Module 19: Selected Anthropological Methods

This module is part of the Social Science Research Methods Course programme which is a shared platform for providing research students with a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research

Mphil Students from participating departments taking the Social Science Research Methods Course as part of their research degree

Number of sessions: 4

• Session 1: Ethnographic research, past and present
• Session 2: Participant observation and its challenges
• Session 3: Studying intimate relations
• Session 4: Material culture and museums

The objective of the course is to involve students in the study of ongoing debates on ethnographic practice and to look at the practical implications of research in different disciplines.

• To introduce methods to non-anthropologists
• To review the history of ethnographic research in anthropology and other social sciences

Presentations only

• Coffey, A. (1999). The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity. London: Sage Publications
• James, A., Hockey, J. & Dawson, A. (eds.). (1997). After Writing Culture: Epistemology and Praxis in Contemporary Anthropology. London and New York: Routledge.
• Ellen, R. F. (ed.) (1984). Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct. London: Academic Press.
• Watson, C. W. (ed.) (1999). Being There: Fieldwork in Anthropology. London: Pluto Press.

• To gain the maximum benefits from the course it is important that students do not see this course in isolation from the other MPhil courses or research training they are taking. Responsibility lies with each student to consider the potential for their own research using methods common in fields of the social sciences that may seem remote. Ideally this task will be facilitated by integration of the SSRMC with discipline-specific courses in their departments and through reading and discussion.

Four sessions of 1.5hours

Four times in Lent term