Syllabus. Anthropology & Sociology of Development PROFESSORS. Qualitative Field Methods in the Social Science

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1 Anthropology & Sociology of Development Academic year Qualitative Field Methods in the Social Science ANSO015 Spring 6 ECTS Thursday 14:15-16:00 Course Description The objective of this seminar is to introduce participants to qualitative field methods in the social sciences, more specifically to research conducted on migratory and transnational networks. Three aspects of field research will be primarily explored: observation (including participant observation); various types of interviews; description, writing notes and a field diary. Epistemological and practical issues related to academic writing (including construction and dissemination of data in reports, M.A. theses, Ph.D. dissertations, academic articles and books) as well as ethical questions that arise on the field will be discussed. The teaching is based on the assumption that the social sciences are not meant to discover a preexisting object but construct their approach in a reflexive movement. The participants will be asked to conduct a small fieldwork on urban margins in the Geneva region. The seminar will combine lectures on the various techniques of qualitative empirical work and discussions where participants will share their experiences in the field. PROFESSORS Françoise Grange Omorako francoise.grange@graduateinstitute.ch Office: P1-515 Phone : Office hours : Thursday, pm Alessandro Monsutti alessandro.monsutti@graduateinstitute.ch Office : P1-509 Phone : Office hours : By appointment Assistant Frederic Pelat frederic.pelat@graduateinstitute.ch Office : P1-517 Phone : Syllabus Structures and Objectives The teaching is based on the assumption that the social sciences are not meant to discover a preexisting object but construct their approach in a reflexive movement. Methods are not learned in the abstract reading textbooks, but through concrete research and communication with peers. Training in social sciences requires acquiring certain investigative techniques, including those that are primarily qualitative, but also developing the capacity to assess critically the role of the researcher. The participants will thus be asked to conduct a small fieldwork on urban margins and socio-economic inequalities in the region of Geneva. The seminar will combine lectures on the various techniques of qualitative empirical work (observation, interview, description ) and discussions where participants will share their experiences in the field. Ethical issues will receive constant attention. The aim is to put the Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2 CP CH-1211 Genève graduateinstitute.ch MAISON DE LA PAIX

2 students in the position to learn from personal experience and debate, to encourage them to question common sense and illusion of immediate knowledge. Considering the interactive format, a regular participation is necessary. Students must attend all of the scheduled classes, unless excused by the instructor. They will be asked to notify in advance if they are unable to come to a class. Evaluation and Grading The students performance will be evaluated on the basis of their involvement in the fieldwork, classroom participation, the quality and timelines of the assignments. More precisely students will be requested to: Conduct a small field research on urban margins in the region of Geneva. Participate actively in the discussions during the whole semester. Present 4 times during the semester their work in progress, discuss the problems they are facing and confront their experience in a process of mutual learning. Write a preliminary individual report of no more than 1000 words, due by March 5, 2015, addressing the entry in the field (presenting the research theme and questions; personal motivation; first contact with informants; negotiation of one s presence; explanation of one s work; etc.). The various papers will be made available to all the participants on the internet class site for the discussion that will take place on March 13, Write a final individual paper of no more than 4000 words, due by May 21, 2015, to synthesize the methodological obstacles and the ethical issues met during the semester. Grade will be determined as follows: 10% for general participation; 10% for the preliminary paper; 40% for the fieldwork and the various presentations of one s research; 40% for the final paper. The seminar provides 6 ECTS. Attendance is mandatory and represents 1 ECTS, the fieldwork 2 ECTS, and the written papers 3 ECTS. Course Policies Students are encouraged to work in team of two (or of three, in some cases) on the field, but the written assignments are individual. Papers should be written in English or French, double-spaced, using standard 12 point font, with 1 inch margins. The student s name, the paper s title, the date, the course s title and page numbers must be mentioned. Quotations and bibliography must follow the Chicago Manual of Style or the Harvard Referencing System. Students must hand in papers on time electronically as a Word file (no need to provide a hard copy). Papers that are sent late without a good reason or exceed importantly the word limit will not receive anything higher than a 4.0. Students who missed more than two classes without being excused by the instructor will not receive anything higher than a 4.0. Plagiarism constitutes a breach of academic integrity and will not be tolerated. Students who present the work of others as their own will receive a 0. The assigned readings (selected excerpts of the books indicated in the course schedule) will be made available as pdf files on the class site at least one week in advance. 2

