Syllabus, Readings and Ethnographic Assignments

Anthropological Field Methods

Spring 2020

T/Th 12:30-2:20

AC Campus Room 313

Professor Laurie Greene

Welcome to Anthropological Field Methods! This term we will be dipping our toes into anthropological research, learning the nuts and bolts of field methods, participant observation, and ethnographic analysis and writing. Our research site will be decidedly quotidian (everyday) in that we will look at the important cultural interactions that take place on our sidewalks.

Urban and to some extent suburban life designates important meanings and functions to outdoor spaces; they are frequently open to greater interpretation than the indoors, and generally more accessible. What we tend to see are public spaces that morph and change in their functions and meaning based on community desires.

Cultural Anthropology is the study of human cultures and the people who comprise them. The job of the anthropologist is to allow members of a culture to tell their stories, so, in essence an anthropologist provides a context in which those voices and stories are spoken. An anthropologist is not a journalist, looking for investigative truths, or an historian looking for historical facts. Anthropologists aim to present evocative and "realistic" presentations of informant's lives.

This semester, you will be studying a piece of "sidewalk culture," a public space which is occupied and utilized by  members of the community. These collective stories of space and place will provide a sense of public life and culture within the city.

Texts
Required:
(1) Duneier, Mitchell (2001). Sidewalk, (New York) Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
(2) Sunstein, Bonnie Stone and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater (2012). Fieldworking: Reading and Writing Research, (Boston) St. Martins Press.
Suggested:
(1) Gullion, Jessica Smartt (2016). Writing Ethnography (Boston) Sense Publishers.

Syllabus and Reading List: Topical Coverage

I. The shifting and elusive concept of CULTURE

Readings:

(1) Fieldworking, Part 1-Pages 1-51 (1/23)
(2) optional: Writing Ethnography, Chapters1-3, Pages 1-11
(3) Ethnographic Examples

• Culture and Subculture
• Insider versus Outsider
• Ethnography or Journalism
• Observation and Reflection

II. The Sidewalk: intimate public spaces as sites for research
Readings:
(1) Sidewalk, Part 1: Pages 17-81 (1/28-1/30)

• Ethnography of space an place
• The role of emotion and space 
• Informal Life on the sidewalk

III. New Uses for Sidewalks: The re-purposing of walkways and corners

Readings: 

(1) Sidewalk, Part 2: pages 82-115

(2) Fieldworking: Part 4-Researching the spatial gaze, Pages 165-217
(3) Ethnographic Examples

• Studying at Home
• The perceiver and the Perceived
• Learning to "look"
• Writing assignment 1: the spatial gaze, mapping a block

Assignment: Map of a Block Due: (1/30)

This assignment requires you to observe closely, and see the familiar as if it were unfamiliar. Stripping away preconceptions is not easy, but it is an essential part of fieldwork, since, as James McCurdy has stated, "the preconceived notion is the greatest enemy of the anthropologist." Key points underlying this assignment:

• there is a concrete relationship between sociocultural behavior and the physical environment
• place has important symbolic meaning in culture, central to anthropological analysis
• social movements change the way space is used, and changes in space affect changes in behavior
• ethnocentrism is based on these preconceptions, which color our perceptions

Procedure: 

1. Find an interesting block (architecture, transition, contrasts, activity, etc.)-the block can be a traditional square, two sides of the same street, a Main Street with a side street, or four adjacent corners
2. Visit the block different times of the day to see how the use differs.
3. Without interviewing the people there, describe the block, building by building, lot by lot with as much detail as you can. (attend to details you would normally overlook).
4. Draw a map of the block, annotating it with details your have observed in the landscape.
5. On an adjacent page, explain why the details you chose are worth noting. 

IV. Fieldnotes: How to Observe and record your findings

Readings:

(1) Fieldworking: Part 2-Pages 55-100 (2/4-2/6)
(2) Optional: Writing Ethnography, Chapter 7, Pages 31-34
(3) Ethnographic Examples

• Participant Observation
• Jottings
• Ethics in fieldwork

V. Researching People: The Collaborative Listener

Readings:

(1) Fieldworking, Chapter 5, Pages 219-270 (2/11-2/13)

(2) Optional, Chapter 4-6, Pages 15-30
(3) Ethnographic Examples

• The interview: learning to listen
• recording and transcribing: letting the culture speak
• What makes a great story: creative nonfiction

VI. Back to the Street: The limits of informal social control

Readings:

(1) Sidewalk, part 3, Pages 157-230 (2/18-2/20)
(2) Ethnographic Examples

• informal uses of public spaces
• violations of social control
• the history of a block

Assignment: Out of Control-beyond normative behavior Due: (2/27)
This assignment requires you to observe your "block" more deeply through an observation of informal (sometimes illegal or non normative) behavior which takes place there. This observation illustrates another important concept in ethnographic research, the distinction between the real and the ideal. Localities often also have alternate sets of norms and values which may conflict to a greater or lesser extent with hegemonic norms, or behaviors may be interpreted as meeting those norms in unconventional ways. You will also learn to distinguish between the emic (informant's) and etic (researcher's perspectives). When the two are contradictory, they often point to interesting avenues for further research. Key points underlying this assignment:

• People often behave in ways they say they do not (this does not negate their beliefs about their behaviors, which is often expressive of ideal or normative beliefs)
• People will have logical explanation for their informal behaviors
• Local norms and values may differ significantly for regional or national norms (even in micro-environments)

Procedure:

1. After observing the behaviors at your research site, choose behaviors which appear to be "informal" (see Sidewalk)
2. Observe these behaviors more closely noting who performs them, when and where
3. Interview 3 informants briefly, as to the details of these 
4. Record your interviews
5. Create a chart which documents this information in the following ways:

• Behavior, and why you consider it "informal" (this should indicate how it diverges from normative behavior)
• Describe the in detail The Who, where and when of your informal behavior(s)
• Explain your informal behavior from the emic (informants') perspective
• Explain your informal behavior from the etic (your) perspective.
• Compare and contrast thee mic and etic perspectives-where might understanding these contradictions lead to interesting research and insights about your research site?

