Course Description: The sociology, anthropology, and folklore of the Island of Newfoundland. The emphasis in the course is on how sociologists, anthropologists, folklorists and other social scientists (recognized as such or not) attempt to explain the social and cultural character of 'contemporary' Newfoundland. As this course does not have any prerequisites, some time will be spent in explaining conceptual tools used in sociology, anthropology, and folklore.

Format: The format of the course will be class room lectures with your input encouraged. Specific readings will be assigned each week to enable participants to prepare for the classes. As you read each of the assigned materials think of what it is the writers are trying to say about Newfoundland, whether you are satisfied with how they do so, and what is the relevance of such to modern Newfoundland society. What this means is that all readings should be done critically. While you are expected to understand the readings, you are free to agree or disagree with them; formulating clear and comprehensible criticisms is central to sociology, anthropology, and folklore (along with the other social sciences).

WebCT: While it is not necessary that you use WebCT in this course, using it will make the course go along more easily. You will find that all of the topics and readings for the classes can be found in the Calendar, email is easily sent to me though the WebCT mail (and doesn't go through my SPAM filter so won't get lost that way if you forget to put 2230 in the subject line), you can use the chat rooms or the discussion areas, and announcments will be posted there. To get on to WebCT go here and enter your 9-digit student number and 6-digit PIN (from Student Web, or the first six digits of that PIN if is more than six digits) to log in. There is lots of help available throughout WebCT (from the sign-in page there are guides, help, and FAQs and when you are in WebCT there is always context sensitive help in the upper right corner of the screen). And always feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Readings: There are required two required texts for this course and a book of readings:

Pocius, G. L. (2000). A place to belong: Community order and everyday space in Calvert, Newfoundland (2nd ed.). Montreal, PQ & Kingston, ON: McGill-Queens' University Press.

Palmer, C., & Sinclair, P. (1997). When the fish are gone: Ecological disaster and fisheries in northwest Newfoundland. Halifax, NS: Fenwood Publishing.

Lewis, R. (Ed.) (2004). Anthropology/Folklore/Sociology 2230: Newfoundland society and culture, assigned readings. St. John's, NF: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Additional readings are in the Collection of Readings for this course on sale at the bookstore. Note that the book of readings is substantially different from the one I used before the Fall of 2001 and from the one used in the other people teaching this course. Make sure that the book of readings has my name on it. You should also have a good dictionary which you should use in the readings when ever you come across a term which you do not understand. If you are going on in sociology you might also consider getting:

Abercrombie, N., Hill, S., & Turner, B. S. (2000). The Penguin dictionary of sociology (4th ed.). London, U.K.: Penguin Books. [Other additions are also available.]

Questions/Contact Information: You can contact me with any questions you have either via e-mail (via WebCT is best, see below) or by telephone during office hours. I may also be in my office at other times but I cannot guarantee that and I may not be able to talk then if I am in (I have other courses that I am teaching as well). I do not appreciate being contacted at home.

The readings will be most useful to you if you do them before the class which covers the subject of the readings. Abercrombie, Hill & Turner (2000) and your college dictionary can be helpfully used in your reading. Your basic philosophy should be: "If I don't know what a word or phrase means, I'll find out what it means," by using your dictionary, Abercrombie, Hill, & Turner (2000), or by asking me.

WebCT: While it is not necessary that you use WebCT in this course, using it will make the course go along more easily. You will find that all of the topics and readings for the classes can be found in the Calendar, grades will be posted there, email is easily sent to me though the WebCT mail (and doesn't go through my SPAM filter so won't get lost that way if you forget to put SAF 2230 in the subject line), you can use the chat rooms, and questions or comments you have which you weren't able to bring up in class can be put in the the discussion areas. To get on to WebCT go to http://webct.mun.ca:8900/ and enter your 9-digit student number and 6-digit PIN (from Student Web, or the first six digits of that PIN if is more than six digits) to log in. There is lots of help available throughout WebCT (from the sign-in page there are guides, help, and FAQs and when you are in WebCT there is always context sensitive help in the upper right corner of the screen). And always feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Resources: You might find the following web sites helpful.

