Spring 2009

ANT 391 • Contemporary Ethnography

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to survey a range of recent ethnographic works in order to ascertain how this distinctive mode of generating social knowledge operates; as well, we will try to glimpse the future of fieldwork via a variety of current innovative approaches. Our first concern will be to establish our respective interests and levels of familiarity with ethnography. Then we will proceed to read one current ethnography each week, organizing these loosely around a series of themes, such as globalization, race, music production and its everyday dynamics, and issues of science, technology, and the rise of biocapital. You are not expected to have any familiarity with these areas of interestjust a basic level of curiosity and increasingly honed sensibility for what makes a good ethnography. By the conclusion of this seminar, you should have both a clear understanding of developing trends in ethnographic research and a solid grasp on the way ethnographers combine theories, methods, and reflection into a compelling perspective on the world.

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