Anthropology 710 (Fall 2004) Geoffrey White
Research Methods: Ethnography Anthropology / East-West Center
Mondays 2:30 – 5:00 pm Saunders 322 / Burns Hall 3054
Saunders Hall 329 956-5601 / 944-7343
Office Hours: by appt. white@hawaii.edu
Seminar in Research Methods: Ethnography
CRN: 80290
Class website is on the WebCT server: http://webct.hawaii.edu/
Class email list: anth710-l@hawaii.edu
This seminar provides an introduction to ethnography, including the politics and ethics of participatory research, methods for cultural analysis, and elements of research design. We will concentrate on practices of interviewing and recording often used in ethnographic research, including methods of analysis concerned with the interpretation of talk and social action. Discussion of the politics of ethnography and problems posed by the social contexts of research will inform the seminar’s work throughout.
One of the perennial weaknesses of research proposals in cultural anthropology is the “methods section.” Similarly, one of the difficulties faced by anthropologists working in areas of applied research is the thinness of methods for thick description, often reduced to general statements about participant observation and interviewing. This seminar addresses these problems with a hands-on approach to a variety of specific methods appropriate for ethnographic projects.
Much of the learning in this seminar will be through doing. Through the development of individual projects, students will gain experience with organizing and conducting their own ethnographic research. This will include carrying out various styles of interviewing, generating notes and transcripts, and interpreting their significance. Several types of discourse analysis will be discussed and applied to the analysis of texts, conversation, interview protocols, and life stories generated by student projects. We will use NVivo text-processing software to analyze transcripts and similar texts.
On the assumption that community-based research requires flexibility and adaptation to local circumstances, the seminar will afford an opportunity for students to develop and explore individual interests in the context of collaboration with the seminar.
Preparation and participation in class discussion will contribute 50% of the grade. This will include periodic written reflections assessing readings and research projects, including submission of transcripts and transcript analysis. The remaining 50% will consist of a final paper in the form of either a research proposal emphasizing methodology or a paper presenting preliminary results gained from ethnographic work conducted during the seminar (including a critical reflection on methodology).
Required texts
Briggs, Charles L. 1986 Learning How to Ask
Gee, James Paul. 1999. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method.
Optional texts
Bernard, H. Russell. 2002. Research methods in cultural anthropology. 3rd edition.
Gibbs, Graham. 2002. Qualitative Data Analysis.
Riessman, Catherine K. 1993. Narrative Analysis.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.
Anthropology 710: Weekly Schedule
I. What is Ethnography?
Aug 23: 1.Introduction: ethnography, social science, and fieldwork
No reading assigned
II. Fieldwork: Politics and Practice
Aug 30: 2. Shifting practices of fieldwork
Reading: Marcus, “Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited
Ethnography” (79-104)
-- Clifford, “Spatial Practices” (52-91).
-- Narayan, “How Native is a ‘Native’ Anthropologist?” (671-685)
-- Motzafi-Haller, “Writing Birthright” (195-222)
-- Jacobs-Huey, “The Natives are Gazing and Talking Back” (791-804)
-- Smith “Introduction,” (1-18)
Secondary: Clifford, “On Ethnographic Authority” (118-146)
Sept 6: 3. Computerized text analysis (holiday: reading only, no class)
Reading: Gibbs: “What is Qualitative Analysis?” (1-15) and “Getting Started” (16-47)
Download & run NVivo tutorial: http://www.qsr.com.au/DemoReg/DemoReg1.asp
or try out Gibbs data (http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/gibbs/)
Sept 13: 4. Fieldwork Ethics and “Human Subjects” (2-3 page project statement due)
Reading: Human Subjects Guidelines & Forms
-- AAA Code of Ethics; AAA Commission Papers;
-- Fluehr-Lobban, “Darkness in Eldorado, Research Ethics Then and Now” (32 Pp.)
