This semester, I want to continue exploring theoretical and methodological possibilities arising from the bringing together of pragmatist and structuralist writing about 'meaning' and 'history' that I started in my recent Successful failure (with R.P. McDermott. Westview, 1998), particularly Chapters 7 and 8.
I am particularly interested in the "constitution" of "social facts" for particular people at particular times in their history and am working on a paper on the theme:
Over the course of the semester we will probably read works by Schutz and Dewey, Jakobson, M. Mead and Geertz, Garfinkel, Goodwin, Mehan (and others in educational anthropology)--as well as R. Hilbert's The classical roots of ethnomethodology (1992) helpful as a kind of "text" summarizing some of my interpretations of the relationships between Durkheim and ethnomethodology.
Students will be most comfortable in this seminar if they have read at least some of the following works:
I will expect different things from students depending on their position in their graduate career:
Students who are finalizing a proposal, conducting research, or writing up, will mostly be expected to talk about their research as the occasion arises and participate in the more general theoretical discussions.
Students who are preparing certification exams in any of the subfield concerned may be asked to summarize some of the traditions they are working on as they help each other prepare bibliographies and move on to dissertation topics.
Students at an earlier stage, or otherwise interested in the topic mostly as observers of developments, may find this an occasion to explore literatures and problematics that might deepen their current understandings.
Exact requirements for receiving a ‘P’ in the class will be handled individually