Junior Research Seminar and Project

In addition to the regular curriculum, junior students who begin work at the China Center with 60 credits or more in the fall semester must declare an approved Area of Concentration and meet all Global College requirements regarding the Junior Research Seminar and the Junior Research Project, typically by the end of the spring semester, and must complete the Junior Research Seminar, typically by the end of the first semester of the junior year, and the Junior Research Project, typically by the second semester of the junior year.

All junior students are required to define an Area of Concentration (AC) by the beginning of the junior year. It is very important to understand that the AC will be shown on the student transcript and indicates the student's area of specialization within the broader inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural curriculum in global studies that is offered at Global College centers. If you think of the Global College as a major within a university framework, the AC is the disciplinary focus within this major. It is narrower than an academic discipline but broader than a senior thesis research topic.

Twenty-four credits in the AC are required to graduate. Beginning in Fall, 2006, the Global College will offer at least two Area Studies courses and/or seminar at each center each semester in at least two of five supported Areas of Concentration, including:

1. Peace, Conflict and Reconciliation (PCR)
2. Comparative Religion and Culture (CRC)
3. Art and Culture (A&C)
4. Global Health and Healing (GHH)
5. Environment Studies (ES)

The China Center faculty currently offer Area Studies courses each semesters in PRC and GHH, and seminars in A&C. In addition, students may design independent study projects and internships within the above Areas of Concentration to meet the twenty-four credit requirement. Students also have the freedom to design their own AC in consultation with the student's junior year faculty advisor, but should not expect substantial course offerings in areas not listed above. Students may not select an AC in a non-liberal arts area, such as in a particular craft, trade or profession.

Junior Research Seminar GCHI 340
Instructor: Lindsay Shen
Credits: Two to three
Offered fall and spring semesters
Core graduation requirement

The Junior Research Seminar is a three credit course completed at any Global College center, typically in the first semester of the junior year and no later than the second semester of the junior year, which introduces students to fundamental theoretical and methodological approaches in the humanities and social sciences. The Junior Research Seminar results in a Junior Research Proposal, which is a general outline for the Junior Research Project and a graduation requirement that all students must carry out under faculty guidance.

Students are required to write a research proposal and annotated bibliography of at least 7,500 words as their final project due by the last day of the writing week. Students may link the Junior Research Seminar to the Writing Workshop for an additional credit.

Junior Research Project GCHI 341
Credits: Four to Six
Offered fall and spring semesters
Core graduation requirement

The Junior Research Project is a four to six credit independent study completed typically in the second semester of the junior year and no later than the first semester of the senior year. The research project should be based on extensive research and fieldwork and make use of quantitative and/or qualitative research methods. Students are required to give a professional oral presentation of their project at the end of the semester under faculty guidance, which will be credit-bearing. For more information, see the Oral Presentation page of this website

For more information about the Area of Concentration, the Junior Research Seminar and Junior Research Project, please ask the Academic Director, your faculty advisor.

Guidelines for the Junior Research Proposal

The Junior Research Seminar results in a proposal for conducting the Junior Research Project the following semester, which will be a four to six credits independent study project, and may be designed as a thesis, action project or artistic project. This project aims to provide the student with a research experience in her or his chosen Area of Concentration. Research projects will be accomplished in the second semester of the junior year and no later than the first semester of the senior year. The Junior Research Project will form the basis of the Senior Seminar and Integrative Thesis, completed during the spring Capstone Semester of the senior year at the North American Center in New York. Therefore, students completing their Junior Research Seminar and Junior Research Project under the guidance of China Center Faculty Advisers should do so with the integrative senior thesis in mind.

The Junior Research Seminar project proposal for the Junior Research Project must conform to the below guidelines:

Title: Name your project. Although the title may be provisional, naming it will allow you to narrow the focus of your project.

