Susan Faludi, "The Naked Citadel," and:

• Martha Nussbaum, "Women and Cultural Universals"
• James Scott, "Behind the Official Story"
• Deborah Tannen, "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue"
• Mary Kaldor, "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control" and Lani Guinier, "Second Prom and Second Primaries: The Limits of Majority Rule"
• James Scott, "Behind the Official Story" and Mary Kaldor, "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control"
• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context" and James Scott, "Behind the Official Story"
• Jon Krakauer, "Selections from 'Into the Wild'"

For more assignment ideas involving this essay, please visit the Faludi link-o-mat.

Nussbaum and Faludi: Universalism and Local Tradition

In your last essay, I asked you to take a position on the question of cultural relativism versus cultural universalism.  Martha Nussbaum offered us the opportunity to compare the rights of a general group, in this case women, to the right of a particular culture to exist.  Your next article, Susan Faludi's "The Naked Citadel," also draws attention to the question of a culture's right to exist, but it brings the problem a little closer to home.  Faludi shows us the Citadel, a public (state-funded) military institution in South Carolina which was, until recently, exclusively male.  Those who were against the admission of women to the Citadel believed deeply in the traditions and internal culture of the college, and believed they had a right to exist without outside interference.

For your next essay, I would like you to consider the following question in terms of the two assigned essays:  What right does a tradition have to exist?  You may also consider any or all of the following support questions:  If you believe traditions have some sort of inherent right to exist, why?  If not, how would you defend yourself against critics?  What, if anything, gives one tradition more weight than another?  Does changing particular elements about a tradition destroy it, or is it necessary?  Consider Nussbaum's Central Human Functional Capabilities; do they apply to the Citadel?  What difference does personal choice make?  What about the Citadel's public financial support?  Remember to use at least three quotations per author.

(To see the rest of the assignments in this sequence, please visit our sample sequences page.)

Megan Heller

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Domination and the Arts of Gender Performance

James C. Scott argues that social actions are actually signs of power that are translated into performances. For this writing assignment, I would like you to consider the performance of gender roles as they appear in Susan Faludi’s, "The Naked Citadel." In other words, does masculinity become a public or hidden transcript at the Citadel? Does masculinity affect femininity or vice versa? Finally, how does Shannon Faulkner’s disengagement of gender politics create, or play into, a public or a hidden transcript?

Nicole Smith, Fall 2000

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Faludi and Tannen: Gender and Learning

In your last essay, I asked you to demonstrate whether or not a culture's traditions had some inherent right to exist.  In Susan Faludi's "The Naked Citadel," we saw the Citadel's controversial fourth-class system as a means of breaking cadets before rebuilding them, and the conflicts raised when women were introduced into that environment.  She claims that "[W]e are at a psychic and economic crisis point for manhood," both in confronting the traditions of the Citadel and on a larger scale.  Deborah Tannen goes beyond tradition as well to the roots of learning in Western culture, and there finds what could be the same roots for the violence at the Citadel.  Tannen sees Western education as being based in a system of confrontation and aggressive argument, and proposes a compromise between debate and dialogue which would involve less the questions of "wrong" and "right", and more the possibility for constructive agreement and disagreement.  She claims that the current system is based in a militaristic model that is also responsible for the exclusion of women in certain academic arenas.

For your next essay, I would like you to consider the following question:  How might a shift in the way we think about learning change the way we think about masculinity?  As you write, you may also consider the following questions:  Why do you believe that an agressive, militaristic model of education has perservered for so long?  Would the Citadel be able to exist in a revised system like Tannen's, or would its traditions be destroyed?  Finally, a question which could potentially stir controversy:  Do you agree with Tannen?  Is such a change really necessary?  Remember to use at least three quotations per author (one per support; six quotations).

(To see the rest of the assignments in this sequence, please visit our sample sequences page.)

Megan Heller

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Faludi, Guinier, Kaldor: Tradition and Exclusion

In "The Naked Citadel," Faludi explores the distinctive culture of the Citadel, a state-funded military institution in South Carolina, which, until the controversial case of Shannon Faulkner, was exclusively male. The faculty, administration, alumni, and cadets who opposed admitting women were deeply invested in, and committed to, the traditions and rituals that have developed since the institution was founded in 1882. The reason most frequently cited for excluding Faulkner and other women was, "She would be destroying a long and proud tradition" (256). Both Guinier and Kaldor also discuss cultures and traditions that are exclusive. In "Second Proms and Second Primaries: The Limits of Majority Rule," Guinier offers two examples of majority rule that exclude a specific minority group: racialized voting in Phillips County and the prom at Brother Rice High School. According to the judge in the case of Whitfield, et al. vs. State Democratic Party, "Americans have traditionally been schooled in the notion of majority rule…" (qtd. in Guinier 342). Similarly, in "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control," Mary Kaldor discusses the "new wars" involving informal or private military networks ("netforce"), which cohere around "an extreme political ideology based on the exclusive claim to state power on the basis of identity - ethnic chauvinism or religious communalism" (386).

