Admission requirements
Only students who are admitted to the specific methodological track within the master’s programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology can take part in this course. (See mastersinleiden.nl)
Description
This course aims to prepare students for the practical and epistemological complexities of conducting fieldwork through a visual ethnography paradigm. The course enables students to develop skills recording images and sound through a series of five units in order to conceptually and practically utilize audiovisual methodologies in their thesis research projects. This course combines theory with practice by placing great emphasis on hands-on training. The course is intended to make students aware of the affordances and limitations of audiovisual methods and recordings. Students develop these skills alongside the development of an original research proposal, while considering issues related to ethics, epistemology, and methodological experimentation in relation to their individual fieldwork topics. Emphasis will be given to research design, methodological operationalization, knowledge production, and data management of each student’s masters project. This course is team-taught and coordinated with supervisory group feedback sessions.
A list of possible research topics per specialisation is available on our website and is being pemanently updated.
The course Research Design encompasses a compulsory ‘Methodology in Practice’ (MiP) week, which is intended to provide you with hands on training with respect to ethnologic method. See details below, under Timetable.
Course Objectives
- Helping the MSc student to systematically formulate the questions that are central to their research, positioned in relation to relevant academic debates.
- Providing practical preparations for the complexities of fieldwork, given the operationalization of research questions.
- Critically exploring the possibilities offered by audiovisual means, in relation to both conducting anthropological fieldwork and producing empirically-based audiovisual research outputs.
Timetable
Please see the schedule
Location: Pieter de la Court Building, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden
Methology in Practice
The course Research Design encompasses a compulsory ‘Methodology in Practice’ (MiP) week, which is intended to provide you with hands on training with respect to ethnologic method. The MiP week is scheduled for October 14 to 18, 2019. In order to make full use of the time available for the MiP week, the training will be conducted from a location in Amsterdam. We will all stay at, and work from, this location from Monday morning until Thursday evening. Stay at this location is included in (and covered by) the programme. Typically, mornings will be used for short lectures en methodology and ethics, while afternoons will be dedicated to individual methodological exercises, which are then evaluated in the evenings. Friday October 18th, we will have full day in Leiden.
Mode of instruction
Total: 5 ECTS = 140 study hours (sbu):
- Tutorials:
o Online instructional modules
o Hands-on workshops
o Screening sessions
o Written & audiovisual assignments
o Peer review
Assesment method
There are four main criteria in which students will be evaluated. Each criterion is worth 25% of the final grade.
Research Proposal Assignments: This consists of five written assignments, which will be marked ‘plus’ or ‘minus’; if you receive a ‘minus’ on an assignment it must be resubmitted. Assessment will consider four main factors: a) how well you met the parameters of the assignments, b) the coherence of your message, and c) the complexity of your text. A final graded assessment will take into account your overall investment and development of research ideas over the semester. These will be discussed in Supervisory writing groups, so thorough reading and detailed comments on your cohort’s work is expected.
Field Study Assignments: A series of assignments meant to put your skills into practice, which will be marked ‘plus’ or ‘minus’; if you receive a ‘minus’ on an assignment it must be resubmitted. A final graded assessment will consider four main factors: a) how well you met the parameters of the assignments, b) the level of effort to master technical skills, c) the overall engagement with your field site and topic, and d) an effort to experiment with different formal aspects. A final graded assessment will take into account your overall investment and development of research ideas over the semester.
Peer Review: Reviewers should take seriously the task of providing actionable critical feedback. Guidelines will be provided to guide students in making well-structured assessments.
Field Journal: Students are required to keep an ongoing ‘field journal’ through the year that specifically reflects on tutorial exercises, field studies, and method reflections. Your journal log demonstrates how deeply you engaged with the course materials and provides the basis for keeping a journal for your research field notes. You should make at least three 1-page entries each week. The entries should be at least 100-words long or provide the equivalent level of attention in drawing, mapping, or alternative kinds of entries. You will submit your journal to your supervisor at the end of each phase of the program.
Participation: The student’s engagement during class time is evaluated on punctuality and interaction. Students are expected to be on time, stay for the entire time, and be actively engaged in the activities of the day. More than 2 absences will result in failure of the course.
Registration
Students are required to register for this course on Blackboard but do not need to register in uSis. (Registration for the exam in uSis is not required since there is no classical examination.)
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used to make information and assignments available. Blackboard module for this course will be available for registration by the end of August.
Reading list
Barbash, Ilisa, and Lucien Taylor (1997) Cross-Cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Robben, Antonius C.G.M., and Jeffrey A. Sluka, eds. (2012) Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader. Malden (MA): Blackwell. This book is also used for the course Large Issues, Small Places and copies of this book will be available for purchase at the university through student association Itiwana.
An additional selection of relevant journal articles. These will be available for downloaded through the university library or via Blackboard.
A series of films related to a student’s project should be selected from the Ethnographic Video volumes available through the university library.