Research Methods in Anthropology
Study Course Implementer
Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf@rsu.lv
About Study Course
Objective
Preliminary Knowledge
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
1.The student is familiar with the methods, research principles and ethical considerations used in social anthropology to form the basis of their Master’s thesis.
Skills
1.The student is able to: conduct observation/participant observation; make fieldwork notes; develop interview guidelines; conduct a semi-structured/unstructured qualitative interview; produce a digital ethnography; apply creative and experimental research methods; develop ethical guidelines for their research; analyse data obtained; produce an ethnographic text.
Competences
1.The student independently develops an ethnographic research design, analyses empirical material and presents the results in writing and orally.
Assessment
Individual work
Examination
Study Course Theme Plan
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Introduction to the Course. Basic Principles of Ethnographic/Field Research. Discussion of the Topics and Practical Issues of Mini-Ethnography as a Final Paper.
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Fieldwork, Note Taking and Analysis.
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Semi-Structured and Unstructured Interviews. Types of Questions, Interview Guidelines, Preparation for an Interview, Principles of Conducting an Interview, Processing the Obtained Data.
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Creative and Experimental Methods. Digital and Remote Ethnography.
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Research Ethics. Emotions in Fieldwork.
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Work on the Text of a Mini-Ethnography.
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Presentation of Mini-Ethnographies.
Bibliography
Required Reading
Bernard, H. R. 2017. Research methods in anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Mārtinsone, K. un Anita Pipere, A., sast. 2021. Zinātniskās darbības metodoloģija: starpdisciplināra perspektīva. Rīga: RSU (latviešu plūsmai)
O'Reilly, K. 2012. Ethnographic methods. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. (Akceptējams, kvalitatīvs un viegli uztverams avots par etnogrāfisko metodi.)
Meijerhofa, B. 2002. 'Ko Jūs no mums īsti gribat?' Kentaurs XXI, 27, 98-126. (Akceptējams avots latviešu valodā.) (latviešu plūsmai)
Stodulka T, S. N and Mattes D. 2018. Affective Scholarship: Doing Anthropology with Epistemic Affects. Ethos 46(4). Berkeley: 519–536. DOI: 10.1111/etho.12219.
Harding, J. 2019. Qualitative Data Analysis. 2nd edition. London: SAGE Publications.
Cimdiņa, A. 2023. Ilgtspējas meklējumi Arābijas tuksnesī. Tirgus un naftas antropoloģija. Rīga: Jāņa Rozes apgāds (latviešu plūsmai)
Praspaliauskiene, R. 2022. “Enveloped Lives: Practicing Health and Care in Lithuania,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 30, 4: 582-589.
Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y.S. ed. 2023. SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. 6th edition. London: SAGE Publications.
Pink, S., et al. 2016. Digital Ethnography. Principles and Practice. London: SAGE Publications.
Additional Reading
Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R., I., and L., S. L. 2011. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. 2nd edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Jenkins, T. 1994. 'Fieldwork and the perception of everyday life.' Man , pp. 433-455.
Behar, R. 2022. The Vulnerable Observer. Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press.
Davies, C.A. 2008. Reflexive ethnography. A guide to researching selves and others. 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge.
Coffey, A. 1999. The Ethnographic Self. Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity. London: SAGE.
Dewalt, K. M., and B. R. Dewalt. 2011. Participant Observation. A Guide for Fieldworkers. Lanham & Oxford: Altamira Press.
Kromrey, H. 2000. Empirische Sozialforschung. Modelle und Metoden der standartisierten Datenerhebung und Datenauswertung.
De Soto, H. G., and N. Dudwick. Editors. 2000. Fieldwork dilemmas: anthropologists in postsocialist states. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.
Ryang, S. 2000. Ethnography or Self-cultural Anthropology? Reflections on Writing About Ourselves. Dialectical Anthropology 25:297-320.
Rosaldo, R. 1986. "From the Door of His Tent," in Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Edited by J. Clifford and G. Marcus, pp. 77-97. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Robben, Antonius C.G.M, and Jeffrey J. A. Sulka. 2011. Ethnographic fieldwork : an anthropological reader. 2nd edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Riessman, C. 1993. Narrative analysis. London: Sage Publications.
Reed-Danahay, D. 2001. "Autobiography, Intimacy and Ethnography," in Handbook of Ethnography. Edited by P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, and S. Delamont, pp. 407-425. London: Sage Publications.
Lūse, A. (red). 2002. Cilveks, dzive, stastijums: rakstu krajums. Riga: Latvijas antropologu biediba; Latvijas Universitates Literaturas folkloras un makslas instituts. (latviešu plūsmai)
Kleinman, S., and M. Copp. 1993. Emotions and Fieldwork. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.
Hemment, Julie. 2004. ‘Strategizing Gender and Development: Action Research and Ethnographic Responsibility in the Russian Provinces’ in Kathleen Kuehnast and Carol Nechemias (eds) Post-Soviet Women Encountering transition. Nation
Gupta, A., and J. Ferguson. 1997. "Discipline and Practice: "The Field" as Site, Method, and Location in Anthropology," in Anthropological Locations. Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science. Edited by A. Gupta and J. Ferguson, pp. 1- 46. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Makaremi, C. 2008. 'Engaging with Silence. Interview with Vincent Crapanzano', Altérités 5, 2, 33-45.