PhD Courses in Denmark

Welcome to Ethnography in practice in interdisciplinary research (online)

Course description:

Ethnography has been seen as the domain of anthropologists. However, more and more researchers turn to different versions of ethnography in their fieldwork. This may take the form of participant observation, narrative interviewing, focus group discussions, participatory methods and life histories to mention but a few. While there are courses on interviewing, ethics and similar related topics, there seems to be a distinct lack of courses on the practices of ethnographic research methods. Ethnography is best taught and learnt in practice. However, through a more systematic, sandbox approach, students will be much better prepared to use ethnographic methods, even if their research does not entail long-term anthropological fieldwork. Ethnographic methods can be used productively in a range of different research and data collection processes across different interdisciplinary projects. A semi-structured interview also offers the possibility of observation that can be useful for the research. Attending a meeting in the field – formal or not – also allows us to understand issues in a different way. It is all about observing and sensing in a systematic and reflexive manner. In this way, ethnographic methods and sensibilities are relevant beyond traditional and long-term ethnographic fieldwork. The course can be useful for students as they prepare data collection (ethnographic or not), during fieldwork to get new ideas and after fieldwork to reflect on the practices of fieldwork. It will offer practical tools that will be practiced and discussed during the course. We will explore in practice how to conceptualize a ‘field’ beyond a geographical place; how to engage in reflexive interviewing, for instance narrative interviews; how to observe and write field notes; how to include research participants, and how to turn this data into analysis. 

The course runs for four days over two weeks. Each seminar day will be divided into lectures, discussions, reflections, and introductions to exercises in the first half followed by exercises before the next seminar day. 

For additional information, updates, and registration, please refer to AAU PhD Moodle via the link provided on the right side of this page.