3 Course Schedule and Readings Preliminary readings Codes of ethics: AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association, Arlington: American Anthropological Association, AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Code of Ethics and Policies and Procedures of the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics, Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, SOCIÉTÉ SUISSE D ETHNOLOGIE, Ethique de la recherche en ethnologie Prise de position de la SSE, Berne: Société suisse d ethnologie, Examples of monographic works on urban margins: BOURGOIS Philippe, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 [1995]. CASTEL Robert, The Roads to Disaffiliation: Insecure Work and Vulnerable Relationships, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24(3), 2000, pp STOLLER Paul, Money Has no Smell: The Africanization of New York City, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, VENKATESH Sudhir, Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets, New York: Penguin Press, WHYTE William Foote, Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Week 1 (February 19) Introduction to the course: organizational issues; fieldwork in anthropology and sociology BURAWOY Michael, Introduction: Reaching for the Global; Grounding Globalization, in: Michael Burawoy et al., Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, pp. 1-40, COPENS Jean, L enquête ethnologique de terrain, Paris: Nathan, GUPTA Akhil, FERGUSON James, Discipline and Practice: The Field as Site, Method, and Location in Anthropology, in: Akhil Gupta, James Ferguson (eds), Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997, pp MALINOWSKI Bronislaw, Introduction: The Subject, Method and Scope of this Inquiry, in: Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, London: Routledge, 1932, pp SABELLI Fabrizio, Recherche anthropologique et développement: Éléments pour une méthode, Neuchâtel: Institut d ethnologie; Paris: Maison des sciences de l homme, STOCKING George W. Jr., The Ethnographer s Magic: Fieldwork in British Anthropology from Tylor to Malinowski, in: George W. Stocking Jr. (ed.), Observers Observed: Essays on Ethnographic Fieldwork, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, pp Week 2 (February 26) The subject and the object of knowledge; problématique and research questions 3

4 See Week 1. Week 3 (March 5) Discussion (all the participants): problématique (with research themes and questions); negotiating one s presence Week 4 (March 12) Observation BEAUD Stéphane, WEBER Florence, Observer, in: Guide de l enquête de terrain: Produire et analyser des données ethnographiques, Paris: La Découverte, 2003, pp BECKER Howard, Problems of Inference and Proof in Participant Observation, American Sociological Review 23(6), 1958, pp BERNARD H. Russell, Participant Observation. In: Research Methods in Anthropology. Thousand Oaks, London, Delhi: Sage Publications, 1994, pp PÉTONNET Colette, L observation flottante: L exemple d un cimetière parisien, L Homme 22(4), 1982, pp Week 5 (March 19) Interviewing BEAUD Stéphane, WEBER Florence, Préparer et négocier un entretien ethnographique; Conduire un entretien, in: Guide de l enquête de terrain: Produire et analyser des données ethnographiques, Paris: La Découverte, 2003, pp BERNARD H. Russell, Unstructured and Semistructured Interviewing; Structured Interviewing, in: Research Methods in Anthropology, Thousand Oaks, London, Delhi: Sage Publications, 1994, pp KAUFMANN Jean-Claude, L entretien comprehensive, Paris: Nathan, PIALOUX Michel, L ouvrière et le chef d équipe ou comment parler du travail, Travail et emploi 62, 1995, pp URRY James, Notes and Queries in Anthropology and the Development of Field Methods in British Anthropology, Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for 1972, London: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1972, pp Week 6 (March 26) Presentations (groups A) and discussion (all the participants): observation & interviewing Week 7 (April 2) Presentations (groups B) and discussion (all the participants): observation & interviewing Week 8 (April 9) No class (Easter break) Week 9 (April 16) Description and field notes BEAUD Stéphane, WEBER Florence, Travailler les entretiens et le journal de terrain, in: Guide de l enquête de terrain: Produire et analyser des données ethnographiques, Paris: La Découverte, 2003, pp

