ANTH81a
Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork:
Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
[draft syllabus]
Spring 2016
Elizabeth Ferry
New Year’s Eve, 2015, Manchester.
Tu/Fri 11:00-12:20
Location TBA
Professor Elizabeth Ferry
Office: Brown 226
Department of Anthropology
Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:00-2:30 pm
Thursday 11 am – 12 pm
Here is your chance to carry out your own field research, over the course of one semester, with supervision and guidance on how to choose a question, devise appropriate methods, learn interviewing, fieldnotes, mapping, and other methods, analyze your data and create a final project.
We will begin the course choosing a small project that can be feasibly done or at least begun in one semester. The class will have a significant workshop component to allow you to discuss your ongoing fieldwork with Prof. Ferry and with your peers. You will also conduct a series of short exercises that will introduce you to some different methods, and along the way we will read excerpts from a range of ethnographies to inspire and guide us. We will also have periodic Skype sessions with Ph.D. students currently doing fieldwork in Cameroon, Peru, and Denmark.
Learning Goals:
Students will learn:
- to think of ideas for research
- to develop a focused research question
- to choose appropriate methods and subjects
- to interview and conduct participant observation
- to record and analyze data
- to read ethnographic work and think about the methods and information that lie behind it
Two important notes:
- 12 hours a week over 13 weeks (the amount of time you are expected to spend on one 4-credit course) is not nearly enough to develop and execute a successful ethnographic project. Our goal, therefore, is not to come up with something that looks like the research we read about in class, but to give you a taste of what ethnographic research is about, and to introduce you to and begin to practice some of the needed skills. Your final project will be evaluated not on how well you have executed the project you chose, but how well you have documented the process.
- This course has less assigned reading than many other courses in the department. You will usually be asked to read only 30-50 pages in a week, as opposed to 100-200 pages. This is because of the expectation that you will be conducting ongoing fieldwork and field observations, for at least 7 hours per week. This is a major commitment, essential to success in the course.
Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Academic Integrity: You are expected to be familiar with, and to follow, the University’s policies on academic integrity. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures. All policies related to academic integrity apply to in-class and take home projects, assignments, exams, and quizzes. Students may only collaborate on assignments with permission from the instructor. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university.
Classroom use of electronics: You may use a reader or laptop in class, on condition that you refrain from using the Internet or checking email during class (unless we are going online as part of the class). I reserve the right to ban use of electronics if their presence becomes a problem. Please turn off your phone during class.
Statement of time required: Success in this four – credit course is based on the assumption you will spend an average of 9 hours of time outside of class in preparation and completing course assignments.
Course requirements:
Attendance and Participation: (20%)
If you are unable to attend class, please send me an email before class. In exceptional circumstances (sickness, family emergency, job interview, athletic competition with a letter from the athletics department) you will be excused from that class. Otherwise absences will be factored in to your participation grade. For class, you must have done all readings, be prepared to discuss them, and bring a hard copy or electronic version.
Participation is crucial in this class. You will be reporting on your own project most weeks in the Tuesday workshop and will be expected to discuss the projects of others as well. There will be a lot of group work on Tuesdays as well. Your work in these activities will be factored into your participation grade.
5 Short Written Assignments: (10% each = 50%)
The following is a list of assignments. A full description of the assignments will be handed out during the semester. All page lengths are for double-spaced text.
Because of the number of assignments and the fact that they build on each other, I will not be giving extensions. You will be docked 2 points (out of 100) for each 24 hour period. Assignments will not be accepted after one week past the deadline.
- preliminary research question/field proposal (1-2 pages) due Feb. 2
- observation and fieldnotes exercise (3-4 pages)due Feb 12
- interview exercise (length depends on the interview; at least 3 pages) due March 8
- cultural artifact analysis (2 pages) due March 22
- mapping exercise (2 pages – plus map) due April 8
Fieldwork Log: (10%)
Each week you are expected to spend at least 5 hours conducting field research and observations. This includes any interviewing, participant observation, or site or event visits. You are also expected to spend at least two hours per week on fieldnotes (this is less than anthropologists normally spend, but will give you a taste). You will be keeping a weekly fieldwork log that documents your activities, and will turn this in to me before class every Tuesday, starting on February 2nd. On those Tuesdays where we have workshop (noted on the syllabus), you will be reporting on your field activities, and responding to others’ reports.
