Race and Inequality Interview Assignment
ORDER # | 100181 |
PAPER TYPE | ESSAY |
WRITING LEVEL | UNDERGRADUATE |
WRITING STYLE | APA |
# OF SOURCES | 4 |
# OF PAGES & WORD COUNT | 6≈ 1650 WORDS |
A key component of this course is learning how to ask good questions as you formulate and synthesize what you have learned about the role of racial and economic stratification in shaping life experiences in the United States. This assignment gives you practice in crafting the preliminary components (or script) for an interview-style podcast where you can “make your case” about an issue related to race and inequality that matters to you. What are the essential elements of a great podcast? When we listen to podcasts we love, we note that the interviewer opens with a compelling “hook” as a way to introduce the topic or question – the interviewer then carefully defines key terms that are central to understanding that issue; the interviewer provides the audience with some compelling evidence to support the interviewer’s position on that issue, then the interviewer lifts up the perspective of an interviewee through a great set of interview questions and conversation. Finally, the interviewer gives the audience a clear set of action steps or guidance on how to move forward, and then ends the podcast with a strong wrap-up. For Assignment 1, you will draft several key components of that podcast-style interview – 1) What is your topic of interest, i.e. what is your title? 2) Give us the definition of one or two key terms in order to make sure your listeners are all on the “same page” 3) whom would you interview, to help your audience better understand the issue that you raise and the solutions that you’d like us to consider? Would that person be a leader in or member of the community? An advocate or activist? A researcher? Think about whose voice or voices you would lift up and “center” in the narrative you would ideally like to create for your audience 4) what 4 questions would you ask if you were able to interview that expert? 5) finally, recommend 1 or 2 action steps and provide us with preliminary ideas about how you would close the segment. To prepare to carry out the first steps to developing your own podcast, first learn by listening to others. Select a podcast that has interview-style sociocultural, political, or sociological content (good examples are provided throughout this syllabus). Listen to that professionally produced podcast and jot down things you liked and disliked about the interviewer’s approach. What would you do differently, if you were conducting that interview? a) Provide a title and your proposed interviewee – who would you most like to interview? REMEMBER – THIS IS A DRAFT – this is just to get you started on scripting a podcast interview – you are NOT expected to actually produce a podcast for Assignment 1. POTENTIAL TOPICS: Interview a labor organizer or a bartender for Professor Xavier Briggs or Professor Hiro Yoshikawa on issues of equity for the labor practice of paying restaurant servers through tips/gratuity Interview a young leader in the “Rock the Vote” campaign, a student signed up for NYU’s Vote2020 campaign, or professor Basil Smikle on barriers and solutions to increasing the political participation of young adults. All interview scripts will be read carefully, graded on a point scale described below. Example podcast: https://mcsilver.nyu.edu/black-boys-and-men-changing-the-narrative-1/ |