Research methods

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

The teaching methods of the discipline articulate the debate in class of the bibliography with practical exercises of experimentation of different research methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Students should write a fieldnote and perform two exercises on two of the methodologies discussed in class.

Learning Outcomes

This discipline intended, on the one hand, to introduce students in the current contexts of discussion about the need for review of research methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology, in particular, ethnographic fieldwork. On the other hand, it aims to provide a context of practice and experimentation of different research methodologies in order to learn by doing. Students should be able to reflect critically on the potentials and limits of different research methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Know and practice different modalities of ethnographic research. Know methodologies of working with subjects, images and objects. Practice different modalities of ethnographic writing. Develop collaborative research methodologies with other disciplines and practices outside academy. 

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The Syllabus focuses on the critical reformulation of ethnographic fieldwork starting from the reflexive turn of the postmodern anthropology. Different modalities of ethnographic authority will be discussed and students will have the opportunity to practice these different modalities, notably through fieldnotes. Different ethnographic methodologies will be addressed later, from participant observation, multi-sited ethnographies, visual and digital methodologies, to object-centered methodologies. Finally, we will talk about collaborative research contexts not only with other disciplines and within academia, but also with other knowledge and practices beyond it. We will refer here to the distinction drawn by Tim Ingold (2014) between participant observation, future-oriented, and ethnography as a practice of documentation.

Head Lecturer(s)

Sandra Isabel de Oliveira e Xavier Pereira

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Fieldnote : 30.0%
For two practical exercices: 70.0%

Bibliography

Robben, A.C.G.M. e Sluka, J. A. (Ed.), 2007, Ethnographic Fielwork: an anthropological reader, Oxford, Blackwell Publiching.

Edwards, E. e Hart, J. (Ed.), 2004, Photographs Objects Histories: on the materiality of images, Londres, Routledge.

Emerson, R. M.; Fretz, R. I. E Shaw, L. L., 1995, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Londres, The University of Chicago Press.

Estalella, A. e Sánchez Criado, T. (Eds), 2018, Experimental Collaborations. Ethnography through Fieldwork Devices, New York, Berghahn

Ingold, T, 2014, “That’s enough about ethnography!” in Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4(1): 383-395.

Ingold, T., 2018, Anthropology: Why It Matters, Medford, Polity Press.

Kelty, C., 2009, “Collaboration, coordination, and composition: Fieldwork after internet” in Faubion, J. e Marcus, G. (Ed.), Fieldwork is not what it used to be: learning anthropology’s method in a time of transition, Nova Iorque, Cornell University Press, pp. 184-206.