Ethnographic Methods and Research Design II

Course goals

• Advanced knowledge of the principal ethnographic studies about the field area
• In-depth knowledge of the principal anthropological debates about the field area
• Ethnographic elaboration of key terms, such as culture, agency, power, practice, meaning and flows, in field area
• Awareness of  the political and ethical circumstances of conducting fieldwork in the field area
• Reflection on the relation between theory and data
• Fortnightly assignments that combine course material with fieldwork
• Write the a large definitive version of the research plan, including a theoretical and methodological framework and a short version for approval by the Board of Studies   

Content

This course consists of intensive tutorials in which individual students team up with individual staff members from the Department of Cultural Anthropology to acquire a thorough knowledge of the principal anthropological literature and key studies from history and political science about the student’s proposed fieldwork area. Students are taught how to determine the reliability of their bibliographic sources, how to identify the crucial texts in the vast number of available studies about the chosen area, and how to design a bibliography geared to the conceptual research needs. Additionally the students work on the long  version of their research proposal, which they complete using the extended knowledge of the fieldwork area. The long research proposal integrates the theoretical and methodological framework with the key studies on the fieldwork location.    

• 80% attendance in individual meetings (only a maximum of 20% absence is accepted, irrespective of the reasons).
• Handing in papers and assignments on time.