Centre for Newfoundland Studies

MUN QEII Library Internet Resources for Sociology

MUN QEII Library Reference Sites

Religion, Society and Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador

Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archive

Maritime History Archive, Memorial University

J.R. Smallwood Centre

Mel Baker's Homepage

The History of the Northern Cod Fishery

Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web

Course Requirements and Methods of Evaluation: Students are expected to attend classes, have read the assignments before class, and to complete any written assignments. See the current course outline for the method of evaluation which will be used for this term. However, the general form of evaluation has two options and is as follows:

Mid-term exams will consist of two or more essay questions (depending on how many mid-term exams there are) of a fairly general nature, the final exam will consist of three or more similar essay questions. The point to the exams will be to demonstrate that you have read and thought about the readings and that you have been to and thought about the lectures and videos shown. If you choose Option B you should consult the section on The Primary Research Essay bellow. You must also consult with me before the first exam to tell me that you intend to do Option B and to talk to me about the topic of the essay to see if it is acceptable.

Grading Scheme: Grades for the exams and (if you chose to do one) papers will follow the following guidelines (from the MUN Calendar 2003-2004, p. 54, but note that grades are no longer given in multiples of five), taking into account the nature of the work done (i.e., exam versus essay):

A	80 to 100%
B	65 to 79%
C	55 to 64%
D	50 to 54%
F	below 50%

Description of Grades

A indicates EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE with clear evidence of

• a comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter and principles treated in the course
• a high degree of originality and independence of thought
• a superior ability to organize and analyze ideas and
• an outstanding ability to communicate

B indicates GOOD PERFORMANCE with evidence of

• a substantial knowledge of the subject matter
• a moderate degree of originality and independence of thought
• a good ability to organize and analyze ideas and
• an ability to communicate clearly and fluently.

C indicates SATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE with evidence of

• an acceptable grasp of the subject matter
• some ability to organize and analyze ideas and
• ability to communicate adequately

D indicates MINIMALLY ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE with evidence of

• rudimentary knowledge of the subject matter
• some evidence that organizational and analytical skills have been developed, but with significant weaknesses in some areas, and
• significant weakness in the ability to communicate

F indicates FAILING PERFORMANCE with evidence of

• an inadequate knowledge of the subject matter
• failure to complete required work.
• inability to organize and analyze ideas and
• inability to communicate or failure to complete required work

I don't grade writing style, however, if I can't understand what you are saying then I cannot give you marks for that and real problems in writing style can mean that I cannot understand what you are trying to say. I also don't grade 'opinions', i.e., there aren't right and wrong opinions in this course, you may agree or disagree with the readings and written lecture material in this course. What I will grade is your understanding of readings and lectures and the logic of your arguments about them. I will ask questions about subjects covered by one or more of the readings and/or lectures, in response you might be in agreement, or not, with the readings. What you will get points on in the exam for is showing that you have read and understood the readings and/or lectures and for your ability to critically analyze what they say (i.e., showing how and why they are right or wrong, perhaps, but by no means necessarily, bringing in evidence/proof from outside of the course material).

For example, if I were to ask on an exam, "Some people argue that to find 'real' Newfoundland culture you have to go to small outports. Comment." There wouldn't be a right answer, i.e., 'this is true' or 'this is false', which you would get points for and a wrong answer that you would not. There would be good answers and poor ones. Good ones would include reference to the relevant readings and would clearly and logically link them to your opinion of the argument (which could be that you agree with it, disagree with it, or only comment on it); in other words, there are many ways to answer this question well.

While there are a number of ways to produce a good answer to this or any other question, there are an infinite number of ways to produce a poor one. However, two common ways I have found students go astray is 1) to not answer the question but instead answer some other question, e.g., detailing the differences in rural and urban Newfoundland in response to the above example; 2) to state an opinion but then to make no reference to the readings/lectures in the course.

Class Guidelines: The lectures and readings are designed to complement each other. It will be difficult to pass the course depending on only one or the other. To make best use of the lectures you should try to have read the relevant items before the class. Because some of the readings are at a more advanced level than found in many first year courses, one day of the week (Friday in most or all cases) will be set aside to answer questions about and discuss the readings or lectures.

One grading option in this course is to do a primary research essay on some aspect of Newfoundland (i.e., generally the island portion of this province, there is a separate Labrador society and culture course) society and culture. As this will be worth 40% of the final grade of those choosing this option I need to make clear what I mean by a primary research essay and what I expect in it.

Up until 2001 the primary research essay in this course most often involved students doing interviews with relatives, friends, acquaintances, & about some aspect of their life. New rules about ethics in research make that more complicated in a course like this, where the research essay is optional and where there is not a section in the course devoted to research and research ethics. Therefore your primary research for this essay MAY NOT involve human subjects, i.e., you may not interview or observe people, without ethical approval. Without ethical approval your research for this may only make use of publicly available documents and sources, such as material from published sources (newspapers, books, web - sites, and anything meant for public distribution). Materials from public archives - which would include historical material such as census records, reports, and other government records - can also be used if that information is generally available to the public. If your research involves aboriginal peoples other ethical issues and principles come into play and you should contact me personally as early as possible in the term to discuss those issues.

