Class notes are available by clicking on the date for the class meeting.

Introduction:

Classical goals:
Description of unknown human beings in the world their elders (alive and long dead) make for them

Restated goals:
Accounts (-graphy) of what experts do not know about human beings in the world their Others (most long dead and many still alive, near and far) make for them (ethno-)

[where to look for these sources]

9/11 Introduction
 
  • Malinowski, Bronislaw "Introduction." Argonauts of the Western Pacific, pp. 1-25. New York: E.P. Dutton. 1961 [1922]
recommended:
9/18   The epistemology of ethnography: scientific freedom in the encounter with the world.
 
  • Kaplan, A. The conduct of inquiry. Scranton, Penn.: Chandler Publishing Company, 1964. (Chapter 1, Section 1, p. 3-27; Chapter 2, Section 8 & 9, p. 62-78)
recommended:
  • Becker, Howard "Epistemology of qualitative research."
  • Garfinkel, Harold Ethnomethodology's program Boulder, Co: Rowman & Littlefield. 2003 (Chapter 9 - not for the faint hearted)

Ethnographing: Fieldwork, Interviewing, Fieldnotes and Other Forms of Recording

9/25   The phenomenology of fieldwork

  • Bowen, Elenore Return to laughter. New York: Doubleday. 1964 [1954]

PRESENTATION BY STUDENTS OF THEIR PROJECTS
10/2  

The practice of fieldwork: setting one's work site and 'writing' it all down

The making of ethnographic records: Fieldnotes, transcripts, maps, censuses, etc.

primarily:

  • Roger Sanjek"A vocabulary for fieldnotes." in R. Sanjek (ed.) Fieldnotes: The makings of anthropology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1990. (pp. 92-137) R. Sanjek (ed.) Fieldnotes: The makings of anthropology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1990.

and also:

  • George Bond "Fieldnotes: Research in past occurences" (pp. 273-289)
  • Nancy Lutkehaus "Refractions of reality" (pp. 303-323)
  • Roger Sanjek"The secret life of fieldnotes" (pp. 187-271)
recommended:
10/9 Classical questions: Who will tell us whether what we saw or heard is what there is to see or hear?
 
  • Briggs, Charles Learning how to ask. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986 (Chapters 1,2,3, 5)
 
recommended:
10/16 New Questions: How do we get people to tell us what we should ask them?
 
  • Briggs, Charles Learning how to ask. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986 (Chapters 6)
 
recommended:
10/23

Doubting the classic answers to the perennial questions: Can our informants really tell us what we need to know?

  • Garfinkel, Harold Ethnomethodology's program Boulder, Co: Rowman & Littlefield. 2003 (Chapters 8, 6 -- preferably in this order)
 
recommended:

Organizing oneself: Transcribing, Indexing or Categorizing

10/30 Grounded theory and analytic description?

11/6   The future? Text retrieval, indexing and (possibly) coding
  STUDENT PROJECTS
recommended:
  • Weitzman & Miles Computer programs for qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publ., 1995
11/13 Transcription: First steps to analysis
 
11/20 Deconstructing: What are our informants telling us?
 
  • Garfinkel, Harold Ethnomethodology's program Boulder, Co: Rowman & Littlefield. 2003 (Chapter 7)
recommended:
  • Becker, Alton "Biography of a sentence: A Burmese proverb." In Beyond Translation. University of Michigan Press [1983] 1995

Analyzing: From Formal to Structural Analyses

11/27 Re-Presentation and Modeling.


recommended:
  • Erikson, Fred "Ethnographic microanalysis ..."
  • Goodwin, Charles "Suggestions for recording human interaction in natural settings.
  • Propp, Vladimir Morphology of the folktake. Austin: U. of Texas Press, 1968 [1927]. (particularly Chap. 1,2,3,6,8,9)
12/4 Recapturing policy, politics, and other issues of practice.

Writing: Contributing to the literature and Interpreting to the field

12/11 (Dis-)passionate descriptions and arguments -- I
 
  • Frake, Charles "How to ask for a drink in Subanun" in his Language and Cultural Description. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press. 1980
  • Varenne & McDermott Chapter 8 in Successful failure. Boulder, CO: Westview
recommended:
  • Wolf, Margaret A thrice told tale: Feminism, postmodernism, and ethnographic responsibility. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1992]
  • Grant, Nicole "From Margaret Mead's fieldnotes: What counted as 'sex' in Samoa." American Anthropologist 97:678-682
12/18 (Dis-)passionate descriptions and arguments -- II
 
  • Scheper-Hughes, N. "(M)Other Love" in Death without weeping, 340-399. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992.

STUDENT PROJECTS
recommended:
  • McDermott et al. "Social context for ethnic borders and school failure."  in Nonverbal behavior .   Edited by A. Wolfgang, 175-195.   New York: Academic Press
  • Myerhoff, Barbara "Life not death in Venice," in The anthropology of experience . Edited by V. Turner and E. Bruner, 261-285. University of Illinois Press, 1986

The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students are encouraged to contact the Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities for information about registration (166 Thorndike Hall). Services are available only to students who are registered and submit appropriate documentation. As your instructor, I am happy to discuss specific needs with you as well.

IN Incomplete. The grade of Incomplete is to be assigned only when the course attendance requirement has been met but, for reasons satisfactory to the instructor, the granting of a final grade has been postponed because certain course assignments are outstanding. If the outstanding assignments are completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received and a final grade submitted, the final grade will be recorded on the permanent transcript, replacing the grade of Incomplete, with a transcript notation indicating the date that the grade of Incomplete was replaced by a final grade.

If the outstanding work is not completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received, the grade will remain as a permanent Incomplete on the transcript. In such instances, if the course is a required course or part of an approved program of study, students will be required to re-enroll in the course including repayment of all tuition and fee charges for the new registration and satisfactorily complete all course requirements. If the required course is not offered in subsequent terms, the student should speak with the faculty advisor or Program Coordinator about their options for fulfilling the degree requirement. Doctoral students with six or more credits with grades of Incomplete included on their program of study will not be allowed to sit for the certification exam.  

Course site map ||| Introduction ||| Syllabus ||| Requirements ||| Office Hours ||| Hervé Varenne