Spring 2007

ANT 391 • Theory, Politics and Methods of Fieldwork

Course Description

This course is a prototype for a new core methods course in activist research methods to be given once a year, and required for all graduate students who opt to follow the activist research track. The seminar is a combination of conventional research methods and activist research, with exercises in proposal writing, as well as critical writing on fieldwork methods, ethics, etc. We would also like to use the seminar as a forum for introducing students to a wide range of approaches to activist anthropology (sometimes associated with different names, such as "public" or "applied") within the five sub-fields of the department. As an anchor course for the activist anthropology track, this seminar will be team-taught and designed to enhance cross-department dialogue. Other department members and affiliates have been invited to visit the seminar and talk about their activist anthropology-related work: Archeology (Maria Franklin), Linguistic Anthropology (Nora England), Physical (Deborah Bolnick), Folklore and Public Culture (Suzy Serrif or Richard Flores).

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