Using Faludi and either Guinier or Kaldor, consider why these traditions exclude certain groups, genders, and/or races. There are thousands of traditions ranging from the familiar and formal ritual of Christian Communion or Jewish Shabbat to the private rituals of a family surrounding various holidays.

Are all traditions inherently exclusive, or can traditions and cultures be fully inclusive? Are traditions a positive or negative force in human society, and what right, if any, should they have to exist?

To help you write this essay, you might want to consider the relationship between traditions and family groups, violence or war, citizenship, gender roles (masculinity, femininity), political power, and/or religion.

Carrie Preston, Spring 2003

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Re-Vision, Tradition & Public Life sequence

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Scott, Faludi, and Kaldor: The Transcript Test

In your last paper, I asked you to take a position on the inclusiveness or exclusiveness of traditions and to determine if traditions have an inherent right to exist. In class discussion, we discovered that there could be a contradiction between the publicly stated claims of a tradition and the behaviors or actions that the tradition actually produces. We also realized that certain groups might have the power to enforce traditions and that others might participate in traditions with varying degrees of willingness and compulsion. James C. Scott's "Behind the Official Story" offers an approach for understanding and explaining the interactions between dominant and subordinate groups. He suggests that "public transcripts," the open interaction between those involved in unequal power relations often conceal the real distribution of power and the "hidden transcripts" that take place "offstage," outside of the "power-laden context," and between members of the same group (555).

For this paper, you must apply Scott's explanatory model to the unequal power relations that Kaldor and/or Faludi discuss.

You must first determine where structures of dominance appear in their essays and then decide how to distinguish between the dominant and subordinate groups. Who holds the power, and how do you know (or why is it impossible to come to a decision)? Do the authors (Kaldor or Faludi) give you the public transcripts or the hidden transcripts in their essays? Scott insists that "by assessing the discrepancy between the hidden transcript and the public transcript we may begin to judge the impact of domination on public discourse" (555). Can you, using Scott's framework, evaluate how power relations influence discourse in the examples you have chosen? That is, does Scott's approach work?

Carrie Preston, Spring 2003

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Re-Vision, Tradition & Public Life sequence

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Gladwell, Scott & Faludi: Behavioral Determinants

In "The Power of Context," Gladwell suggests that "behavior is a function of social context." He explains crime as a product of environmental factors, especially "little things" like broken windows, graffiti, and trash (294). Unlike psychological models, which insist that fundamental character traits and genetics work together to produce behavior, Gladwell emphasizes the significance of "situation" (296). Scott and Faludi also examine several influences on human behavior. Scott discusses the impact of unequal power relations on the behavior of both dominant and subordinate groups, and Faludi suggests that the hazing practiced by upperclassmen on cadets is a product of the tradition of a fourth-class system.

Do these writers have similar or irreconcilable understandings of human behavior? For this paper, you must use Gladwell, Scott, and Faludi to come to a conclusion about the most significant determinants of behavior. What are the practical implications of your understanding of behavior in terms of crime, violence, war, or any other focus of your choosing?

Carrie Preston, Spring 2003

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Re-Vision, Tradition & Public Life sequence

Faludi & Krakauer: Defining Identity

In "The Naked Citadel," Susan Faludi sets out to study how young men are turned into soldiers at a military academy. They surrender willingly their personal identities in order to become part of a group dynamic. In Jon Krakauer's “Selections from Into the Wild ,” the author relates how a recent college graduate by the name of Christopher McCandless decides to stop being a part of society in order to become a better individual. McCandless' spiritual journey to the Alaskan Wilderness is his personal quest to “become a man” under his own terms.

What do these two essays suggest regarding how a person's identity is defined and experienced within his or her own lifetime? Is it something we own for ourselves, something that we have no control over, or just something else? What roles do groups and individuals play inside this situation?

Think of the following as a helping hand. Would you argue that McCandless' journey is consistent with the Citadel's efforts to create a certain kind of man? What role does “choice” plays? Take a risk and create a working project using these two essays. Be specific and show me what you can do.

Angel Soto, Fall 2005

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