New directions in ethnographic methods

The fees for the New directions in ethnographic methods course are:

The course introduces you to:

• The practicalities of ethnographic methods, varied tools ethnographers use in conducting participant observation and cultural immersion. How to design an ethnography, ethics and managing the cultural immersion.
• Difficulties and limitations of ethnographic methods in contrast to other research methods, reflexivity, research impact and activism.

By the end of this course, participants should:

• Understand key mechanisms and limitations associated with ethnographic methods, including selection of sites, key informants, interviewees, ethics and managing challenging circumstances.
• Be familiar with the key skills of participant observation, in-depth interviewing, including asking open questions, probing and active listening.
• Be familiar with ethical and responsible research, and reflexive thinking, analysis and writing.
• Understand how to combine quantitative and secondary data with ethnographic data in analysis.

This course is led by Professor Sandya Hewamanne, from the department of Sociology and Criminology at The University of Essex.

Sandya is an experienced ethnographer who has conducted ethnographic research for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in participant observation, in-depth interviews and other ethnographic tools. Her research interests are in the fields of gender and economic anthropology, and she has published widely in leading academic journals, three books and one co-edited volume.

Her books Stitching Identities in a Free trade Zone (2008: University of Pennsylvania Press); Re-Stitching Identities in Rural Sri Lanka: Neoliberalism, Gender and Politics of Contentment (2020: University of Pennsylvania Press) and Sri Lanka’s Global Factory Workers: (Un)Disciplined Desires and Sexual Struggles in a Post-Colonial Society (2016: Routledge) are being taught at universities throughout the USA in ethnographic methods courses.

This is an ideal course for Postgraduate and PhD students in social sciences, as well as professional stakeholders (such as NGO staff, Police and Law Enforcement, Civil Service, Industry, Education, Military, NHS).

This is an introductory course and no previous experience of ethnographic methods or anthropology is assumed.