Creative Project for AMST-A 100
Fall 2015

This interdisciplinary multimedia project asks students to answer the question posed in the class’s title, What is America? through their personal engagement with the key words and ideas discussed throughout the semester. 

This is not a formal academic paper, but rather a creative thought piece that asks students to synthesize what they have learned during the semester, and their new understanding of the role of food and labor on national and global identity formation. 

In whatever format, your project must convey to your audience your specific take on how a specific kind of food labor defines a nation’s cultures/values in the global arena.

Format: Acceptable formats include mini-TED talks (limit yourself to 5-7 minutes tops), blogs, websites, short student-made films, comics, Pinterest boards with comments. All projects must include a brief written explanation of the relationship between your chosen topic and the specific text that motivated it.

 Directions:

1. *Make sure you don’t copy the URL of your edit page or dashboard on Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, website, etc.  Instead, copy the URL from the view page.
2. You will be randomly assigned to peer review the projects of 2 of your fellow students, using the criteria below.  Only students aiming for an A or B have to do peer reviews. Students who are aiming for a C do not have to review their peers’ work.

 Peer review criteria:  This part due Dec 14

1. Summarize in your own words what you understood to be the project’s main point.  Frame it thus, “I understood your project to . . .”
2. Ask a question, suggest a source, or otherwise convey something of substance to your peer that goes beyond “This is awesome” or “This sucks”.

Learning Outcomes

World Cultures: Students will

• recognize that cultures have different beliefs, values, perspectives, practices, and products

Arts & Humanities: Students will

• demonstrate awareness of the cultural, intellectual, and historical contexts through which these expressions and artifacts are interpreted;
• develop skills of analysis by evaluating artistic works as a critic;