The Certificate in Ethnography is designed to provide students with theoretical, ethical, and practical training in ethnographic fieldwork. Ethnography was developed within sociocultural anthropology, but it is applicable to any social science field; to issues in healthcare equity and delivery; to practices in education; to business organizational studies; and to user experience in design and technology. It is a qualitative method designed to observe and analyze human behavior, establish rapport in interviewing people and soliciting their perspectives and apply findings to the solution of practical problems.
Students begin the certificate program by reading and responding to short ethnographic texts in the ANTH 120 class, developing the basic vocabulary in sociocultural anthropology, and undertaking short ethnographic assignments. Understanding is deepened in ANTH 300, which examines key texts that have shaped and informed anthropological research and ethnographic fieldwork practices from the mid-19th century to the present. Elective courses examine a different aspect of ethnography either by topic (i.e. health and medicine, globalization, sex, and gender) or by a particular medium (i.e. film, photography, written ethnography). Electives include close readings/evaluations of written ethnographies, ethnographic films or photographs, and ethnographic field projects.
The certificate culminates in the Anth 651 Ethnographic Field Methods course where students will design and carry out a field research project and produce an ethnographic report suitable for inclusion in a graduate school or job application. Students workshop their projects with their instructor and peers so they can learn from others' work and experiences. At all levels of the program, students will critically examine the ethical considerations that are particular to ethnographic representation to ensure that the dignity and cultural values of the participants are honored and their informed consent is freely given.