Marc Andre Lam: Midterm Portfolio – #2 Plain Language

The Project

Describing an assignment from my Brazil Cultures & Contexts class.

Original Assignment

 

Plain Language Version

For this second essay, write a 5-page paper in 12 point font. Double-space your text and use MLA or Chicago format to cite sources. Write the essay in response to one of the following prompts. Cite and analyze evidence from the texts that relate most closely to your chosen prompt. Give careful consideration to the language used in your sources. Develop your discussions according to these ideas.

  1. Emperor Dom Pedro II (1825-1891) was an extremely important figure in both Brazil and South America. Use Lilia Schwarcz’s The Emperor’s Beard to discuss the ways that Dom Pedro II modernized Brazil. Include discussion of Dom Pedro II being the only monarch in the western hemisphere during this time period. How was he able to modernize Brazil when they were the only state not to convert to a liberal democracy? Call upon examples from other readings to provide more context regarding this.
  2. Brazil saw many waves of Chinese and Japanese immigration. This occurred under a variety of economic and social circumstances. However, both groups of immigrants were discriminated against. This resulted from theories of scientific racism and cultural eurocentrism. Use Jeff Lesser’s Negotiating national identity: immigrants, minorities, and the struggle for ethnicity in Brazil to discuss how Brazilians viewed Chinese and Japanese culture. Discuss the different time periods of immigration for these groups. For the Chinese, this would be in the 19th century. For the Japanese, this would be the early 20th century. Use other class readings to write about the Brazilian perspective towards immigration.
  3. Consider the cities Fordlândia and Brasília. How are they similar? How are they different? In the 20th century, there was a notion of Brazil being a place to realize far-fetched dreams. How do these cities relate to this notion? What are some other examples from previous readings that speak about this idea?
  4. Use the film Garrincha: Hero of the Jungle as a point of reference. Comment on the significance of Brazilian soccer. Relate it to other cultural movements in Brazil other than sport. This could be music, architecture, politics, or something else entirely.
  5. Bossa nova, Tropicália, and Música funk are musical movements that have been controversial in Brazil. Discuss these musics as presented in the course readings. Enrich your discussion with examples from elsewhere in the world if they are relevant to the issues in Brazil.
  6. You are also welcome to develop a paper according to a different topic that analyses our course readings. Before doing this, you should contact me to discuss it and ask for my approval.

It is important that you use specific examples from each text. Analyze the specific language being used in these texts. In this regard, please avoid mentioning current or historical events. This would extend past the content of this course. Also, avoid referencing “human nature” or the “human condition.” Instead of this, you should use concrete examples from the texts that we have read. Analyze them according to some of the models that we discussed in our last class.

I am happy to provide you some general feedback regarding your draft. This does not include line-by-line or word-by-word corrections. Schedule a Zoom meeting with me to do this.

Project Description 

Translating an assignment that uses a lot of jargon, advanced words, and metaphors into plain language.

Documentation 

There were a few different assignments I considered using for this exercise, but I ended up choosing this one because of the way my professor used metaphor and adjectives for his prompts. My feeling was that a lot of this could be trimmed down and not much would actually be lost. In prompt 2 specifically, the first sentence is 44 words! Working to make that into manageable chunks was definitely a challenge, but I feel I made it comprehensible. I think what helped the most in this regard was breaking run-on sentences into 2, 3, even 4 sentences.

I referred to some of the plain language versions of class readings we were given, which were quite helpful in figuring out how to break up a sentence. One thing I didn’t include in this assignment were explicit definitions, as the prompt itself assumes prior knowledge of a lot of concepts. Defining a lot of these terms would really prolong the assignment, which is the opposite of what I intended to do here.

Some sentences also took much longer to edit than others. “How do they relate to an on-going notion of Brazil as a place in which to realize fantastic endeavors?” in particular was a really tricky one. I ended up adding words to define the context of when this “notion” happened, but I think it worked out well: “In the 20th century, there was a notion of Brazil being a place to realize far-fetched dreams. How do these cities relate to this notion?” That’s just one example of what the process was like for translating some very flowery language into plain language.

Reflection Questions

  • What is the theme of the work?
    • Trying to make verbose academic writing into Plain Text.
  • How is that theme particularly expressed through the modality of the week?
    • I’ve used a lot of Plain Text hallmarks such as active voice and shorter sentences. Also finding out ways to keep the same meaning but with simpler words.
  • Which elements of the work are beautifully/wonderfully/perfectly expressed through the modality?
    • I think I’ve been able to express how overly complicated academic writing can feel. My professor used words like “polemical” and “undergirded” which I had genuinely never heard in my life before this essay prompt. Making these phrases into something more tangible in Plain Text was something I definitely tried to express.
  • Which elements are lost or inexpressible through the modality of the week?
    • There’s a lot of context from the class that my professor references, and I couldn’t quite convey what exactly he meant at a few points. He emphasized references to class discussion, which is something that each individual student will have a different conception of.
  • Who does this project exclude? Who would not be able to interact with this work? Who is this modality not accessible for?
    • This project from a subject matter point of view is quite niche. So if you don’t actually take a Cultures & Context course on Brazil, most of this likely reads as gibberish. Nonetheless, I think it actually would’ve helped me if I had done this exercise while I took the course.
  • Now that you’ve identified who is excluded, what is one way you could remix this piece to include another population? (You don’t have to make this part, but think about it and write about it).
    • This project could be remixed into an audio prompt, perhaps to help those who respond better to audio than text.