SemesterSpring Semester, 2020
DepartmentInternational Doctor Program in Asia-Pacific Studies, First Year International Doctor Program in Asia-Pacific Studies, Second Year
Course NameThe Research Methods of Ethnology
InstructorWORK COURTNEY KATHERINE
Credit3.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

Week 1- 2/18: Course Introduction



Course overview



Ethnographic methods and ethnographic writing



Deep description



Participant Observation



Reflexivity



Fieldwork Assignment: Deep Description - memory



 



Week 2- 2/25: General Thoughts on Ethnography



Read:



Ingold, T. 2017. Anthropology contra ethnography. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (1):21–26.



Abu-Lughod; L. (1991). Writing Against Culture. In R. G.Fox (Ed.); Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present (pp. 466–479). Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.



 



Additional Suggested readings



Nader, Laura, 2011. “Ethnography as Theory,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 1(1): 211-219.



McGranahan, C. (2018). Ethnography Beyond Method: The Importance of an Ethnographic Sensibility. Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, 15(1), 1–10.



Foucault, Michel. 1994[1966]. The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language. New York: Vintage. Pp. 3-17, 21-39.



Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture,” The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books, pp. 310-333.



Clifford, James. 1983. “On Ethnographic Authority,” Representations 2: 118-146.



Jackson, John L., Jr. 2012. “Ethnography Is, Ethnography Ain’t,” Cultural Anthropology 27(3): 480-497.



Fieldwork Assignment: Participant Observation



 



Week 3- 3/3: Preliminary Project Proposal Presentations



Read:



DQR, Introduction



 



Informal in-class presentation




  • Project ideas from each member of the class



- With evidence of having read DQR




  • Constructive feedback and idea sharing



Discuss




  • Fieldwork activities for this class



- Methods for data collection




  • Expectations for Fieldwork activities



Fieldwork Assignment: Interview- notes only



 



Week 4- 3/10: Discussion/ Presentation on Fieldnotes Assignment



Read:



DQR Chapter 4: The What of the Study



Narayan, Kirin. 2012. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of  Chekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Chapter 1 and 2, plus exercises- bring writing to class)



 



Informal in-class presentations




  • Describe your ‘fieldwork’ encounters so far



- Share successes and challenges






    • technical, personal, interpersonal





- Share ideas for next time




  • Constructive feedback



 



Discussion





 



Fieldwork Assignment: Deep Description- real-time



 



Week 5- 3/17: Making Subjects, Intersubjects, and Fieldwork Relationships



Read:



DQR, Chapter 2: Qualitative Research Genres



Bourdieu, Pierre. 2002. The Bachelors’ Ball: The Crisis of Peasant Society in Bearn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read Part 1



Pels, Peter. 2014. “After Objectivity: An historical approach to the intersubjective in ethnography,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4(1): 211-236.



 



Additional Suggested Readings:



Greenberg, Ofra. 1993. When They Read What the Papers Say We Wrote. In, When They Read What We Write: The Politics of Ethnography. Caroline B. Brettell, ed. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.



Rabinow, Paul. 1977. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morrocco. Berkeley: University of California Press (Chapter 3: Ali, an outsider’s insider).



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Participant Observation – Event with Video



 



Week 6- 3/24: Sites: Choosing and Navigating (5-page Proposal Outline Due)



Read:



Gupta, Akhil and James Ferguson. 1997. Discipline and Practice: The field as site, method and location in anthropology. In Anthropological locations Berkeley: University of California Press. 1-46.



Borneman, John and Abdellah Hammoudi, eds. 2009. Being There: The Fieldwork Encounter and the Making of Truth. Blackwell Publishing (introduction and chapter 5).



Marcus, George E. 1995. “Ethnography In/Of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-sited Ethnography,” Annual Review of Anthropology 24: 95-117.



 



Class discussion:



            What have your fieldwork exercises taught you about the dynamic space of field sites?



Fieldwork Assignment: Mapping- spatial representation



 



Week 7- 3/31: Proposal Presentations (Ethics On-line course completion certificate)



Read



DQR, Chapter 6: Basic Data Collection Methods



 



Discuss In-class Proposal Presentations




  • Purpose – what do you want to achieve with this research?



- Conceptual Framework – What questions are you asking?



- Related literature and studies -- What theories are you using?




  • Significance – what will this project contribute?



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Kinship/Relationship charts



 



Week 8- 4/7: Fieldwork Ethics



Read



DQR, Chapter 3: Trustworthiness and Ethics



Lambek, Michael, Veena Das, Didier Fassin, and Webb Keane. 2017. Four Lectures on Ethics: Anthropological Perspectives. Hau Books. https://haubooks.org/four-lectures-on-ethics/



Das: What Does Ordinary Ethics Look Like?



