Throughout the quarter, you will incrementally work on a research proposal focus

Throughout the quarter, you will incrementally work on a research proposal focused on a topic of your choosing (within the broad framework of the class). The research proposal will help you develop your final essay for this course. Even if you do not plan to pursue research in the field of “Anthropology of Latin America,” the assignment is designed to provide you with experience exploring open-ended topics, refining a research thesis, and situating your work in relation to other scholars working in the field.
A central part of any research proposal is a literature review that outlines key discussions or themes in a relevant body of scholarship to situates your work as in conversation with the academic literature. Your research topic must take place in Latin American and must be related to the themes of the course.
Your annotated bibliography must include at least five peer-reviewed scholarly works (must include at least one ethnography).
Use Google Scholar or journal databases like JSTOR to find peer-reviewed works (articles and books).
One of your five scholarly works must be an ethnographic book written by an anthropologist and/or social scientist.
You need to include the full reference information (author’s name, year of publication, title, journal title, publisher, etc.). Any citation format is fine if it is consistent.

For each scholarly work, please address the following in one or two paragraphs:
Elaborate on the background / intellectual agenda / positionality of the author.
Summarize main points or arguments of their work.
Generate a “working definition” of key concepts or terms.
Evaluate major contributions / applications and critiques of their work.
State how you will potentially use or analyze their work in your research paper as evidence.

After selecting your literature and reading the scholarly works, craft a working research thesis statement.
Examples:
In my paper, I will focus on (topic) in (country) to address how (three meaningful subtopics/themes/concepts) impact (cultural group).
I argue that (topic) in (country) for (cultural group) because (two meaningful subtopics/concepts) is connected to issues of (one theme).
My research proposal will illustrate why (topic) is (one theme) for (cultural group) in (country) due to factors such as (two meaningful subtopics/concepts).