Write an informed letter to corporate, institutional or elected officials, outlining your
views on a social issue and calling for specific action.
– The topic of the letter will be around gendered violence (Intimate Partner Violence) and over criminalization of Indigenous woman in
Canada. Talk about intergenerational trauma, privilleges, and how colonialism plays a role.
(Look at syllabus attached for more details about the course and readings that were studied. PDF attached.)
– Provide a reflection (letter, in this case) about what you did by addressing the: what/so what/now what. (explained in details below)
– Who is the best recipient for your letter?
– Who is in the position to make change? Who has the greatest impact on the issue?
Follow these steps/tips on how to write letter to authority:
– https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Letter-to-Authority;
– https://en.reset.org/act/how-make-difference-–-tips-effective-activism
Questions to answer/consider when writing this paper:
1. What is the issue?
– Briefly explain the issue. Introduce the problem/question/issue to be analyzed in the paper.
(but paper should not analysis in and of itsef.)
2. So What?
– Provide your critical analysis of the issue (think restaurant critic’s review, not the menu).
– Why does this issue matter (to you)? Who does it affect? How does power/privilege/intersectionality operate?
– What structures and symbols are important to examine?
– Apply course concepts/material as part of your analysis.Apply course concepts/material as part of your analysis.Apply course concepts/material as part of your analysis.
3. Now What?
– What action(s) did you take?
– What impact do you think your action had?
– What are your next steps to fix this issue?
Conclusion:
– What key lessons have you learned about making change?
– Be sure to make connections between your action and the ideas raised in the readings and course discussions (include full citations).
Essay Format:
– Standard essay format (Times new roman, 12 point font, double spaced, 8 – 10 pages not included title or work cited)
– This is a LETTER to an authority covering an issue. (Be creative and follow the above links on how to write a letter to authority)
– Must include MLA citations of other people’s words and/or ideas and correctly formatted as ‘works cited’
– Write using your own voice (first person)
– Use other people’s ideas and words to support your argument, rather than make it for you
– The number of references/sources totally depends on what you need to make a strong, convincing argument. (No limit on cites used)
Evaluation:
– Work will not be evaluated on how successful they were in making change (i.e. did it work), but rather on their thoughtful planning, implementation and reflection about their chosen action. In other words, the focus is on process and reflection, rather than outcome.