ANTH 325D: Fieldwork and the Cross-Cultural
Encounter
Dr. William Smith
Office: HSS 214
Hours:
MWF 9-10 a.m. Th 1-4 p.m.
Phone: 88372
Email:
smithw@wou.edu
This course will give students grounding in research
design, tools of data collection and anthropological analysis, and reflection on
issues of cultural difference. Each
student will identify a research problem and field site in the local area and
conduct a study on a topic meaningful to the community. In this local context, students will
develop their skills in applying theoretical knowledge to practical research,
and explore various research methods of the discipline. A significant portion of class readings
and assignments will focus on writing fieldnotes, which, together with
participant observation, is the heart of ethnographic field research.
COURSE
PREREQUISITES:
Anthropology 216 is strongly recommended.
REQUIRED
Amit, Vered, ed.
2000
Constructing
the Field.
(Note: Selections from this book are on
eReserve at Hamersly Library)
Crane, Julia G. and Michael V. Angrosino
1992
Field Projects in Anthropology: A
Student Handbook, Third Edition.
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L.
Shaw
1995
Writing
Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
Press.
CLASS
REQUIREMENTS
Main Project (30% of final
grade)
By the end of the term, students will have produced a
~ 10-page paper representing the fruits of their research labors over the course
of the term. You will have two
options as to what form your project will take: one, a short ethnographic study; two, a
research proposal incorporating pilot research toward a more substantial
project. I would encourage students
choosing the latter option to use this course to develop an agenda for the
senior project in anthropology.
Guidelines for both options will be distributed in due time.
Project or
Proposal Abstract (5% of final grade)
The first steps for either project option are to
choose a specific question for investigation and a field site in which to do the
investigating. At the week 4 mark,
you will turn in a one- to two-page synopsis, briefly describing your
field site and discussing the question you intend to address. Describe your theoretical approach to
the question (this will develop partly from your exploration of background
literature [week 3]), and explain your choice of methodologies to gather data on
the topic (e.g. participant observation, structured or unstructured interviews,
life histories, surveys, maps, archival research, photography, etc.). If you are already into the
research, discuss the data you have gathered that bears on your question, and
sketch your findings thus far in light of your theoretical approach.
Annotated
Bibliography (5% of final grade)
By week 4 you should have read a handful of sources (5-10 or more
articles, books, chapters from edited volumes, films, etc., most likely a
combination of these) that bear importantly on your project, especially on
the theoretical framework you have chosen to pursue. In class, week 5, you will turn in a
bibliography, written in proper citation form, and a short explanation of each
source that makes it clear why it is germane to your project (no more than three
or four lines will do). The
idea here is to identify a research vein in anthropology and/or other social
sciences and elucidate how your research participates in that tradition.
Map
Project (5% of final grade)
Week 4, in lieu of class
in the classroom, we will divide into groups of three or four and do an exercise
in mapping and proxemics (social space) in
Holiness People Project
(15% of final grade)
Also during week 5 we
will see a film portraying a
Interview
Schemes (5% of final grade)
Certainly research projects vary in the extent, depth, and formality they
bring to interviewing subjects. But
no ethnographic research gets done entirely without an interview component. Yours is no exception. At the week 7 point, you will turn in
the list of questions you have been using—in whatever way you are getting at
these questions in your interviews, which will depend on your interviewing
style—to gather interview data for your project.
At the week 8 juncture, you will submit a draft of your
project-in-process (6 pages minimum). This will ensure that you have a
good jump on the project and get feedback from me well in advance of the due
date.
Final
Presentation (10% of final grade)
Individual presentations of projects or proposals (15 minutes), followed
by a short Q and A period, will occur the last week of class. Students will
provide critical and constructive feedback on classmates’ work. In the presentation you should describe
your research site, your particular research topic, the major methods you are
using, the data you have gathered, and the analysis of your findings.
Class
Participation (10% of final grade)
We will conduct this
class for the most part in seminar style, which features discussion. Students are expected to attend all class periods and
to have read all reading assignments prior to the period on which we will cover
them. The success of the course
will depend significantly on vital discussions of course material and other
issues connected with ethnographic fieldwork and writing. Students, therefore, should be prepared
to contribute to those discussions.
Each week with a substantial discussion component—there will be six of
them—a team of two or three students will lead discussion of the readings.
All assignments are due at the beginning of the
class period on which they are scheduled for submission. Late assignments
will lose one letter grade for each day past due except in the event of severe,
appropriately documented illness or emergency. Requests for extensions must be made in
writing in advance of the due date.
In the interests of fairness to all students, I will be extremely firm
on this (i.e. if your request for an extension does not meet the above
criteria, do not make the request).
CLASS
SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Week
1
Introduction: Fieldwork and its
Object
Film: A World of
Differences
2
Research
Design and Ethics
ER:
LeCompte and Shensul on Research Paradigms and Design; American
Anthropological Association Statement on Ethics (available on AAA website);
Film: Stranger with a
Camera Turn in: a provisional idea for your research
project
3
Background
Literature Research, Intro to Fieldnotes
FPA: 23-43, 159-178; WEF: 2; ER: Low Small Group
Activity: Mapping and Social Space
Analysis in
FPA: 64-74; WEF: chs. 3 & 4 Small group
presentations of maps and commentary;
Film and Observation/Fieldnote Activity: The Holiness People; Turn in: annotated
bibliography.
6
“Informants,” Interviews, Life Histories, and Surveys
FPA: 75-107, 136-149; WEF: 5; ER: Pink & Norman; ER: Behar. Film: N’ai: Portrait of a !Kung Woman Turn in: Short paper on The Holiness
People
WEF: 6 Activity: Veterans’ Day Parade (bring camera and
film). Turn in: interview
schemes
ER:
Grills, Gledhill. Film:
The Charcoal People Activity: Veterans’ Day
photo expo and analysis.
Activity: Debate on
research, uses of data, and advocacy. Turn in: Rough draft of project or
proposal
9 The Field Today: Ethnography as Science and Art in the Twenty-First Century
ER: Gupta and