Ethnographic Methods

This module is an introduction to ethnographic fieldwork and analysis and is intended for students in fields other than anthropology. It provides an introduction to contemporary debates in ethnography, and an outline of how selected methods may be used in ethnographic study.

The ethnographic method was originally developed in the field of social anthropology, but has grown in popularity across several disciplines, including sociology, geography, criminology, education and organization studies.

Ethnographic research is a largely qualitative method, based upon participant observation among small samples of people for extended periods. A community of research participants might be defined on the basis of ethnicity, geography, language, social class, or on the basis of membership of a group or organization. An ethnographer aims to engage closely with the culture and experiences of their research participants, to produce a holistic analysis of their fieldsite.

Session 1: The Ethnographic Method What is ethnography? Can ethnographic research and writing be objective? How does one conduct ethnographic research responsibly and ethically?

Session 2: Ethnography and/as Audio Shortly after the phonograph was invented, ethnographers began using audio recording to document the cultural practices they were researching. For some, it has served as a kind of scientific tool to gather evidence and generate archives of linguistic, musical, and other sonic practices; for many others, it has served as an essential tool for interviewing about any topic; and for other still, audio recording and re-composition offer new possibilities of what ‘writing culture’ means. What are the consequences of using audio recording in fieldwork? And what are the technical, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of doing so?

Session 3: Visual Anthropology This session outlines the relation of ethnographic film to anthropology and ethnographic knowledge generally, looks at some examples of contemporary ethnographic film practice, and inquires into the possible utility of photography and video recording in the research process of ethnographic fieldwork in general. We continue the prior session’s consideration of some of the epistemological, theoretical, social, and ethical considerations that tend to arise around use of these audiovisual recording technologies in anthropological fieldwork and analysis.

Session 4: Relationships in the Field Ethnographic methodology and participant observation often involve researchers’ positioning in existing networks of social relations. This session is meant to help attendees manage interpersonal relationships with research participants from academic, political, and ethical perspectives. We will discuss when and why relationships in ethnographic fieldwork can be a reason for concern. We will reflect on the social distinctions that emerge when doing fieldwork with other people and their effects on researchers’ decision-making process. Finally, we will think through different fieldwork strategies when working with others, and how they impact the production of ethnographic knowledge.

• University Students from Tier 1 Departments
• Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here

Students attending this module are expected to have a working understanding of qualitative methods in social research. In advance of attending this module, we would advise taking two or more of the following SSRMP modules: Comparative Historical Methods; Foundations of Qualitative Methods; Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis; Doing Qualitative Interviews; Conversation and Discourse Analysis.

Number of sessions: 4

• To involve students in the study of ongoing debates on ethnographic practice 
• To look at the practical implications of research in different disciplines
• To consider how to apply different ethnographic strategies and styles
• To introduce students to qualitative audiovisual methods

• To introduce ethnographic methods to non-anthropologists
• To review the history of ethnographic research in anthropology and other social sciences

Presentations only

• Contreras, R. 2013 ‘Introduction’ in The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence and the American Dream. (Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press). pp 1-32
• Gay y Blasco, P. & Wardle, H. 2006. ‘Introduction: the concerns and distinctiveness of ethnography‘ in How to Read Ethnography (London; New York: Routledge) pp. 1-13
• Geertz, C. 1984. ‘Anti Anti-Relativism’ American Anthropologist 86 (2): 263-278 
• Kuper, A. 1996. ‘Malinowski’ in Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School 3rd edition (London; New York: Routledge) pp. 1-35
• Parry, JP. 2012. ‘Comparative Reflections on Fieldwork in Urban India: A Personal Account’ in Pardo, I. & Prato, GB. Anthropology in the City: Methodology and Theory. (Farnham: Ashgate). pp. 29-53.
• Rosaldo, R. 1993 [1989] ‘Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage’ in R. Rosaldo Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis (Boston: Beacon Press; London: Taylor & Francis). pp. 167-178
• West, P. 2012 ‘International Coffee’ in From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea (Durham; London: Duke) pp. 201-236

• Feld, S. with Brenneis, D. 2004. ‘Doing anthropology in sound’. American Ethnologist 31(4): 461-474.
• Lane, C. and Carlyle, A., eds. 2013. In the Field: The Art of Field Recording. Axminster: Uniformbooks. Especially recommended: interviews with Chattopadhyay, Feld, Kubisch, and Westerkamp.
• Samuels, D., et al. 2010. ‘Soundscapes: Toward a Sounded Anthropology’. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 39: 329-345.

LISTENING/VIEWING

• Karel, E. 2010. Heard Laboratories. and/OAR Records (and/35).
• López, F. 2001. Buildings (New York). V2_Archief; re-released in 2009, Francisco López: Through the Looking Glass. Kairos Records.
• ‘Christina Kubisch - virtual electrical walks Oslo 2019’. https://vimeo.com/350675219

• Pinney, C. 2011. Photography and anthropology. London: Reaktion. Taylor, L. 1996. Iconophobia. Transition 69, 64-88.
• Weinberger, E. 1992. The camera people. Transition 55, 24-54.
• Chio J. (2020) Theorizing in/of Ethnographic Film. In: Vannini P (ed) The Routledge International Handbook of Ethnographic Film and Video. Abingdon: Routledge, 30-39.

• Gay y Blasco, P., & De La Cruz Hernandez, L. (2012). Friendship, anthropology. Anthropology and Humanism, 37(1), 1-14.
• Joniak-Lüthi, A. (2016). Disciplines, silences and fieldwork methodology under surveillance. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 141(2).
• Kovats‐Bernat, J. C. (2002). Negotiating dangerous fields: Pragmatic strategies for fieldwork amid violence and terror. American Anthropologist 104(1), 208-222.
• Uddin, N. (2011). Decolonising ethnography in the field: an anthropological account. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 14(6), 455-467.

This module is not assessed.

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• Elements of Social Science Research
• Qualitative Methods