Social Science Methods, Analysis and Research Training
US Studies Centre July 16-20 2012
WORKSHOP IN CULTURAL STUDIES AND ETHNOGRAPHY
Faye Ginsburg and Toby Miller
Our workshop looks at identity, value and power in diverse social formations from the
perspective of culture, understood as a mixture of everyday life, activism, and practice, artistic
and otherwise. Participants will be exposed to a range of methods and their theoretical
implications, including strategies such as ethnography, and associated methods such as life
narratives, textual analysis, archival projects, political economy, audio and video recording, and
approaches to different kinds of “media worlds” as research objects. Additionally, we will
consider recent discussions regarding the ethics and politics of field based research as well as
publishing, particularly with vulnerable populations such as children, disabled subjects or
members of indigenous communities, considering research design in relation to what is often
called collaborative or engaged research, and the questions this kind of work raises regarding
accessible modes of publishing, and intellectual property questions regarding local forms of
knowledge.
We anticipate the seminar being of use to students interested in developing their research
projects using qualitative, inductive forms of knowledge production in fields such as
anthropology, sociology, history, political science, communication studies, public policy, media
studies, and cultural studies. The week will be run as a workshop. Morning sessions will address a
particular aspect of methods based on readings of selected articles; the afternoon will be devoted
to having seminar members with interest in the particular methodology to present their work to
the group to see how the research might be expanded or refined based on the discussions and
readings.
On the first day, we will divide the workshop into partners. On Thursday afternoon,
each participant will work with his/her partner(s) to comment on his/her project and make
suggestions on methodologies, drawing on the discussions of the week. On Friday, each person
will have 10 minutes to talk about how they have reimagined their research project based
on what they have learned in the class, followed by five minutes of discussion. This way, we
will be sure to have a chance to really address each person’s research interests, and provide
him/her with a chance to integrate the material from the week into his/her own project.
EACH DAY: Students should send short responses to readings onto
http://usscculturalstudiesandethnography.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/looking-forward/ by
each night for the next day’s seminar.
The readings are on the USSC site. http://ussc.edu.au/research/ssmart/culturalstudies/Syllabus-356 The podcasts are available at the web addresses listed. Depending on
the equipment you are using, you may need to copy the addresses onto Quick Time Player.
You can also obtain them via the iTunes podcast ‘culturalstudies’ or as applications for
iPhone or Android.
We also encourage students to send in “clips of the day” relevant to the topics we are
discussing as a way to open up the conversation.
You can contact us via faye.ginsburg@gmail.com or tobym@ucr.edu
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BACKGROUND READINGS:
Néstor García Canclini. 2008. Interview for the 9th Spanish Sociology Conference, 2007. Social
Identities. 14 (3) 389-94
Chartier, Roger. 2004. Languages, Books, and Reading from the Printed Word to the Digital Text
Critical Inquiry 31
Cunningham, Stuart. 2010. Trojan Horse or Rorschach Blot? Creative Industries Discourse
Around the World. International Journal of Cultural Policy
Eco, Umberto. 1979, Introduction to The Role of the Reader
Frow, John. 2005 Australian Cultural Studies: Theory, Story, History Australian Humanities
Review 37
Ginsburg, Faye, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin. 2002. Introduction. Media Worlds:
Anthropology on New Terrain. California. 1-36
Hall, Stuart. 1990. The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of Humanities. October 53
Marcus, George. 2007. Ethnography Two Decades After Writing Culture. Anthropological
Quarterly 80(4): 1127-45
Martín-Barbero, Jesús. 2006. A Latin American Perspective on Communication/Cultural
Mediation Global Media and Communication 2 (3): 279-97.
Miller, Toby. 2006. What it is and what it isn’t. Introducing….Cultural Studies. In A Companion
to Cultural Studies. Blackwell, 1-20.
Miller, Toby. 2009. Can Natural Luddites Make Things Explode or Travel Faster? The New
Humanities, Cultural Policy Studies, and Creative Industries. In Media Industries: History,
Theory, Method Wiley-Blackwell.
Wenger, Etienne. 2009. Communities of Practice: A Brief Introduction.
BACKGROUND PODCASTS
(a) http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2010/08/03/conversation-with-doug-kellner/
(b) http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2010/08/06/sarah-banet-weiser/
(c) http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2010/09/17/a-conversation-with-kate-oakley/
(d) http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2011/03/05/a-conversation-with-stuart-cunningham-aboutthe-creative-industries/
MONDAY JULY 16
Introduction: Cultural Studies, Studying Culture
Come ready to discuss the background readings and podcasts listed above.
10 - 12: Introduction and Background.
