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SOSC 4604 3.0
Aspects of Development Research: The Field Experience
Winter 2020
Syllabus
All the readings listed below are required for the week in which they appear, except
when a reading is explicitly noted as "recommended," or appears between square
brackets [ ].
Week 1:
January 7th |
Introduction to the Course: The perennial challenges of fieldwork
Film: Maurice Godelier, "To Find the Baruya," film #3681-3682, |
Week 2:
January 14th |
Finding a role and overcoming distrust
Myron Glazer, The Research Adventure: Promise and Problems of Fieldwork, (New
York: Random House, 1972), Introduction and chapter 1 and 2 |
Week 3:
January 21st |
Reciprocity and other ethical issues
Glazer, op. cit, Chapter 3-A
Laura Bohannan, "Shakespeare in the Bush," in James P. Spradley and David W. McCurdy, Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology, (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990, pp.78-88.
David Rohde, “Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones,” The New York Times,
October 5, 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Film: "Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial" |
Week 4:
January 28th |
Race, Gender, Age and other characteristics of the researcher
David J. Banks, "From Structure to History in Malaya," in Lawless et al, Fieldwork: The
Human Experience, (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1983), pp. 35-48;
Niara Sudarkasa, "In a World of Women: Field Work in a Yoruba Community," in
Peggy Golde, ed., Women in the Field: Anthropological Experiences, second edition,
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).
If you are interested in reading more from this collection, The Introduction and first three
chapters of Peggy Golde, Women in the Field can be found on line at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=n7G22sTOxHQC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA1&ots=GmYxalbQi
V&dq=peggy+golde+women+in+the+field |
Week 5:
February 4th |
Contemporary challenges in fieldwork: Inside and outside the law
Judith Adler Hellman, "Ask an 'open' question and you'll get a surprising answer: Counter-intuitive findings on Mexican migration to the United States." in Jeffrey H. Cohen and Ibrahim Sirkeci, eds. The Handbook of Culture and Migration. (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming, 2020).
Judith Adler Hellman, The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place, (New York: The New Press, 2008), Prologue, pp. xiii-xxiv; Chapters 1,2,3,and 4 pp. 17-56; Chapters 6-9. pp. 65-91;
[Please note: This book is available through the library as an e-book]
[ Recommended: “Pedro P.” in Judith Adler Hellman, Mexican Lives, (New York: The New Press, 1994), pp. 171-184.] |
Week 6:
February 11th |
Contemporary challenges in fieldwork: Inside and outside the law (continued)
Hellman, The World of Mexican Migrants, Chapter 14, 15 and 16 (pp. 119-166); Chapter 17, pp. 169-175 and chapter 19 (pp.191-209). [Recommended: “A Note on Methodology,” pp. 232-241] |
READING WEEK: February 17th - 21st |
Week 7:
February 25th |
Contemporary Challenges: From social movements to gangs
Dennis Rodgers, “Joining the Gang and Becoming a Broder: The Violence of Ethnography in Contemporary Nicaragua.” Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 26, No.4. 2007, pp. 444-61.
Dennis Rodgers, “Living in the Shadow of Death: Gangs, Violence and Social Order in Urban Nicaragua, 1996–2002,” Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 38, 2006, 267–292.
Jon Lee Anderson, “Slumlord: What has Hugo Chavez Wrought in Venezuela?” The New Yorker, January 28, 2013, pp. 40-51.
http://www.upworthy.com/wow-the-crazy-story-of-how-a-skyscraper-became-a-45-story-slum?c=ufb1
This is the link for the Torre de David video. “Vocative video” seems to be the film maker <vocativ.com> |
Week 8:
March 3rd |
Deeper into danger zones: Reliable sources?
Robert Gay, “Dangerous Liaisons: Reflections on a Serial Ethnography, in Miriam Boeri and Rashi K. Shukla, eds. Inside Ethnography: Researchers Reflect on the Challenges of Reaching Hidden Populations, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2019), pp. 2015-218.
Robert Gay, Lucia: Testimonies of a Brazilian Drug Dealer’s Woman, (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), pp. 1-136. [Available as an e-book]
Midterm Exam: In Class 1.5 Hours |
Week 9:
March 10th |
Studies of NGO programs, aid policy and practice
David Mosse, Cultivating Development: An Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice, (London: Pluto Press, 2005. Preface plus Chapters 2-3. [Please note: Chapter 1 is recommended but not required.] [Available as an e-book] |
Week 10: March 17th |
Studies of NGO programs, aid policy and practice (continued)
D. Mosse, op. cit.. Chapter 4 and 5
Monica deHart, “Fried Chicken or Pop? Redefining Development and Ethnicity in Totonicapan,”Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 28 Issue 1, January 2009, pp. 63-82. |
Week 11:
March 24th |
The International Volunteer: The personal and the professional in international development
Rebecca Nelson Jacobs, “‘Valorando la Cultura Maya’: Volunteer Tourism and Globalized Cultural Production in a Guatemalan Weaving Cooperative,” Paper presented to the Third International Graduate Student Research Conference, CERLAC, York University, Toronto, 15-16 March 2013.
Katharina Mangold, “‘Struggling to Do the Right Thing’: Challenges during international volunteering,” Third World Quarterly, Vol. 33, Issue 8, 2012, pp. 1493-1508.
[Recommended only: Eric Anton Heuser, “Befriending the Field: Culture and friendships in development worlds,” Third World Quarterly, Vol. 33, Issue 8, 2012, pp.1423-1437.; and
Anne-Meike Fechter, “The Personal and the Professional: Aid workers' relationships and values in the development process,” Special Issue: The Personal and the Professional in Aid Work, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 33, Issue 8, 2012, pp. 1387-1404]. |
Week 12:
March 31st |
Final Class: Presentations of the Fieldwork Essays |
Download PDF version of the syllabus. |
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