Define the Research Topic: Begin by looking at the broad area you wish to study. For example, sustainable development, national identity or religion are broad subjects and are too broad to be the topic of a Junior Research Project. You will need to narrow the focus by specifying the specific topic you wish to examine within the broader subject. For example, "women who are organic farmers in Zhejiang Province and how this relates to sustainable development" or "Tibetan monks in Shanghai and how this relates to Tibetan chic in urban China".

Specify your Research Question (the focus question): Once you have determined the topic of research you will need to name the central point of your project. You can best do this by narrowing your topic to a specific question. For example, "do women engaged in organic farming apply gender-based values to land use?" or "how do Tibetan monks living in Shanghai recruit Han Chinese disciples?" This is your focus question. You would further define your topic by creating additional questions, such as: "What is organic farming and how does it differ from regular farming? What are the ethical issues of organic farming? Is there a gender division of labor in farming?" or "What is the average age, gender, economic and educational background of non-Tibetan Buddhists that attend Tibetan rituals in Shanghai? From which specific cultural regions of Tibet do the monks residing in Shanghai come? What is the role of the reincarnated lama in recruiting followers in areas outside of Tibet? Are Tibetan rituals performed in public or private spaces? What sort of rituals are performed?

Define knowledge sources: Which are the areas of knowledge you will need to explore (history, anthropology, fine art, etc.) as you do research. The research you will carry out will involve examining a subject from interdisciplinary perspectives. You will want to approach your subject holistically, that is, by looking at the connections to various related disciplines. In the example of women organic farmers, the researcher would look at her or his subject from perspectives of feminist ecology, history, anthropology and agriculture. In the example of Tibetan Buddhist monks in Shanghai, the researcher would look at her or his subject from the perspectives of economy and cultural capital, ethnic identity and minority or diaspora studies. Knowing from which lenses you will approach your subject will help you as you review the literature on your topic. You will compile a bibliography, which will continue to grow along with your research.

Design the Study: (Where and how and with whom). This involves the practical details of the research. You will need to plan where you will carry out the study. Who will participate in the study? What is the scope and length of time? How will you gather information? How will you deal with language differences? What will be your final product?

Collect the Data: You will further refine the study design as you describe the evidence (documentation) that will support your focus question. For example, you may decide to use participatory observation. It is often the case when you carry out an action project, for example, that you will be an intern or a member of an organization while at the same time gathering information about that organization or its members. You will decide whether to use interviews, surveys, film, photography, etc. As you describe the process you intend to use, you ought to state why you have made these choices. This step is as relevant for a creative project as it is for a social science research project. In an artistic project, the process of creation may be compared to "data collection." Describing your choice of mediums and their appropriateness to the subject and to your intent is essential.

Analysis of Data: You will want to look at your data in a way that will allow you to interpret your findings. Most of your work will be qualitative research or participatory research. While you will have a general idea of the possible ways to analyze data, you will get most of your ideas for analyzing the data as you go along.

Presentation of Findings: Describe the final product of your research and the way you will present it.

Who Will Benefit: Describe how this project fits into the progression of your learning. What have been the knowledge, skills and experiences that have prepared you for the research project? What are your learning goals in doing the project? There is also an important element of reciprocity. If you are working with a particular organization or community, how will they benefit from your work? More generally speaking, what is the significance of your work and who is the intended audience?

Bibliography: At least 1/3 of your sources must have been published within the last 5 years. Review past research and literature in the field. In addition to printed matter and electronic sources, you may also use audio and visual sources (films, recordings, paintings, and photographs), interviews and personal communications. Your bibliography should include at least ten sources on theory and method, which is described in more detail in the below section.

Calendar: Make a time line for each step as you carry out the project. This will provide you with a schedule for you work and will remind you to maintain regular submission of your work to your adviser.

Budget: Make a proposed budget for the entire project divided by expense category to be approved by the Faculty Advisor and within the limit set by the Academic Director.