If you wish to do research using human subjects, e.g., interviewing people, then you should talk to me about in the first week of classes.

By primary research I mean a paper based on primary sources or data, as opposed to secondary ones. What are primary sources or data? How do they differ from secondary sources or data? The difference between them is not sharp and depends ultimately on how the sources or data are used. In its most general sense primary sources or data are the direct reporting of the events being studied and not someone else's interpretation of those events. For example, a paper on schooling in the 1950s in Newfoundland based mainly on the published memoirs (autobiography) of someone who was in school in Bay-de-Somewhere, Newfoundland, in the 1950s who and described their personal experiences of school would be an example of a primary research essay because it is based on primary data. However, a paper using Frederick Rowe's (1976) Education and culture in Newfoundland as its main source would not be acceptable as a primary research paper because, in this case, Rowe (1976) is clearly a secondary source.

Things can be complicated however. If the topic of your paper was, for example, 'Liberal views on educational reform in the 1960s', then Rowe (1976) would be a primary source because Frederick Rowe was a member of the Liberal government at the time and his book would be a reasonable source for data on his views on educational reform. But note, however, if the subject were not 'Liberal views on educational reform' but instead just 'educational reform', then Rowe (1976) would be a secondary source (mostly, as the Minister of Education at the time there may be some primary information there too, e.g., Frederick Rowe's description of events he directly observed).

You can make use of secondary sources in your paper, in fact they can help you in framing a question. For example, if you wanted to do something on the fishery (but weren't sure what) you might want to read James Faris's (1972) book (part of the readings in this course) and try to find out whether what he described for Cat Harbour applied to the community you are interested. For example, Faris (1972, pp. 102-105) claims that in Cat Harbour "the status of skipper carries no real authority" (p. 104). You might want to look to see if that is true else where or even true for Cat Harbour. You could do so by using primary sources such as archival records.

To make sure that what you are doing is acceptable you should give me a fairly detailed description of what you are going to do and how you are going to do it before the first mid-term exam (and you would be better off if you did so as early as possible). Don't think that this paper can be done the night or weekend before it is due. The research will take some time and some work. You should plan on having the research done by or before Week 7 of the course. It would be best to began the research before the first mid-term exam so that, if the research aspect of the topic looks too difficult, you can switch to option A.

As for all research papers, the sources you use, both published and unpublished, must be cited and placed in a bibliography. The citation style you adopt is up to you but it should follow some recognized style (I use APA) and be consistent. Everything in your paper must either be your words and ideas or be properly cited. If you have any doubts about what does and does not need to be cited contact me or the Writing Centre (room SN 2053, telephone 737-3168/7681, website http://www.mun.ca/writingcentre/ ). You cannot present the words or ideas of others as your own. To do so constitutes plagiarism. What I am interested in is your research and you ideas, you do not get points for simply restating what someone else has written (even if properly cited).

Feel free to consult me at any time during the course about how your paper is going, I am willing to read and comment on your paper anytime up to one week before they are due. If you have any doubts about whether you are actually doing a piece of primary research ask me. Even well written papers that are not based mainly on primary sources will not get a good grade (and average to poor ones will get a failing grade).

I much prefer that the paper be typewritten. If you cannot do so then it must be clearly and legibly written. I cannot grade what I cannot read. You must make two (2) copies of the paper in case the copy you turn in gets lost. If your paper is lost I will ask you for your other copy.

Bibliography

Faris, J. C. (1972). Cat Harbour: A Newfoundland fishing settlement. St. John's, NF: Institute of Social and Economic Research.

Rowe, F. W. (1976). Education and culture in Newfoundland. Toronto, ON: McGrath-Hill Ryerson.

CLASS OUTLINE (see the current course outline)

Class PowerPoint outlines are available through WebCT

Current news and updates

January 11, 2006: The course outline has been updated for Winter 2006. Note that there are lots of used copies of all of the texts floating around. There is an older, hard cover, version of Pocius as well. You can use that as well because, other than one small preface (which you can read in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies), it is identical. If you buy a used copy of the book of readings then make sure that it is my book of readings, others won't work, however, the present distance version of the book of readings is the same (because I teach that too). If you are short of cash, waiting for your student loan, whatever, you can also get all of the readings (including the book of readings) from the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, though you can only read them there.

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