240511 SE Reflexivity and Positionality in Fieldwork Practices (P2) (2023S)

How precisely do we practice ethnography today at a moment of transnational migration, mobile lifestyles, consumer citizenship, and deterritorialized subjectivities? And what are the parameters of ethnographic critique when the dynamics of us/them, elsewhere/home are so contested, contradictory, and complex? And, finally, what are the analytical works conducted by anthropologists around matters of positionality and reflexivity in regard to their role in the field? This course is an introduction to ethnographic field methods and the questions above constitute relevant entry points through which we can examine what ethnography is and how it is conceived within the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology: an investigatory method, a writing practice, or a social/political critique, a discipline? In terms of positionality, we will ponder on the question if “being there” is still a foundational expectation of our work as well as what precisely the anthropologist is intending to “capture” and what are the dynamics (and ethics and politics) of the anthropological relationship. The goal of the seminar is therefore to demystify ethnographic fieldwork and to gain hands-on experience in a broad range of methods for collecting and analyzing ethnographic data. Special attention will be dedicated to the potentialities and issues related to carrying out ethnographic research. In other words, students will explore problems and positive aspects connected to the multiple research positionalities as well as the process of conducting reflexive analysis by the researcher on his/her/their role in the field. In doing so, we will begin by considering foundational debates about the aims and ethics of ethnography as well as the debates around postitionality and reflexivity of anthropologists. We then turn our attention to essential methods of data collection and analysis that cut across epistemological traditions, approaches to fieldwork, and even disciplines. By the end of the course, students could articulate the aims of their ethnography and defend their approach to ethnographic fieldwork. They will analyze issues connected to their socio-economic, political and symbolic positions during research and will be able to discuss the ethical implications of ethnographic research through the use of various reflexive approach.