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Emily Hsu's piece—about her mother playing mahjongg with her Chinese/American friends—is something of a classical ethnography in that it tries to capture the behaviors and activities of a specific sub-culture. Although it is briefer and more narrowly focused than what one usually expects of an ethnography, its length and focus are quite appropriate for a single work in a freshman writing course. Emily does very good work with description, narration, and explanation but doesn't carry analysis to much depth. Nor does she—as requested—provide any context from research. Nevertheless, this is a fine piece: her prose style, development (except for analysis and context), structure, and formatting are quite strong. Read "A Night of Mahjongg." |