303 Ethnography in the Modern World
- 02.11.2009 - 17.12.2009
2.11.-17.12.2009
MA ja TO 14-16 U38 D113
ECTS credits: 5
Teacher
Eija Ranta-OwusuTarget group/Course level
Students of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Preference will be given to students majoring in Development Studies. Maximum of 20 participants.Content
This course will use case materials of recently completed or ongoing ethnographic studies (self-termed), to map the variety of intents, approaches and techniques informing contemporary ethnography. Special attention will be given to ‘new’ or ‘modern’ research themes and objects – the internet; elite social movements; processes state formation; policy interventions; diverse forms of capitalism; tele-evangelism; biotechnology; etc. that occur at multiple sites and at different resolution of scale, thus calling into question, among other things, the premise that ethnography represents an engagement with a specific ‘locality.’Based on a careful and interpretative analysis of these case studies, the course will address two central methodological challenges for contemporary ethnography: criteria of evidence in ethnographic interpretation; and problems of reflexivity for ‘disembodied’ (multiscalar, multi-sited) ethnographic enquiry.