First Paper Assignment: Analysis of a Health/Nutrition Blog

In class, we have been discussing the ways in which dietary advice works on us and through us as individuals within a food culture specific to our time and place. Social media focused on health and nutrition are a particularly interesting avenue for exploring contemporary food culture. For this first paper assignment, you are being asked to apply some of the critical concepts introduced in class and in the readings to an online health and nutrition blog of your choice. Integrating the concepts with quotes from the readings and applied to your data should be the focus of your writing. Examples of some of these critical concepts include: the moral discourse on obesity, biopower, enterprising selfhood, the new health consumer, a body made productive for capital, technologies of the self, pleasured self-discipline, etc. You are also welcome to determine which of these you wish to focus on. If you are in any doubt about whether your focus counts as a critical concept, feel free to consult the instructors.

Assignment Steps:

1) Select a social media platform focused on health/nutrition. It can be a blog or a website or any other of the newer social media that you might already follow or you can look for one that lends itself well to this assignment. You can select one from the list of examples below or choose another one that reflects a food ideology (e.g., vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, Paleo/ancestral health, flexitarian, anti-inflammatory, etc.) that you find particularly interesting. If you have any questions about the suitability of the platform you have selected, feel free to check it out with me.

2) Read some of the current or past content on your chosen platform. Spend a few hours doing this. This is an analysis of the health/nutrition blog culture, so take notes as you encounter examples or quotes that might help to illustrate one or more of the critical concepts from class. Don’t forget to read at least some of the comments, as these may reveal interesting dialogues among different readers.

3) Write an essay that describes and supports with examples how the critical concepts on which you have chosen to focus apply to the online material you have looked at. In your essay, try to address three or more of the following issues:

• Who is the writer? What can you learn about him/her? How do they construct their voice? What kind of authority do they claim (as an active health seeker, health professional, scientific researcher, etc.)?

• How is science used (if at all) in arguing for the health benefits of a particular way of eating? Does the author reference scientific articles or scientific studies? To what extent is science seen as something that is part of a messy social process of competing truth claims? To what extent does the author seem open to changing their position as new information is offered (how fixed are they in their dietary ideology).

• How is individual experience used in making a persuasive argument about the benefits of a particular diet? What is the role of personal testimony (the diet success story) in making a convincing argument? How is this weighed against the more abstract “facts” of scientific research?
• To what extent does the framing of dietary arguments incite us to be neoliberal subjects responsible for our own profits and losses? Alternatively, to what extent does it critique our present food system and call for wider societal and governmental change in our food system?
• To what extent has the website owner entrepreneurialized their platform: turning it into a method of marketing health foods, supplements, and informational media? What are they promising? 

4) Use the following parameters in writing your essay:

• 5 pages (about 2000 words), double-spaced, 1-inch margins, Times New Roman, 12-point font
• Use in-text citation (author last name, year if appropriate, page number) for references to the readings. For examples from the social media you are using as your case study, include a link to the specific entry you are citing whenever possible or alternatively note the date of posting. If you making connections to one of the films we have viewed, merely describe the particular moment you are referencing.
• A formal bibliography is not required since I prefer that you cite the course readings and films rather than additional literature other than your chosen research site. If you do wish to use sources other than class resources, then you can add a bibliography at the end.

5) Make sure your paper has a well-structured and well-developed argument. Make sure you properly cite all quotes from course materials. Check for grammar and spelling.

6) Upload your paper to Canvas by midnight Friday, November 10.

Here is a list of some nutrition/health blog examples.  Most of them happen to be more or less in the paleo/ancestral health blogosphere (i.e., the ones I tend to read). Do not feel limited by them; they are just examples of the kind of format to seek out in parallel food media worlds. Note: the emphasis should be on health and nutrition rather than cooking and recipes (although some do  include both).

• Mark’s Daily Apple
• Whole Health Source (moved to: http://www.stephanguyenet.com/)
• Chris Kresser
• Paleo Mom
• Emily Deans's Evolutionary Psychiatry (if you are interested in the link between diet and psychological well-being) The link takes you to her postings at Psychology Today, but you can find her archived postings in her original blog here.

Disclaimer: Some of these blogs are entrepreneurial in that they have things to sell, such as books and supplements. Please do not regard this list of recommended blogs as an endorsement to purchase any advertised products. There is plenty of content to be had for free.

GRADING RUBRIC:

Integration, Synthesis, and Demonstrated Understanding of Course Materials
(10 Points)

• The essay does a good job of fully responding to the prompt and constructs significant links between course content (quotes from readings, critical concepts) and examples from the blog research.
• At least three critical concepts from class are adequately and accurately defined and described, drawing from course materials. Please identify them in your opening paragraph to alert us where you are putting your focus.
• The critical concept(s) are clearly and effectively applied in the analysis of the blog content.

Construction of a Thoughtful and Critical Ethnographic Analysis
(10 points)

• The student demonstrates engagement with the material and a thoughtful analysis or critique of the health/nutrition blog culture they chose to focus on.
• The essay addresses some of the issues outlined in Step 3 (see bullet points) of the assignment prompt.
• The student effectively uses examples and/or quotes, where appropriate, to support arguments and make connections between social media content and course concepts.

Structure, Flow of Argument, Spelling, and Grammar
(5 points)

• There is a clear structure to the essay and the argument is easy to follow.
• Paragraphs and sentences flow logically from one to the next.
• Quotes and examples from outside sources are appropriately cited in text.
• Paper is appropriately formatted.
• Paper is free of typos, spelling and grammatical errors.