Article
Ethnographic Methods Training Norms and Practices and the Future of American Anthropology
SocArXiv
(2023)
Abstract
American Anthropology is engaged in significant self-reckonings that call for big changes to how anthropology is practiced. These include (1) recognizing and taking seriously the demands to decolonize the ways research is done; (2) addressing precarious employment in academic anthropology; and (3) creating a discipline better positioned to respond to urgent societal needs. A central role for ethnographic methods training is a thread that runs through each of these four reckonings. This paper, written by a team of cultural, biocultural, and linguistic anthropologists, outlines key connections between ethnographic methods training and the challenges facing anthropology. We draw on insights from a large-scale survey of American Anthropological Association members to examine current ethnographic methods capabilities and training practices. Study findings suggest that there is a strong desire among anthropologists for deeper training in foundational methods such as participant observation, entering the field, and ethnographic fieldwork writ-large, combined with training in critical and collaborative methods, as well as in quantitative methods. In addition, respondents report having competencies in ethnographic data collection methods, but a lack of training in methods for systematically analyzing the data they collect. We explore these and other findings to answer three guiding questions: To what extent do our current anthropological practices in ethnographic methods training serve to advance or undermine current calls for disciplinary change? To what extent do instructors themselves identify disconnects between their own practices and the need for innovation? And, finally, what can be done, and at what scale, to leverage ethnographic methods training to meet calls for disciplinary change?
Keywords
- ethnography,
- methodology,
- cultural anthropology,
- pedagogy,
- qualitative research
Disciplines
Publication Date
2023
DOI
10.31235/osf.io/684k5
Citation Information
Rosalyn Negrón, Amber Wutich, H Russell Bernard, A. Brewis, et al.. "Ethnographic Methods Training Norms and Practices and the Future of American Anthropology" SocArXiv (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/krista_harper/33/