Readings in Ethnograph

Catalog description

Readings in Ethnography engages students in analyses of narratives that result from sustained field research in communities, both in the United States and in areas abroad.  Understanding ethnography as a prolonged study of individuals and communities in their respective environments, the readings present ethnography as both method and scholarly text. The course enlists two specific means of analysis: performance ethnography in which field researchers and community members understand and use their bodies as sites of cultural information, and critical ethnography that enlists theories to interpret social phenomena including power dynamics, institutionalized behaviors and ideals, customs and codes, for example. As an interdisciplinary course, the approach will combine humanistic and social science inquiry. Given that ethnographies are based upon the researcher's immersion into the lives of individuals and communities, students will also consider the role and ethical responsibilities of the researcher to the community and to the work itself.