VII. Researching Language: The Cultural Translator

Readings:

(1) Fieldworking, Chapter 6, Pages 271-300 (2/25-2/27)

(2) Optional, Writing Ethnography, Chapter 12-22, Pages 59-90
(3) Ethnographic Examples

• Street lingo-what verbal language tells us about culture
• Body language and culture-moving to the beat of a different drummer
• Using insider language
• verbal performance
• recording dialogue

VIII. Everyday Rituals: function and meaning

Readings: TBA (3/3-3/5)
(2) Ethnographic Examples

• Recognizing everyday rituals
• The importance of everyday rituals
• How rituals create and maintain culture

Assignment: He Said, She Said Due: (3/12)

Linguistic interactions are often "phatic;" this means that they are operational in their meaning, rather than semantic. Greetings are good examples of phatic linguistic rituals, but all conversations contain meanings which are contested within a culture. This assignment asks you to describe a conversation you witness on your block. This description should include both verbal and nonverbal language. One of the important goals of ethnographic writing is to present two voices, your own (observational/analytical voice), and more importantly, your informants' voice. This entails a good amount of presenting dialogue, but also the nonverbal aspects of communication. Nonverbal communication is expressed in body language (proxemics) the use of space (kinesics) and other visual means of communication (eye contact, gaze, dress, etc). Key Points underlying this assignment:

• Language is an important symbolic system in culture
• Language is both verbal and nonverbal
• The meaning of symbols (linguistic) are particular to the (sub)culture in which they are enacted.
• Linguistic behavior is both expressive of and particular to the culture in which it is enacted

Procedure:

1. Choose a simple, linguistic interaction to describe
2. Describe in as much detail as you can, the verbal and nonverbal behavior
3. Make sure that you present your scenario as proper ethnographic writing, where the ethnographer is minimized if not absent, dialogue and linguistic description dominates
4. Focus on writing about the "what" (not the "why").
5. In an "afterword," describe the meaning of this interaction and why it is significant within your block
6. How successful is your ethnographic description at expressing this? 

IX. Regulating People Who Work the Street

Readings:

(1) Sidewalk, Chapter 4, Pages 231-253 (3/10-12)
(2) Ethnographic examples

• unsanctioned commerce
• loitering
• illegal activity
• internal conflicts- resistance against behavior on the street

NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK 3/14-21

X. Change and the Street
Readings:
(1) Sidewalk, Part 5, Pages 293-312. (3/17-19)
(2) Ethnographic Examples

Assignment: A Sense of Place Due: (4/2)
Individuals attach important meaning to spaces. These spaces are often coupled with strong emotions, history (memory) and/or identity. In this assignment, you will interview three informants who talk about the meaning and importance of the corner that you are studying. Is it part of a larger significant place, a long occupied place with a history, or a newly acquired place to meet? What significant events have happened there? What is in short, the meaning of the block for informants. What are the significant features of the space withhold importance? Your ethnographic analysis will challenge you to be evocative, and give each of your informants a voice, Key points underlying this assignment:

• Place holds important meaning
• Meaning is defined by history, emotion, memory, and the activities enacted 
• Places are often contested by different groups who have different "claims" to a place

Procedure:

1. Interview three informants about the importance of the block you are studying
• Ask your informants how they "feel" about the place
• What is the history of the place? What memories do they have?
• Do others claim this space? If so, describe the conflict.
2. Using three informants interviews, write up an ethnographic analysis of the sense of place surrounding your block.
3. Make sure to give voice to your informants. 

XI. Specific Topical Readings/Research: along with fieldwork on sites and individual meetings on Thursdays. (3/24-4/16)

NO CLASS 3/30: ADVISING

Assignment: Final Ethnography Due: (4/30)
Combining the three previous assignments, this final ethnographic analysis will describe your block as a rich cultural space. In larger public spaces, people have the opportunity to interact with people they might not otherwise encounter; but in smaller public spaces, intimate interactions may be uniquely and intensely acted out, creating strong ties and clear rules for behavior and meaning making. Your ethnographic analysis will aim to describe your block as a cultural dynamic, striving for equilibrium as it responds to outside pressures for change and accommodation. In doing so, you will consider the characteristics of culture: that is is learned, shared, integrated and symbolic. Key Points underlying this final assignment:

• culture is learned, shared, integrated and symbolic
• cultures strive for stability in the face of change
• public spaces are defined in many ways (use, geography, proximity).

Procedure: 

1. after reviewing your last three assignments, identify the core values, beliefs and ideas within your block
2. identify and describe the symbols which signal membership in this public subculture (can be language, dress, behavior, shared goals, etc.)
3. write a final ethnographic analysis which summarizes your findings and emphasizes the ideological and adaptive nature of your subculture.

GRADING:

• 4 ethnographic assignments 50%
• Final ethnography 40%
• Class attendance, preparation and participation 10%

TOTAL                                                   100%