-- Keesing, “Responsibilities of Long-Term Research” (187-197)
-- Jaarsma, “Thinking Through Repatriation” (1-13)
-- Chambers et al., “Returning Ethnographic Materials” (211-214)
Secondary: Smith, “Indigenous Peoples Project” (Ch. 6: 107-122)
& “Articulating an Indigenous Research Agenda”(Ch. 7: 123-141)
III. Interviewing
Sept 20: 5. Ethnographic interviewing (1) (informed consent form due)
Reading: Bernard, “Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing,” (203-239)
-- Briggs, Learning How to Ask (ix - 60)
Sept 27: 6. Transcript preparation and analysis (5 pages of initial transcript due)
Reading: Duranti, “Transcription: From Writing to Digitized Images,” (122-161)
-- Duranti, “Appendix: Practical Tips on Recording Interaction,” (340-347)
-- Gibbs, “Data Preparation” (48-56), “Coding” (57-82), “Memos and Attributes (83-104)
Oct 4. 7. Conversation analysis
Reading: Heritage, “Conversation Analysis” (233-292)
-- Bilmes, “Problems and Resources in Analyzing Northern Thai Conversation in English” (171-188)
Oct 11: 8. Ethnographic interviewing (2) (first interview transcript & notes due)
Reading: Briggs, Learning How to Ask (61-125)
Oct 18: 9. Life history interviewing & analysis
Reading: Peacock & Holland, “The Narrated Life” (367-383)
-- Crapanzano, “The Life History in Anthropological Fieldwork,” (3-7).
-- Linde “Methods and Data for Studying the Life Story,” (51-97).
IV. Text and transcript analysis
Oct 25: 10. Transcript analysis: Discourse (1) (life history interview transcript due)
Reading: Gee, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (1-57).
Nov 1: 11. Transcript analysis: Discourse (2)
Reading: Gee, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (58-161).
Nov 8: 12. Transcript analysis: Narrative analysis (transcript analysis due)
Reading: Riessman, Narrative Analysis (1-70).
Nov 15: 13. Cognitive approaches: Cultural Domains and Models
Reading: Bernard, Structured Interviewing: Cultural Domain Analysis,” (280-297)
Holland & Quinn, Cultural Models in Language and Thought (3-40; 173-192)
Secondary: N. Quinn, “The Mainstreaming of Cultural Models” (28 pp.)
Nov 22: 14. Student projects
Nov 29: 15. Student projects
Dec 6: 16. Student projects
Dec 8: 17. Final paper due
Anthropology 710 Geoffrey White
Seminar in Research Methods: Ethnography Fall 2004
READINGS
Bernard, H. Russell
2002 Research methods in cultural anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, Sage Publications.
Bilmes, Jack
1996 Problems and resources in analyzing Northern Thai conversation for English language readers. Journal of Pragmatics 26:171-188.
Briggs, Charles L.
1986 Learning how to ask: a sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clifford, James
1997 Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Clifford, James
1983 On Ethnographic Authority. Representations 1(2):118-146.
Crapanzano, Vincent
1977 The Life History in Anthropological Field Work. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 2 (2-3):3-7.
Duranti, Alessandro
1998 Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn
n.d. Darkness in El Dorado: Research Ethics, Then and Now. Unpublished manuscript. 37 pp.
Heritage, John
1984 Conversation Analysis. In Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge; New York, N.Y.: Polity Press.
Holland, Dorothy, and Naomi Quinn, eds.
1987 Cultural Models in Language and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jacobs-Huey, Lanita
2002 The Natives are Gazing and Talking Back: Reviewing the Problematics of Positionality, Voice, and Accountability among “Native” Anthropologists. American Anthropologist 104(3): 791-804.
Jaarsma, Sjoerd R.
2002 Thinking Through Repatriation. In Handle With Care: Ownership and Control of Ethnographic Materials. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press
Keesing, Roger
1994 Responsibilities of Long-term Research. In Culture, Kastom, Tradition: Developing cultural policy in Melanesia, edited by L. Lindstrom and G. White. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.
Linde, Charlotte
1993 Life Stories: The Creation of Coherence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marcus, George E.
1998 Ethnography Through Thick and Thin. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Motzafi-Haller, Pnina
1997 Writing Birthright: On Native Anthropologists and the Politics of Representation. In Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the Self and the Social. D.E. Reed-Danahay, ed. Pp. 195-222. Oxford, New York: Berg.
Narayan, Kirin
1993 How Native is a “Native” Anthropologist? American Anthropologist 95:671-686.
Peacock, James L., and Dorothy C. Holland
1993 The Narrated Life: Life Stories in Process. Ethos 21 (4):367-383.
Riessman, Catherine Kohler
1993 Narrative Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai
1999 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London & New York: Zed Books.