Ethnography + Social Critique

What is ethnography, as a mode of witnessing, a method of research, a form of storytelling? How is it distinct from other ways of producing knowledge about human experience? How do ethnographers understand and engage with the ethics and politics of fieldwork and writing? This seminar raises these and other questions underlying the practice and genre of ethnography. It delves into the issues of participation, power, and perspective; the nature of evidence and its use in social critique; the reliability of representation; the relation between description and interpretation and between narrative and theory; and the role of different viewpoints and of the author’s voice. Throughout the semester, students will read and discuss ethnographic texts (paying particular attention to epistemology, ethics, politics, and poetics) and complete a series of written assignments (ethnographic journaling).