Sluka, Jeffrey A. 1996. Reflections on Managing Danger in Fieldwork: Dangerous Anthropology in Belfast. In, Fieldwork under fire. Carolyn Nordstrom and Antonius C.G.M. Robben, ed. University of California Press.



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Interview – audio recording only



 



Week 9- 4/14: Mid-term Proposal Presentations



 



Week 10 and 11: Theories



Week 10- 4/21



Read



DQR, [review] Chapter 4: The What of the Study: Building the Conceptual Framework



Bourdieu, Pierre. 2002. The Bachelors’ Ball: The Crisis of Peasant Society in Bearn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Part III



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Deep Description - photograph



 



Week 11- 4/28



Read



Fortun, Kim. 2012. “Ethnography in Late Industrialism,” Cultural Anthropology 27(3): 446-464.



Haraway, D. 1988. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14 (3):575–599.



Narayan, Kirin. 2012. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of  Chekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Chapter 5, plus exercises- bring writing to class)



 



Additional Readings:



Taussig, Michael. 2012. “Excelente Zona Social,” Cultural Anthropology 27(3): 498-517.



Butler; J. 1988. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal 40 (4):519.



 



Class Discussion:



What are you learning from your fieldwork? Do your observations of daily life give you any insights into your research question?



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Recap assessment – Questions answered/New questions



 



Week 12 and 13: Writing



Preparation Draft Proposal for Peer Review (Due week 13)



 



Week 12- 5/5



Read



DQR, Chapter 5: The How of the Study: Building the Research Design



Hastrup, K. 2004. Getting it right: Knowledge and evidence in anthropology. Anthropological Theory 4/4 455-472.



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Interview- audio recording and notes



 



Week 13- 5/12



Read



Narayan, Kirin. 2012. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of Chekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Chapter 4, plus exercises – bring writing to class)



 



Additional Suggested readings



Fabian, J. 1983. Time and writing about the other, in Time and the Other.



Comaroff and Comaroff. 1992. Ethnography and the historical imagination. In, Studies in the ethnographic imagination. Westview press.



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Group Discussion (get a partner)



 



Week 14- 5/19 Funding and Proposal Writing



Draft Proposal for Peer Review:



On the first day of class next week bring a draft of your proposal. You will share this with one of your colleagues who will return it with comments next week.



 



Prepare:



Come to class with at least three possible funding sources for your research



 



In-class Discussion



Finding and winning funds for research




  • Where to look

  • How to tailor your proposal for different funding streams

    • Reading calls for proposals

    • Speaking the language of the funder

    • Giving them what they want





Peer Review Discussion



        Research is never wholly produced by one person



        How to offer constructive critique on your colleague’s proposal



        Using the ECAA method of critique- evaluate its qualities



        Open the piece to comments from the group



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Participant Observation- social setting, head notes and notepad



 



Week 15- 5/26: Peer Review



Exchange papers with Peer Review partner



Review comments and discuss together



Re-Present individual proposals



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Textual analysis



 



Week 16- 6/2: Collecting and Organizing Data



Read



DQR, Chapter 7: Specialized and Focused Data Collection Methods



Chapter 8: Managing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Data



 



Prepare



Collect all your documents from observation activities for this class



Bring digitized versions to class



 



Exercise



Work independently to code and organize your data



Work in groups to share experiences with data collection and management



Use examples from this course or any other



Present the findings of group-work to the seminar



 



Fieldwork Assignment: Researcher choice







Week 17-18-6/9-16: Proposal Presentations



Formal Proposal Presentations


Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant
Requirement/Grading

5-Page Proposal: Pilot Field Study        (week 5)  20%



statement of the problem, background to the problem, methods to be employed, field site rationale, significance of the problem



Human Subjects Protocol       (week 6)           10%



Following university guidelines



Fieldwork Exercises        (each week)             20%



Conduct fieldwork one day per week and turn in typed fieldnotes for each week.



Include interview transcription, photographs, video, drawings, and/or voice recordings



Class Participation         (each class)              20%



Close readings of texts; active participation in class discussions and activities



10-Page Research Proposal   (final)                      20%



on the pilot research proposal (includes bibliography) 


Textbook & Reference

Bourdieu, Pierre. 2002. The Bachelors’ Ball: The Crisis of Peasant Society in Bearn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.



Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen B. Rossman. 2016. Designing Qualitative Research. Singapore: Sage Publications. (DQR)



Narayan, Kirin. 2012. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of Chekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


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