There is a writing part and a presentation slide part too. All attached below
WMNST 382: Gender, Science, and Technology Individual or Paired Assignment: “The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Cultural Boundaries, or Why is Computer Science in Malaysia Dominated by Women?” Worksheet and Slides 100 points Recommended Deadline: Tuesday, October 20th @ 9am PST Hard Deadline: Tuesday, December 1 @ 9am PST In his article “The intersection of gender, race and cultural boundaries, or why is computer science in Malaysia dominated by women?,” Ulf Mellström provides an intersectional analysis of women’s domination of computer science in Malayasia that highlights Western bias in STS and how essential local, intersectional analyses are to accurately representing the world around us. Further, he points to important aspects of participation in STEM that are frequently overlooked such as competing norms or conceptualizations of gender and the importance of spatial practices and body politics, among other things. This assignment is an opportunity for you to take Mellström’s article a starting point to jump off from, and to explore in some depth any topic that is related to the course material that you are especially interested in. As you will see, you will be asked to answer multiple questions about your topic, and the research you’ve chosen to discuss, including being asked to explain how it relates to Mellström’s article – particularly with regards to the importance of intersectionality. Further, it offers you the chance: · to practice doing intersectional analyses, · to reflect upon your own relationship to the topics you’ve decided to dig into more deeply, · to consider the kind of moral implications that course-related material might have for you personally, and society collectively, · to practice the skills you will need for your final project (doing academic research, locating course-related news items, preparing a slide deck presentation, etc.) This assignment has two parts. The first part must be done individually, and the second part may be done alone, or in pairs of your own choosing. Part I: “The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Cultural Boundaries, or Why is Computer Science in Malaysia Dominated by Women?” Worksheet (50 points) This section must be done individually. So, even if you work with someone else on Part II of this assignment, you must submit your own worksheet via Canvas. Instructions Pick one or two news stories or magazine articles (i.e. non-academic journal articles) on the same topic that are somehow related to our course material. Answer the following questions (500-800 words max). 1) What news stories or articles did you choose and why - what interested you about it (include a full citation using MLA format and a link)? (5 points). 2) What were the news stories or magazine articles about? Briefly summarize the content of what you read your own words. You may use 2 quotes from the text, maximum (10 points). 3) How do does this relate to the course material? Make a connection to a specific item of course content (a video, an article, etc.) (5 points). 4) Is the article’s analysis intersectional? Often analyses in articles are only partially intersectional, considering gender and race – for example – while leaving out other considerations like immigration status, ability, or class. Briefly discuss the ways in which your article’s analysis is (or is not) intersectional (10 points). 5) Mellström’s article provides us with excellent evidence of the importance of intersectional analyses. How might considering one missing axis of identity (such as disability – though you may choose another) change the story or its conclusions? Or, if the stories or articles you picked were fully intersectional, what might we have missed if it hadn’t considered some aspect of identity or axis of oppression (10 points)? 6) How does this article and its conclusions relate to you own life? What moral implications does its conclusions have for you? What moral implications does it have for society? (10 points)? Part II: “The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Cultural Boundaries, or Why is Computer Science in Malaysia Dominated by Women?” Slides (50 points) This section may be done either alone or in pairs of your choosing. If you work in pairs, then you only need to submit a single set of slides via Canvas. However, please ensure both of your names are on your presentation. Instructions: For this part of the assignment, you will individually locate an academic journal article related to the topic you wrote about for Part I and create a power-point slide deck presentation (5-10 slides for solo presentations; 8-13 for pairs) about this story. Even if you are doing this part in pairs, you must find a journal article to go along with each of the articles you picked for Part I. You will submit this slide deck via Canvas. There are separate instructions presentations done solo, and those done in pairs. Solo Presentation Instructions (5-10 slides) If you are doing this part alone, then your presentation must include the following: · A clear, concise, point-form summary of the stories or articles you read for Part I, and of the academic journal article you read for Part II with links to the sources. · A clear, point-form explanation of how this topic relates to the class. · An concise, point form intersectional analysis of the story. · Again, the coverage of the story itself may provide some of that, but it might not, or do so only partially. If it highlights certain axes of oppression (like disability), but fails to consider others (such as race or class) – highlight that. If you’re not sure exactly sure what the story implies for say those of different sexualities, take a guess and identify it as such. It is important to highlight our epistemic gaps and try to close them. Trying, and potentially getting it wrong, is the first step towards that. · An analysis of how the academic journal article deepened your understanding from Part I. · What did reading academic journal article add to your analysis from Part I? Did it highlight things you had not considered before? Did it confirm any of your initial concerns/analysis? · An analysis of the story implies we should do. · What are the normative claims or imperatives that arise from the story and your analysis of it? That is, identify concrete things you think we should do on the basis of this story and your analysis of it? Remember to explicitly identify your moral starting point with an “Assuming that X is good” type statement. For example, “Assuming that social justice is a moral good, then one way to respond to this scenario is X…”. Minimum 3 recommendations. Paired Presentation Instructions (8-13 slides) If you are doing this part with a partner, then your presentation must include the following: · A clear, concise, point-form summary of the stories or articles each of you read for Part I, and of the academic journal article you read for Part II with links to the sources. · So, there should be summaries for each of you. · A clear, point-form explanation of how each topic relates to the class. · An concise, point form intersectional analysis of each story. · Again, the coverage of the story itself may provide some of that, but it might not, or do so only partially. If it highlights certain axes of oppression (like disability), but fails to consider others (such as race or class) – highlight that. If you’re not sure exactly sure what the story implies for say those of different sexualities, take a guess and identify it as such. It is important to highlight our epistemic gaps and try to close them. Trying, and potentially getting it wrong, is the first step towards that. · An analysis of the connections and/or tensions between your stories and articles. · Are the stories and articles you chose connected or in tension in any way? Do they both fail to consider disability, for example, or do they both center race and gender in important ways? How might these stories and articles inform each other? · An analysis of these stories, when taken together, imply we should do. · What are some general normative claims or imperatives that arise from the story and your analysis of it (versus the more specific ones you identified in Part I)? That is, identify concrete things you think we should do on the basis of this story and your analysis of it? Remember to explicitly identify your moral starting point with an “Assuming that X is good” type statement. For example, “Assuming that social justice is a moral good, then one way to respond to this scenario is X…”. Minimum 3 recommendations. Research Assistance · Return to the Information Literacy Workshop from Module 1 to guide your use and assessment of academic journals,. · You may want to consider looking up some of the folks Subramanian cites in her article, or simply look up keywords using googlescholar to find some different articles/topics that may be of interest. · Check out the Research Guides available through the SDSU Library Website. · Touch base with the Women’s Studies Librarian, Laurel Bliss. “The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Cultural Boundaries, or Why is Computer Science in Malaysia Dominated by Women?” Worksheet and Slides Grading Rubric Your grade will for this assignment will be based on: · Correctly representing the story or article you are summarizing (Did you “get it right”? Can we all understand what the main points are? Did you get bogged down in the details?) · The clarity and specificity of your points (Is anything vague or easy to misinterpret?) · The depth of your analysis (Does it show careful reading and thoughtful consideration? Does it deal with the complexities of the reading/s and concepts? Does it demonstrate a rigorous and creative capacity with the key ideas?) · Polish (e.g. grammar, spelling, sentence structure errors, design of the powerpoint slides – did you consider your audience? Do they come together? You’ve seen me give multiple powerpoint presentations now on material we’ve read together. What do I choose to highlight or leave out?). · You will be graded using a modified form of Professor T.L. Cowan’s Grading Rubric available on Canvas.