Textual Resources

The student should select at least ten textual resources that inform the theory and methodology of his or her proposed research. At least half of these texts should include those made available on-line by Kathleen Modrowski, Director of North American and European Studies at World Headquarters, and those suggested by the Junior Research Seminar Committee or your faculty adviser. Half may be selected by the student in collaboration with her or his advisers, in order to provide theoretical and methodological sources specific to the proposed research project.

The resources selected by Kathleen Modrowski are designed, in conjunction with faculty guidance, to inform students about the process of conducting independent research. The emphasis of these resources is on both the theory and practice of carrying out a research project. While many of the readings pertain to social science research, there has been an attempt to broaden the sources to include areas that will interest students working in areas of creative expression. Through readings and faculty advisement, the student will explore questions of subjectivity in research, the politics of representation, reflexivity, aesthetic understanding, and creating a narrative imagination, in addition to the practical aspects of any research project (including those areas in liberal arts, humanities and creative arts) such as: defining the project, choosing appropriate research tools, honing research skills, working with texts (print and others) and writing.

These texts are available on-line through the Southampton Electronic Reserves (ERES). To access ERES:

1. Go to the Southampton Electronic Reserves
2. Click on the Electronic Reserves & Reserves Pages link
3. Click the third tab, Course Reserves Pages by Instructor
4. Scroll down to “Modrowski” and click the “View” button.
5. Click on “FWP 300,” Junior Research Seminar
6. Enter the course reserves page password provided by your Faculty Adviser in the box and click the “Accept” button
7. Click on the primary title of any text to download in Adobe PDF

Indicative readings for the above list include:

H.L. (Bud) Goodall, Jr., “Voice, Reflexivity and Character,” in Writing the New Ethnography (Altimara Press, 2000).

Joan Halifax, “Learning as initiation: Not-knowing, Bearing Witness and healing,” in Stephen Glazer, ed., The Heart of Learning (Putnam, 1999).

David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Blackwell, 1990).

Elaine Scarry, “On Beauty and Being Wrong,” in On Beauty and Being Just (Princeton University, 1999).

Other readings on theory and method suggested by the Junior Research Seminar Committee that are available in digital format on-line or from your faculty adviser, or in the China Center library, include:

Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992). Available from Questia here.

H. Russell Bernard, ed., Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 1988). Available in the China Center library.

H. Russell Bernard, Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, third edition (Altamira Press 2001). Available in the China Center library.

Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, Linda L. Shaw , ed., Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (University Of Chicago, 1995) . Available in the China Center library.

Hans-Georg Gadamer, “Prejudices as conditions of understanding (The rehabilitation of authority and tradition),” and “The hermeneutic problem of application,” in Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, trans. Garrett Barden and John Cumming (New York: Crossroad, 1988), 245-253; 274-278. Available in PDF here.

Clifford Geertz, "The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man," "Ideology As a Cultural System," and "The Politics of Meaning," in Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (Basic Books, 1973), 33-54; 193-233; 311-326. Full text is available from Questia here.

Clifford Geertz, “Being Here: Whose Life Is It Anyway?,” in Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 129-149. Available in PDF here.

Roger M. Keesing, “Chapter 1, The Anthropological Approach," and “Chapter 4, Culture and People: Some Basic Concepts," in Roger M. Keesing, Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective, Second Edition (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981). Available in the China Center library.

Daphne Patai, "U.S. Academics and Third World Women: Is Ethical Research Possible?," in Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphne Patai, eds., Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History (New York: Routledge, 1991); 137-153. Available in PDF here.

Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda, “Chapter 3, Experiencing Other Cultures," and “Chapter 14, The Modern World-System," in Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda, Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition (West Publishing Company, 1987). Available in the China Center library.

Mark C. Taylor, ed., Critical Terms for Religious Studies (Chicago: University of California Press, 1998). Available in the China Center library.

Donald Wiebe, “‘Understanding’ in Religious Studies: A Gnostic Aberration in the Modern Study of Religion,” Fu Jen Religious Studies, no. 5 (2002.6), 15-56. Available in PDF here.

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