Theory, Culture and Representation

Fall 2008

3 Credits, 11 weeks - Wednesday 2-5p.m.

Instructor: Lindsay Shen

Doing ethnography is like trying to read (in the sense of "construct a reading of") a manuscript—foreign, faded, full of ellipses, incoherencies, suspicious emendations, and tendentious commentaries, but written not in conventionalized graphs of sound but in transient examples of shaped behavior.
Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973) 10 .

This is a course about asking questions, learning how to arrive at answers, and accepting that our answers are almost never the final word. "Cultural analysis is (or should be) guessing at meanings, assessing the guesses, and drawing explanatory conclusions from the better guesses, not discovering the Continent of Meaning and mapping out its bodiless landscape. " (Geertz 20)

Through weekly seminars you will gain familiarity with some basic research methods in cultural anthropology, and different critical perspectives from which to approach research. Readings will demonstrate these methods and perspectives in action, with an emphasis on Chinese case studies. Through fieldwork exercises, you will build a toolbox of skills such as framing questions, writing fieldnotes, observation, conducting interviews, reviewing literature, composing oral histories, and analyzing and representing data. You will also learn about the ethical responsibilities of conducting research, and how to consider the potential impact of your work.

This is also a course about realizing that the questions we ask, and the way we interpret our data has much to do with who we are. Accepting that knowledge is shaped by one’s cultural context and world view, we will examine the demands of bringing a critical reflexivity to our work.

Each week, we will also focus on building strength in academic writing. A portion of each seminar will be spent on writing exercises and peer critique of student papers.

This is a highly interactive seminar, and its success depends on you completing the assigned readings before each class, and coming prepared for discussion and critique.

September 10
Seminar 1: Finding a way in.
Reading: Karen O'Reilly, Ethnographic Methods (New York: Routledge, 2004) . p1-44.
How do we select and frame a research question? What is data? In this seminar students will be encouraged to think beyond the traditional concept of the essay as the final product of research. While we will look at examples of published academic papers in scholarly journals, we will consider other products, such as photo-essays, maps, film, and poetry. Students are encouraged to keep these in mind as possibilities for their final projects.
Classroom activity: dissecting a project for research
Preparation for Assignment 1.

September 17
Seminar 2: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes from Observation
Reading: Emerson, Fretz and Shaw. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995) chapters 2 + 3, p.17-65 (China Center Library and course reader)

Due today: Assignment 1: 1000 words
Fieldwork practice. After reading these two chapters, conduct your own observation exercise. Select a setting of your choice, such as a coffee shop, bar, classroom, street corner, bus stop, Hangzhou “tourist hang-out” etc. Make field jottings that you then work up into fuller notes for discussion this class period.
Classroom activity: coding fieldnotes for themes.

September 24
Seminar 3: Questioning literature: using texts as springboards
Reading: Jinhua Emma Teng, “The Construction of the "Traditional Chinese Woman" in the Western Academy: A Critical Review” Signs Vol. 22, No. 1. (Autumn, 1996) 115-151. JSTOR
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00979740%28199623%2922%3A1%3C115%3ATCOT%22C%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S

In this seminar we’ll look at an example of building on existing histories and ethnographies, from the critical perspective of feminism. We’ll discuss issues of bias and reflexivity.

As a counterpoint exercise, we’ll consider “the construction of the ‘Contemporary Chinese Woman’ in assorted Chinese print media.”

Sept 29 – Oct 4: October Holiday and Fieldtrip

October 8
Seminar 4: Interviews and Focus Groups
Reading: O’Reilly 112-156; Jos Gamble. "Share dealers, trading places and new options in contemporary Shanghai” Shanghai in Transition: Changing Perspectives and Social Contours of a Chinese Metropolis (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) . x-xxii and 166-189

Gamble’s ethnography of early 21st century Shanghai has been based on two primary methods—observation and interviewing. We’ll analyze this text carefully and discuss the way an ethnography comes together, from data gathering, to analysis, to discernment of themes, to write-up.

Secondary classroom activity: running a focus group

October 15
Seminar 5: Image-based research
Reading: O’Reilly 157-174; Christian Henriot, “Wartime Shanghai Refugees: Chaos, Exclusion, and Indignity. Do images make up for the lack of memory?” http://virtualshanghai.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Article.php?ID=26

Representation theory and visual sociology are powerful tools in helping us understand how we produce and consume images of our worlds. Images, like words, are data we can analyze and deconstruct. There are at least three stories at play in this approach: the subject of the image, the creator of the image, and yours as interpreter.

Due today: Assignment 2: 1000 words
Use JSTOR’s browse feature to find academic journals in the field of cultural anthropology. Analyze a paper of your choice, and describe methods, critical perspective, and the philosophical standpoint of the author (for this, see O’Reilly 44-58)

October 22
Seminar 6: Writing Life Stories
Reading: Somekh and Lewin, eds. Research Methods in the Social Sciences. (London: SAGE, 2005.) 156-163 (course reader).
Chun Yu. Little Green: Growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. 11-28 (course reader).

In this seminar we’ll consider the processes of reflection and construction that occur in the creation of a life story.

Classroom activity: we’ll practice taking a section of a life story from a guest.

October 25- Nov. 1 Field Trip

November 5
Seminar 7: Primary Research: Hitting the Archives
Physical archives in China may be less accessible to us than in the west (for language and other reasons) however, increasingly there is excellent on-line access to important archival material through western library and university sites. Today we will explore some of these resources and discuss how they may be used as sources.

Due today: Final Project proposal. Define your research question and your proposed methods. 500 words. I will help you shape your final project over the coming weeks.
You may write a traditional paper (2000-3000 words). If you choose this route have a look at O’Reilly’s excellent guidelines p.205-228. Or, you may consider a non-traditional project, such as a photo-essay, a diary, a map….If you choose this route, make sure you can describe your methodology and critical standpoint, as we’ve discussed throughout this course.

November 12
Seminar 8: Quantitative Approaches: What statistics can and can’t tell us
Reading: Somekh and Lewin, eds. 215-225; M. Giovanna Merli. “Underreporting of Births and Infant Deaths in Rural China: Evidence from Field Research in One County of Northern China” The China Quarterly 155 (Sep., 1998) 637-655. JSTOR
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=03057410%28199809%290%3A155%3C637%3AUOBAID%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

November 19
Seminar 9: Ethics and Action Research
Reading: O’Reilly 59-83; Daphne Patai. "U.S. Academics and Third World Women: Is Ethical Research Possible?" in Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphne Patai, eds., Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History (New York: Routledge, 1991); 137-153, available as a pdf through the fwchina junior research seminar site: http://www.fwpchina.com/index.php/china/view/junior_seminar_project/Women, Somekh and Lewin, eds. 89-96 (course reader)

Research projects often involve multiple dilemmas. Is covert observation ethical? How do you reconcile your position of privilege as a researcher beside that of your subjects? What of their expectations? And what if you decide that for you, the ethical outcome of your project should be improvements in your subjects’ lives?

November 26
Seminar 10: Pulling it together.
Reading: O’Reilly 205-228.

December 3
Discussion of research projects in progress and group feedback

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