Topic
The Curse of Tutankhamun
Instructions
Rationale
This assignment is designed to dig more deeply into the evidence you have gathered in making a case either for or against a specific conspiracy theory. For this exercise, I would like you to look at the affordances and limitations of the evidence you have collected and in what form that evidence appears. For example, how does video footage either help or hurt your case for or against a theory? Does the video allow you to make certain assumptions (affordances) or does it have specific limitations to how it can be used? The main purpose is to help you develop a more productive and robust understanding of how to use the affordances and limitations provided by this evidence to structure your argument.
Invention
For this assignment, you will look through all of the evidence you have gathered that either helps to prove or disprove your particular argument about a conspiracy theory. You will categorize this evidence based on what medium it appears (or first appeared) and how you came across that evidence (for example, through web searches, library databases, links provided by an online contact, etc.). The analysis, then, will be conducted based on what the evidence allows you to do or limits you from doing (affordances and limitations). An example of this, as used in class, is the missing footage in the Zapruder Film. The film itself gives us certain affordances in that it allows us a visual window into the events of JFK’s assassination, but it also limits us to a certain extent, because it provides only one angle and there is footage we cannot see. With this in mind, analyze the evidence you have based on this idea of affordances and limitations that are provided by the nature of the medium and the media used to find the evidence.
Composition
This assignment should be presented as a traditional essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion, but it can be presented as a visual project as long as it addresses the main analytical perspective of the assignment.
Evaluation
Along with the technical and grammatical proficiency of the essay itself, this assignment will be evaluated on how well you address the above criteria:
1) does the project provide sufficient background and context for your reader to understand what is being analyzed?
2) does the project use specific, concrete examples to support the analysis?
Requirements
5-6 pages
Double Spaced
Times New Roman, 12-point font
MLA or APA formatting
Answer preview
The curse of Tutankhamun is a contended curse that is believed by some theorist to be cast upon individuals who disrupt the mummy of any Ancient Egyptian pharaoh. This curse can strike an individual without differentiating whether that person is an archaeologist or a thief, and the curse is alleged to cause illness, bad luck or death. There have been several controversies relating to whether the curse is real or not, as well as whether the deaths have been due to rational causes such as radiation or bacteria, or the exposure of the tomb contents.
Word count: 1596