Answer to Question 1
Submission of major thesis and proposed scope of the project
Report of initial research
Restatement of the topic after it has been refined
Progress update of work completed
Tough draft of the final paper
Final paper
I have found my students do better work with a lengthy assignment if they are required to turn in some part of their project every two to three weeks.
Answer to Question 2
. . . answer questions regarding geography, history, and material culture
. . . use the music as a way to explore issues of ethnicity and identity, aesthetics, gender, and spirituality
. . . a consideration of this music in its cultural context . . . leading us to think about the function of music in the culture of diaspora
. . . investigate the biographies of individual musicians and audience members. . leading to
a discussion of the roots of their individual musical worlds and the routes their musical paths have taken over time. This might bring us to the
larger themes of diaspora, cultural genocide, and the political economy of music.
Finally we could try to figure out what the music means and to whom?