Journal Word length: 1,200 words (+ 10% on the upper limit — means don’t go mad, but at the same time don't stress if your word length goes even bigger! It is good to be brief, especially when describ

Example of Journal that the lecture gave.

A journal is not like an essay in which the introduction and conclusion are important. In this instance, the journal is accomplishing two tasks: (1) describing an event and (2) discussing the properties of that event in relation to theories of ritual.

The journal is, then, slightly different. You can think of it as half an essay. It focuses on the description of an event and a discussion of that description in relation to one of the readings we cover in the second half of the unit (e.g. Turner's 'Betwixt & Between'.

The task is then much simpler than an essay. It doesn't have a question, it doesn't require careful planning and it doesn't need the kind of rhetoric one normally finds in an essay. Having said that, it is the kind of discussion that one would undertake were one to write an essay.

That's why we call it a journal. It's designed to simulate what an ethnographer does when they set out to study a human cultural phenomenon. What details should they be noting and what details should they not worry about?

Take shoes for example (classic Rohan out of left field example!). As I was telling a seminar yesterday, I have attended many graduation ceremonies over the years and while some universities do it better than others, I can recommend that all of you attend at least one. Now, for me, attending in my University of London PhD gown and hat, I sit up on the stage with the other academics each dressed in their appropriate gowns and hats, adding to the sense of occasion. Bored (they can get very boring as one student after another receives their degree) I observe people's shoes. I'm especially interested to see who is wearing new shoes and I'm especially interested when these new shoes are high heels and difficult to wear because they're new.

OK, now, switch context and let's consider the Heaven's Gate cult members who committed mass suicide in 1997 when they followed their leader's prophecy that alien beings were going to collect them to travel off-world. They all wore the same costume including exactly the same model of Nike sports shoe.

In one context, the graduation, the shoes are an irrelevant detail noted by a bored academic attending the event. In the other context, the shoes were significant.

The journal task is then an exercise in observation. It's about you being an ethnographer and collecting information. What information you collect depends on how well-informed you are as to what matters in the event you're observing. Remember, it's asking you to describe an event and consider its ritual properties.

We'll keep talking about this in the weeks to come. The lectures and seminars should hopefully inform you.