Ethnographic Fieldwork I
Code: 107244 ECTS Credits: 12| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Social and Cultural Anthropology | OB | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Virginia Fons Renaudon
- Email:
- virginia.fons@uab.cat
Teachers
- Anna Maria Piella Vila
- Montserrat Ventura Oller
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
In accordance with the 2023 curriculum, approved by the Ministry, the following subjects must be taken in the established order:
- Ethnographic Fieldwork I (2nd year, 1st semester).
- Epistemology and Research Methods in Social and Cultural Anthropology (2nd year, 2nd semester).
- Research Techniques in Social and Cultural Anthropology (3rd year, 1st semester).
- Ethnographic Fieldwork II (3rd year, 2nd semester).
- Final Degree Project (4th year, 1st semester).
Objectives and Contextualisation
Ethnographic Fieldwork I is the first of a four-year itinerary taking place over the second and third years of the degree, ending in the first semester of the fourth year with the Final Degree Project.
This block of subjects forms an ethnographic sequence that introduces fieldwork practices, ethnography and anthropological analysis methodologies, as well as data collection and analysis techniques. It provides a model of anthropological research in which quantitative and qualitative techniques for data collection and presentation are practiced, culminating in the design and execution of the Final Degree Project in the fourth year.
Ethnographic Fieldwork I begins the sequence with the following objectives:
- Through the practice of prospective fieldwork, students will gain direct knowledge of the advantages, potentialities, limitations and risks of classical fieldwork in ethnography.
- To learn the basic technique of participant observation and carry out the recording and analysis of a field diary.
- The student will also learn how to get to know a human group and formulate research problems and tentative hypotheses.
Learning Outcomes
- CM15 (Competence) Act with ethical responsibility and respect for basic rights and responsibilities, diversity and democratic values in professional activity.
- CM16 (Competence) Apply knowledge of cultural variability, principles, values and procedures that govern the discipline in order to avoid ethnocentric, sexist or discriminatory projections when carrying out fieldwork in anthropology.
- CM18 (Competence) Autonomously produce anthropological research, using appropriate procedures, techniques and instrumental resources.
- KM18 (Knowledge) Recognise the epistemological and methodological debates in anthropology and the main forms of comparison and cultural translation.
- SM22 (Skill) Collect, interpret, analyse and adequately present ethnographic data, using qualitative and quantitative procedures, in accordance with the ethical norms, principles and values that govern the exercise of the profession.
- SM23 (Skill) Make complex and critical analyses of cultural configurations as well as all ethnographic information within the framework of a new holistic perspective.
Content
The course objectives will be achieved progressively. Until the end, there will not be a clear awareness of what has been achieved, largely thanks to the reflective work required to evaluate the subject. This lack of control over what is being done will lead to a certain degree of insecurity at certain points in the course, which is inherent to the participant’s observation and necessary for the initiation of the technique in question.
No new content will be introduced (except in classes and initial readings), but it will be presented as the various stages of entering the field are reached.
The following aspects will be covered:
- Participant observation (access, the ethnological relationship, ethical and methodological issues, gender, class and race perspectives, etc.).
- Preparation of the field diary.
- Organising information and systematising data.
- Identification of topics of theoretical interest.
- Formulation of research questions.
- Proposing tentative hypotheses.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Theoretical classes | 10 | 0.4 | CM15, CM16, CM18, KM18, SM22, SM23, CM15 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Individual tutorials | 10 | 0.4 | CM15, CM16, CM18, SM22, SM23, CM15 |
| Registration, systematization and analysis of the field diary | 70 | 2.8 | CM15, CM16, SM22, SM23, CM15 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Participant observation | 30 | 1.2 | CM15, CM16, CM18, SM22, CM15 |
| Reading the bibliography | 10 | 0.4 | CM15, CM18, KM18, CM15 |
| Writing the Final Project | 20 | 0.8 | CM16, SM22, SM23, CM16 |
Throughout the semester, around seven group sessions are held on this subject. These sessions are aimed at the whole group and last approximately one and a half hours. They are scheduled according to a calendar established at the beginning of the course. Apart from the content, these collective sessions will provide common work guidelines according to the stage of the practice process in which we find ourselves. The first group session will be held in the first week of the course.
