Annotation
Ethnography is the art and science of studying and writing about human culture and society. It is one of the most important methods in qualitative research, not only in anthropology, but also in other social science disciplines.
It helps scholars and students to effectively approach and address, as well as to gain valuable and in-depth understanding of, relevant social and cultural phenomena. Students learn in this course about the main ethnographic fieldwork methods and techniques (participant-observation, interviewing, grounded theory, coding, eliciting of meaning, textual analysis, Internet ethnography, ethnography of [music] performance).
In addition, they also practice how to develop a research design (including research questions, and a thesis statement), as well as how to present, analyze, and interpret ethnographic data in writing (in papers, articles, theses). In regard to the latter, students will master different forms of ethnographic writing for this course (fieldnotes, vignettes, ethnographic description, analysis of data, transcription).
Furthermore, class topics also address the issues of positionality, reflexivity, and research ethics. Students are required to submit weekly reading and writing assignments, design and conduct a small fieldwork study, and present it in a final paper.
The course also prepares the students for the writing of their BA theses in the field of anthropology and other related disciplines (including ethnomusicology). Advisably for the second year BA students.
This class is taught in two interconnected classes (co-requisites: YBA334 and YBA082), and it is mandatory to register for both, in order to successfully complete either of them.