TEACHING ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnography as a method combines many data-gathering techniques and depends heavily on interpersonal relationships researchers build with their participants. As a result, it takes a long time to cultivate effective fieldwork skills.

At the same time, written products of ethnographic research are often dense and lengthy, which most undergraduate students find difficult to navigate through.

For these reasons, serious ethnographic training has been reserved for advanced college- and graduate-level students with serious interest in anthropology, sociology and other fields.

Training the next generation of ethnographers is an important endeavor. At the same time, I see great benefit in teaching ethnography as a way of seeing and being in the world. For one thing, it opens up the possibility of relating the strength of ethnography to a much wider audience. Listen to my podcast, where I explain these ideas further.

In the "Featured Courses" below, I will showcase my pedagogical approach that emphasizes on the way of thinking over technical aspects of ethnography. While my own teaching practices take place in undergraduate settings, course structures and elements may be modified to suit other situations and learning needs.

FEATURED COURSES

First Year College Level:

Finding accessible reading materials for the intro-level courses on ethnography can be a challenge. Here are two of my current courses that are designed to introduce ethnographic thinking to first-year college students. Course material can be easily modified for high school-level students as well.

Go to Anthropology through Fiction
Coming soon - Things that Matter

Second/Third Year College Level:

Many of my courses at this level are designed for students with minimal knowledge of anthropology or ethnography.

Go to Food for Thought
Coming soon - Writing for the Public Audience

Undergraduate Ethnographic Training:

So-called “method courses” usually center on the techniques of data-gathering and analysis. I tend to think that, at any undergraduate level, it is more productive to focus our attention to the overall process of knowledge-making and its philosophical and ethical underpinnings.

Go to Principles of Cultural Anthropology
Coming soon – Collaborative Ethnography

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