The rest of the work will be tutored individually in the teacher's office, at a time agreed upon by the student and teacher. This individual monitoring will enable us to address issues that were not sufficiently clear when applied to the specific context of each student's practice, despite having been discussed collectively in the classroom sessions. These tutorials will help us to understand the students' abilities and difficulties in establishing an ethnological relationship and their perception of it. They will also help students to learn specific content related to the situations and populations with which they are working and provide a context in which all doubts, insecurities and other issues related to the internship can be clarified.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class Attendance | 10% | 10 | 0.4 | CM15, CM16, CM18, KM18, SM22, SM23 |
| Reading and critical commentary on the compulsory readings | 10% | 10 | 0.4 | CM15, CM18, KM18 |
| Work process and follow-up of tutorials | 40% | 40 | 1.6 | CM15, CM16, CM18, SM22, SM23 |
| Work process and follow-up of tutorials | 40% | 90 | 3.6 | CM15, CM16, CM18, SM22, SM23 |
This subject is evaluated continuously under the permanent supervision of the teaching staff. It consists of three tests:
- Readings and reviews (10%). Attendance and participation in group sessions (10%).
- The work process and tutoring follow-up (40%).
- The analysis process and final work (40%).
To be eligible to present the final project and be evaluated, enrolled people must have completed all the field tasks planned for the development of the subject. Therefore, any student who has not followed the tutored process of observation and monitoring of the field diary will not be assessed.
In order to be assessed on the subject, it is necessary to have passed two thirds of the subject through the monitoring of the work and the analysis process.
Given its eminently practical nature, the evaluation process of the subject does not contemplate a retake system (as specified in article 112.1 Doc. Adaptation of the Evaluation Regulations, UAB). However, it does allow for the completion of the different stages of fieldwork through the tutoring system.
Throughout the course, teaching staff will inform students of the procedure and date for reviewing grades.
If tests cannot be taken in person, they will be adapted to the possibilities offered by UAB's virtual tools (while maintaining the weighting). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out via forums, wikis and/or discussion exercises on Teams, etc. The teaching staff will ensure that students can access these resources or provide alternative means within their reach.
If a student commits an irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment, this assessment will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary process that may be initiated. If there are several irregularities in the assessment of the same subject, the final grade for that subject will also be 0.
The use of AI technologies is entirely prohibited in all activities for this subject. Any work submitted that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty and will be awarded a zero grade, without the possibility of reassessment. More serious action may be taken in cases of greater infringement.
This subject/module does not use a single evaluation system.
Bibliography
Required readings
San Román, Teresa (2000). "El mundo que compartimos. Una alternativa". Revista Antropología, 9.
Taylor, Steven J. & Bogdan, Robert (1986). "La observación participante en el campo". In: Introducción a los métodos cualitativos de investigación. Paidós, pp. 50-91.
Cardoso de Oliveira, Roberto (2004). "El trabajo del antropólogo: mirar, escuchar, escribir". AVÁ, 5, pp. 55-68.
Malinowski, Bronislaw (1975 [1939]). "Confesiones de ignorancia y fracaso". In: Josep R. Llobera (Ed.), La antropología como ciencia. Anagrama, pp.129-139.
Pérez, Carmen, Ardèvol, Elisenda, Bertrán, Marta & Callén, Blanca (2003). "Etnografía virtualizada: la observación participante y la entrevista semiestructurada en línea". Athenea Digital: Revista de Pensamiento e Investigación Social, 3, 72-92. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-64775
Recommended Reading
Ardèvol, Elisenda & Gómez-Cruz, Edgar (2020). "Digital ethnography and media practices". In: Fabienne Darling-Wolf (Ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Research Methods in Media Studies, Volume 7.
Geertz, Clifford (1998). "Juego profundo: notas sobre la riña de galles en Bali". In: La interpretación de las culturas. Gedisa, pp. 339-373.
Guasch, Óscar (1997). "Observación Participante". Cuadernos Metodológicos, 20.CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas).
Hammersley, Martyn & Atkinson, Paul (1994). Etnografía. Métodos de Investigación. Paidós, 69.
Lawrence Neuman, William (1997). Social Research Methods. Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Allyn and Bacon.
San Román, Teresa (1996). "De la intuición a la contrastación: El trabajo de campo en antropología y en la formación de los nuevos antropólogos". In: Aurora González Echevarría (Coord.), Simposio VIII Epistemología y método, Actas del VII Congreso de Antropología Social. Zaragoza, pp. 167-178.
San Román, Teresa (2009). "Debates, informes y entrevistas Sobre la investigación etnográfica". Revista de Antropología Social, 18, pp. 235-260. file:///C:/Users/1003662/Downloads/ecob,+RASO0909110235A.PDF.pdf
*For more information on digital ethnography, see: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1clGjGABB2h2qbduTgfqribHmog9B6P0NvMgVuiHZCl8/preview
Software
Word processor (Word type).
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan/Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |