Course

Ethnographic Field Studies

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Course Code
ANTH 2193
Credits
6.00
Semester Length
8 weeks
Max Class Size
15
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Field Experience
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This is a field course in cultural anthropological research, with emphasis on the techniques of ethnographic research. It will be conducted in conjunction with a partner community. Topics of study include qualitative and quantitative research methods, techniques of data analysis, ethical research, and anthropology and/or history related to the community involved in the field study program.
Course Content

The course begins with two weeks (8 hours/week) in the classroom where topics including British Columbia history, ethnohistory, and ethnography, research methods, project design, and ethics will be discussed.  Following that, four weeks is spent in a community setting conducting ethnographic research. The final two weeks of the course are spent at Douglas College synthesizing data, preparing reports, and presenting findings.

The course is designed around a common topic of research (defined by the community in conjunction with the instructor).  Each student will work on a small project related to the larger project.

Learning Activities

Lecture, seminar, participant-observation field work.

Means of Assessment

The student will be assessed on his or her mastery of fieldwork techniques and contributions to the field project.  Evaluation will vary according to the nature of the specific field project. A typical evaluation breakdown, however, would be as follows:

Exam  20%
Field Notes  30%
Subjective evaluation of student
performance in field  
 20%
Project write-up, report, and/or presentation      30%
Total 100%

 

 

Learning Outcomes

The student will demonstrate knowledge and ability in the techniques of ethnographic research. This will include interviewing, archival research, note-taking, project design, project completion, and fieldwork ethics.

The student will complete detailed written records of the field research that will generate data for later analysis by the instructor or the students as part of their final project.

The students will demonstrate an ability to analyze the data generated, and present the findings in a report and/or in a public presentation.

Textbook Materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:

To be determined by instructor; depends on where the field school is located.

Examples of methods textbooks in ethnographic and anthropological research include:

Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson. 2007. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. New York: Routledge.

Schensul, Jean J. and Margaret D. LeCompte. 1999. The Ethnographer's Toolkit (7 Volumes). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Examples of regional ethnographic materials (in this case for the Plateau region of the southern BC interior):

Ignace, Marianne B.1998. Shuswap. In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12: Plateau. Deward E.                Walker, ed. Pp. 203-219. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Teit, James A.1909. The Shuswap. In Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Franz Boas, ed.  New York: American Museum of Natural History.

Requisites

Prerequisites

Consent of Instructor

ANTH 1120 is recommended

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for ANTH 2193
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU ANTH 2XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG ANTH 2XXX (6)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU SA 2XX (6)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU ANTH 2XXX (6)
University Canada West (UCW) UCW ANTH 2XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV ANTH_V 2nd (6)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC ANTH 2XX (6)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV ANTH 2XX (6)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC ANTH 318 (1.5) & UVIC ANTH 3XX (1.5)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU ANTH 2nd (3)

Course Offerings

Summer 2024