SCREENING: Child’s Pose:Yoga in a NYC Public School (2012, 28 min., Rowena Potts)
Introduction to the structure of the week and objectives of seminar.
Background/Overview:
Cultural studies and Studying culture. Scaling up and knowledge production.
Feel free to bring in discussion of background readings if you have had a chance to read them.
12 – 1: Lunch
1 – 3:
1) Students present themselves and their work to the group (5 min. / person).
2) Select partners to review each others’ proposals for Friday
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TUESDAY, JULY 17
The Epistemology of the Conversation: The Interview, Life Narratives, Fieldwork
SCREENING: In Her Own Time, Barbara Myerhoff/Lynne Littman, 1985, 58 min.
READINGS:
Briggs, Charles. 2007, Anthropology, Interviewing and Communicability in Contemporary
Society, Current Anthropology 48 (4): 551-80
Jacobs-Huey, Lanita 2002 The Natives Are Gazing and Talking Back. American Anthropologist
104 (3): 791-804
Marcus, George 1998 The Uses of Complicity in the Changing Mise-en-Scene of Anthropological
Fieldwork. In Ethnography Through Thick and Thin. Princeton
Mahon, Maureen. 2000. The Visible Evidence of Cultural Producers. Annual Review of
Anthropology 29: 467-92
Ochs, Elinor & Lisa Capps. 1996. Narrating the Self. Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 19-43
PODCAST:
http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2012/01/13/a-conversation-with-ayesha-mattu-and-nuramaznavi-about-love-inshallah-and-muslim-wome/
10 - 12: Discussion of Readings and Podcast
LUNCH
1-3:00: Discussion of interviews/narratives in research projects
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18
Engaged Anthropology, Decolonizing Methodologies, Anthropologie Partagée
SCREENING: Vincent Carelli, Video in the Villages Presents Itself, 33 minutes, 2002
READINGS:
Ewick, Patrick and Susan Sibley. 1998 The Common Place of Law: Stories From Everyday Life:
ch 1-3
Ginsburg, Faye. 2011. Native Intelligence: A Short History of Debates on Indigenous Media. In
Made to Be Seen: Perspectives on the History of Visual Anthropology. Marcus Banks and Jay
Ruby, eds. University of Chicago Press: 234-255
Johnston, Barbara Rose. 2010. Social Responsibility and the Anthropological Citizen. Current
Anthropology 51 S2: S235-48.
Tuhiwai Smith, Linda 1999 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples Zed
Press, Ch. 1: Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory; Ch. 6 The Indigenous People’s Project
Turner, Terry 2006 Anthropology as a Reality Show and as Co-Production: Internal Relations
between Theory and Activism. Critique of Anthropology 26: 15-24
http://www.maitres-fous.net/Stoller.html
PODCAST:
http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2011/12/14/a-conversation-with-andrew-ross-and-maggiegray-about-occupy-wall-st-and-occupy-student-debt/
10 - 12: Discussion of Readings and Podcast
1 - 3:00: Discussion of advocacy/engagement in research projects
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THURSDAY, JULY 19
Working the Boundaries: Migration/ Sexuality & Gender/
SCREENING: Laura Murray, A Kiss for Gabriela, 28 minutes, 2011
READINGS:
Low, Setha and Sally Engle Merry. 2010. Engaged Anthropology: Diversity and Dilemmas.
Current Anthropology. Vil. 51, Supplement 2. October 2010. 203-226.
Merry, Sally. 2009. Gender Violence as a Human Rights Violation (Chapter 4), and
A Cultural Perspective on Violence. (Ch. 7) both in
Gender Violence: A Cultural Perspective. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell
Kosnick, Kira. 2010. Migrant Publics: Mass Media and Stranger Relationality in Urban Space.
Revue Europeene des Migrations Internationales 26: 37-55
Levitt, Peggy. Transnational Migration: Taking Stock and Future Directions. Global Networks:
A Journal of Transnational Affairs. Vol. 1 No. 3: 195-216
PODCAST:
http://culturalstudies.podbean.com/2012/04/01/a-conversation-with-jorge-mariscal-aboutcervantes-chicanos-and-the-viet-nam-war/
10-12: Discussion
LUNCH
1-3:00 Partners meet to discuss their projects with each other
Each student will work with his/her partner(s) to comment on his/her project and make
suggestions on methodologies, drawing on the discussions of the prior four days, to be sure that
we have a chance to really address each person’s research interests, and provide him/her with a
chance to integrate the material from the week into their own project.
FRIDAY, JULY 20
Presentations
Each student presents a revised understanding of their project’s methodologies based on the
week’s seminar. Each person gets 10 minutes to present and 5 min. discussion
10- 12: First eight presentations
LUNCH
1 – 3:30. Second nine presentations.
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