Final Project: (20%)
As noted above, the final project can take the form of a final paper of 10-12 pages, or of some other medium, such as a short video, online exhibit, mapping exercise, poster, etc. You will choose the final project in consultation with me (Prof. Ferry). I have arranged for technical support and expertise for multimedia and mapping projects.
Part 1: What is Anthropology and What do Anthropologists Do?
Fri, 1/15 Introduction to the course
“The Family Breakfast,” Renato Rosaldo (in class)
Tues, 1/19
“The Subject, Method and Scope of this Inquiry,” Bronislaw Malinowski (1-11, 20-25).
“Introduction: Partial Truths.” Writing Culture, James Clifford (1-15, 25-26).
Friday, 1/22
“Thick Description,” Clifford Geertz;
Selections from Beth Conklin, Consuming Grief
Karen Ho, Liquidated.
Tues, 1/26 selections from Andrew Abbot, Methods of Discovery
How to turn an idea into a field project. Talk with Ph.D. Student in the field Amy Hanes (Cameroon)
Fri, 1/29
How to turn an idea into a field project, continued.
Tue, 2/2 Workshop
Selections from Renegade Dreams. Laurence Ralph; Food, Gender, and Poverty in the
Ecuadorian Andes, Mary Weismantel
Preliminary research question/field proposal due
Fri 2/5
IRB/Human Subjects
-Brandeis University IRB introduction
-AAA Ethics Code
visit from Brandeis IRB
Tuesday 2/9
“Notes on (Field)notes,” James Clifford (47-53, 63).
Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Emerson, Fretz and Shaw (4-11, 68-83).
Observation/fieldnotes exercise
Friday, 2/12
“Participant Observation,” Russell Bernard [online resource] Philippe Bourgois, In Search of Respect [selections]
Fieldnotes exercise due
February vacation: February 15-19
Tuesday, 2/23 TBA
Friday, 2/26 TBA
Tuesday 3/1
“Interviewing: Unstructured and Semistructured,” Russell Bernard [available online]
Weiss, Learning from Strangers, [selections]
Friday 3/4interview exercise Charles Briggs, “Learning to Ask”
Part 2: Bodies and Things
Tue, 3/8 , Essays from Fat: Anthropology of an Obsession, Introduction, “Lard,” “Oil” “Ideal”
interview exercise due
Friday 3/11
Lochlain Jain “Cancer Butch”
Moises Lino E Silva, “Queer sex vignettes from a Brazilian favela: An ethnographic striptease”
Tuesday 3/15
Daniel Miller, Stuff [selections]
Workshop
Fri 3/18
Tim Ingold, Being Alive [selections]
Elizabeth Ferry Minerals, Collecting and Value, conclusion
Tuesday 3/22
Workshop
Cultural artifact analysis due
Friday 3/25 no class – midterm recess
Part 3: Places and Spaces
Tuesday 3/29
Guest lecturer Laura Cade Brown
reading TBA
Friday 4/1 Wisdom Sits in Places, Keith Basso [selections].
Pierre Bourdieu “The Kabyle House”
Tuesday 4/8
Selections from Gaston Gordillo, Landscapes of Devils
workshop
mapping exercise due
Tues 4/12
Selections from Exit Zero, Christine Walley; Working the Boundaries, Nicholas DeGenova, Renegade Dreams, Laurence Ralph.
Conclusion: What is Anthropology good for anyways?
Fri 4/15
Ieva Jusionyte, “First responders want to help migrants - but immigration policy gets in the way;”
Gillian Tett, “An Anthropologist on Wall Street,;”
Yarimar Bonilla and Jonathan Rosa,“#Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States.”with supplementary materials
Tuesday 4/19
Workshop
Thurs 4/21 (BRANDEIS FRIDAY) LAST DAY OF CLASS
Friday, April 22 – Friday, Apr. 29Passover and spring recess: No university exercises.
Final project due
Tues May 10 at 2 pm.
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