Department for the Study of Culture and Society

Senior sociology majors and anthropology and sociology joint majors complete their senior capstone requirement by enrolling in SOC 199 in conjunction with a flagged senior experience course. Senior experience courses for each semester will be identified in the schedule of classes. In consultation with the instructor of the senior experience course, the students will design their capstone project. All students completing their capstones during an academic year will participate in the planning of an annual colloquium and present their papers/projects/experiences at this public event. Students completing their degrees in December also will present their work, but in a smaller forum. Prerequisite: Senior sociology major or anthropology & sociology major. 1 hour credit.

Note to students: One of the key aims of the senior capstone project is to provide students who, through their majors, are experienced in reading, thinking about, and doing sociology or anthropology & sociology a space to critically reflect on this work, where it has taken them (or not), and what it has meant to them both in their academic as well as personal experience. It is thus an extension of what you already have done or are doing rather than so much an addition to that. The project absolutely is to be your own "creation" (that, indeed, is one of the requirements), and faculty members are encouraged to give as much flexibility to student wishes as possible, both in terms of format and content.

Under its current structure, the senior capstone project must be linked to one of a set of courses that you either currently are taking or have taken in the recent past. This of course effectively narrows the possible range of plausible questions you will consider. We hope that in choosing one of the designated courses you have been able to provide yourself a context within which these wishes and this flexibility are not too constrained. Still, the proposed project arguably must be "linked to" the course in question.

In short, you have much prerogative in shaping the project themes and ends. Do not be timid in proposing a theme that you think may not fit closely enough the designated course's focus. The faculty supervisor will respond accordingly if she or he feels it is implausible, given this department requirement. Remember, the aim here is to do or move toward something you really are interested in and that you care about.

Each faculty supervisor will establish his or her own particular requirements for meetings, consultations, review of ongoing work, and the like. Please note that you will be asked to make a public presentation from your work at the end of the term or, at the latest, in late April or May.

Faculty of the Department for the Study of Culture and Society

September 2001