| TEXT PREPARATION 6
Assignment due in class on November 30* from anyone who has not yet completed a Text Preparation. *Since part of the value of the text summary assignment is that it will prepare you to be an active participant in class, it may only be submitted in class on the day it is due. If you have to miss that day's class, please contact the instructor to make alternate arrangements. This assignment is based on assigned selections from: Talal Asad, "Trying to Understand French Secularism."Please address the following questions in 2-3 well-written paragraphs each (with your assignment spanning approximately 3 pages), with detailed reference to the text. Since this is your first reading of these texts, and since we have not yet discussed them in class, you are not being asked to supply definitive answers but preliminary, thoughtful responses based on attentive reading. Your answers may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for further discussion. 1. (pp. 497–99) How does Talal Asad understand the currently prevailing understanding of secularism (and in particular of laïcité) in light of a history dating back to early modern times? (I.e., what sort of history does he tell of this secularism, and how does he claim that it is helpful for explaining contemporary secularism--or at least this contemporary French version of it?) 2. (p. 500, beginning with new section “Reading Signs” – p. 507 para. 1) What aspects of the “Stasi Report” does Asad highlight, and why does he find them worth highlighting?
As in your Text Summaries, please give parenthetical page references, and follow the guidelines in: Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources, pp. 1-3, 6,
10-19, 22-23, 50-51 [purchase book / selection in Coursepack 1 / book
on reserve] |
**Please print your assignment double-spaced and with one-inch margins, using a 10-12-point font. Please number and staple the pages you hand in.
Please keep a copy of your summary to refer to in our class discussions.
posted November 26, 2011