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Duration
Identical coursesEthnographic Fieldwork (B-KUL-S0K35A)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contract
N. Aims
Upon completion of the course, the student is able to:
- execute a fieldwork project as formulated in the student’s start report;
- access, socially navigate, and leave the field, construct field data with due consideration for research ethics;
- discuss and analyse field experiences and findings with a range of interlocutors, both within and outside the field site, both academic and non-academic;
- critically assess the applicability of existing theories, methods, and empirical knowledge to the data built up during fieldwork;
- critically address the positionality of the researcher and ethical issues that might arise during the execution and after the completion of fieldwork;
- reflect on how knowledge and experiences gained during the fieldwork may inform further academic research.
These aims will be communicated to the students at the start of the course.
Previous knowledge
Students are familiar with basic anthropological and social-scientific perspectives and approaches and are able to design an ethnographic research project.
Order of Enrolment
Mixed prerequisite:
You may only take this course if you comply with the prerequisites. Prerequisites can be strict or flexible, or can imply simultaneity. A degree level can be also be a prerequisite.
Explanation:
STRICT: You may only take this course if you have passed or applied tolerance for the courses for which this condition is set.
FLEXIBLE: You may only take this course if you have previously taken the courses for which this condition is set.
SIMULTANEOUS: You may only take this course if you also take the courses for which this condition is set (or have taken them previously).
DEGREE: You may only take this course if you have obtained this degree level.
(FLEXIBLE (S0K32A) OR FLEXIBLE (S0K32B)) AND FLEXIBLE( S0K34A )
The codes of the course units mentioned above correspond to the following course descriptions:
S0K32A : Ethnography Lab (No longer offered this academic year)
S0K32B : Ethnography Lab
S0K34A : Ethnographic Design: Planning and Modelling a Fieldwork Project
This course unit is a prerequisite for taking the following course units:
S0K36A : Interpreting Data Anthropologically
S0K37A : Master's Thesis Writing Seminar
S0D87D : Master's Thesis
Identical courses
This course is identical to the following courses:
S0K24A : Etnografisch veldwerk
Is included in these courses of study
Activities
12 ects. Ethnographic Fieldwork (B-KUL-S0K35a)
Content
The student has to complete (the equivalent of) minimum 6 weeks (240 hours) of research in the field.
It is the student’s own responsibility to find a suitable fieldwork project and finance accommodation, travel, and other fieldwork expenses. The promotor and student assistants can help to identify possible sources of funding.
The content of the ethnographic fieldwork project is determined by the research questions defined in the start report and encompasses (a) deploying a range of ethnographic techniques, methods and strategies, and (b) making good use of insights, theories and methodologies from within and (possibly) beyond anthropology.
Parallel with the social learning process of interaction in the field, ethnographic fieldwork contains an essential dimension of reflexivity and critical self-assessment.
Renderings of the social-reflexive processes can be kept in a logbook and/or multimodal scrapbook. The latter constitute the portfolio which should be presented and discussed during and after the fieldwork both with the project/thesis supervisor and fellow students or student assistants during post-fieldwork seminars and tutorials. Students who conduct research abroad must add the approval of the “study period abroad” to their portfolio.
Format: more information
Company visit
The main format of learning in ethnographic fieldwork is no other than participation in a range of activities, communications and transactions with a range of interlocutors, collaborators and occasional contacts both in planned and unplanned encounters and settings, related in different ways to the field. The formats of interaction conventionally comprise participant observation, casual conversations and semi-structured interviews, group discussions, research on written or audio-visual sources and archives. All these exchanges can take place online and/or offline.
Evaluation
Evaluation: Ethnographic Fieldwork (B-KUL-S2K35a)
Explanation
The grading scale of this course unit is pass/fail.
Evaluation characteristics and determination of the final result
The student reports back to the promotor both orally and by means of a portfolio. The promotor assesses the fieldwork process and outcome with a pass/fail. Students who conduct research abroad must add the approval of the “study period abroad” to their portfolio.
Second examination opportunity
The second examination opportunity consists in (re)submitting the portfolio
Information about retaking exams
Second examination opportunity
The second examination opportunity consists in (re)submitting the portfolio.