5 BERNARD H. Russell, Field Notes: How to Take, Code, and Manage Them, in: Research Methods in Anthropology, Thousand Oaks, London, Delhi: Sage Publications, 1994, pp GEERTZ Clifford, Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture, in: The Interpretation of Cultures Selected Essays, New York: Basic Books, 1973, pp GLASER Barney G., STRAUSS Anselm L., The Discovery of Grounded Theory, in: The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Chicago: Aldine, 1967, pp LAPLANTINE François, La description ethnographique, Paris: Nathan, Week 10 (April 23) Data Analysis and interpretation GIBBS Graham R., Thematic Coding and Categorizing, in: Analyzing Qualitative Data, London: Sage, 2007, pp HENNING Elisabeth et al., Making Meaning of Data: Analysis and Interpretation, in: Finding your Way in Qualitative Research, Pretoria: Van Schaik, 2004, pp OLIVIER DE SARDAN Jean-Pierre, La violence faite aux données: Autour de quelques figures de la surinterprétation en anthropologie, Enquête, 3, Interpréter, Surinterpréter, 1996, pp Week 11 (April 30) Multimedia in the social sciences; visual anthropology [with Philippe Gazagne] BARTSCHERER Thomas, COOVER Roderick (eds), Switching Codes: Thinking Through Digital Technology in the Humanities and the Arts, Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, CHEVALIER Sophie, MAYOR Grégoire, SCHOENI Dominique (dir), La narration dans tous ses états. Ethnographiques.org 16, septembre 2008 [ 16-septembre-2008]. HEIDER Karl G., Ethnographic Film. Austin: University of Texas Press, LAPLANTINE François, Penser en images. Ethnologie française 37, 2007/1, pp MACDOUGALL David, Visual Anthropology and the Ways of Knowing. In: Transcultural Cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998, pp , New Principles of Visual Anthropology. In: The Corporeal Image: Film, Ethnography, and the Senses. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp RUBY Jay, Visual Anthropology. In: David Levinson & Melvin Ember (eds), Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. New York: Henry Holt & co., vol. 4, 1996, pp Week 12 (May 7) Presentations and discussion (all the participants): obstacles met on the field, negotiating the exit Week 13 (May 14) No class (Ascension) Week 14 (May 21) Final synthesis and discussion (all the participants): ethics and politics of the field 5

6 BARNES John A., Some Ethical Problems in Modern Fieldwork, British Journal of Sociology 14, 1963, pp CEFAÏ DANIEL, Daniel, Codifier l engagement ethnographique? Remarques sur le consentement éclairé, les codes d éthique et les comités d'éthique, laviedesidees.fr, 18 mars 2009, 26 p. HAMMERSLEY Martyn, ATKINSON Paul, Ethics, in: Ethnography: Principles in Practice, London & New York: Routledge, 1983, pp MONSUTTI Alessandro, Le baiser de l ethnographe: entre don de soi et usage de l autre sur le terrain, in: Suzanne Chappaz-Wirthner, Alessandro Monsutti, Olivier Schinz (éds), Entre ordre et subversion: logiques plurielles, alternatives, écarts, paradoxes, Paris: Karthala, pp OLIVIER DE SARDAN Jean-Pierre, La politique du terrain: Sur la production des données en anthropologie, Enquête, 1, Les terrains de l'enquête, 1995, pp