., this and this and this and this and this and this...)
Migration from Fujian
Endangered species and their management in southwestern China (or Tibet)
Lamas and commissars in Tibetan marchlands

Once you have an idea for a project, I want you to do a preliminary search for relevant information and resources, including (but not necessarily limited to)

• books at W&L, via Annie
• articles in JSTOR
• Web resources