Anthropology 339 - Ethnographic Research and Writing Summer 2008 Pribilsky and Morrissey

Institution:

Whitman College

Subject:

Description:

This course is a hands-on workshop in how to conduct ethnographic research and present findings in the genre of ethnographic writing. We will look at how cultural anthropologists and other ethnographers propose research questions and designs and execute ethnographic projects. Readings will combine straightforward discussions of the technical aspects of specific methods with reflections on the ethnographic process drawn from ethnographic writings themselves, fieldwork reflections, and fictionalized accounts of the fieldwork experience. The primary assignment of this course is for students to devise and execute their own ethnographic research project on issues of health, migration, and culture in the highland community of Ca ar, Ecuador. Each week of the course, students will critically study and employ a different method or set of methods (to include, for example, participant observation, direct systematic observations, surveys, qualitative interviews, life histories, kinship analysis, genealogies, and cultural mapping) in their research site. Class time will be divided between short lectures on specific methods, discussion of readings, and a workshop analyzing each student's experiences of using different methods in the field. The final portion of the course will explore approaches and styles for writing ethnography and the debates surrounding them. As a final project, students will be expected to produce a 20- to 25-page ethnographic report of their research. All student projects must be pre-approved by the Whitman College Institutional Review Board. Prerequisites: Acceptance into the Whitman College Ethnographic Field School in Highland Ecuador.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.whitman.edu

Phone Number:

(509) 527-5111

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Semester

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