Critical Ethnography

Critical Ethnography is a Social Science course taught by Kimberly Chang.

This course requires prerequisites.

Course Description
This course offers a critical introduction to ethnographic fieldwork, interviewing, and related methods. Special emphasis is given to the concept of reflexivity151the recognition that social scientists are participants in the worlds they study151and its epistemological and ethical implications for the practice of social research. We will balance learning about the methods of ethnographic inquiry with critical examination of the philosophical assumptions that inform them. We will pay particular attention to problems of interpretation and meaning, asking: how can we know and understand others lives in relation to our own? This integration of theory and practice will be achieved through reading, discussion, and most importantly students' own research projects. Prerequisite: Students should have viable research proposal and be ready to begin fieldwork by third week.