Course Schedule: Please Complete All Reading Assignments Prior to Class

Linguistics 495 – Ethnography of Communication FALL 2012

Class: Thurs 5:00 – 7:30pm Class Location: ICC207A Lecturer: Dr. Anna Marie Trester e-mail: [email protected]

Office: Poulton Hall #229 Office Hours: Tues & Thurs 12-2pm or by appt

Required Texts: Saville-Troike, Muriel. 2003. The ethnography of communication: an introduction. Malden, Mass: Blackwell (3rd Edition) – REFERRED TO AS: MST Blommaert, Jan and Dong Jie. 2012. Ethnographic Fieldwork: A Beginner’s guide. Bristol: Multilingual Matters

Additional Readings as indicated on the syllabus available on Blackboard https://campus.georgetown.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the Ethnography of Communication (EoC) an approach to the analysis of language and communication in context. Drawn principally from Anthropology and Linguistics, this approach suggests that “what language is cannot be separated from how and why it is used.” Thus, the course is a blend of theory, practice, and method, with particular focus on 'participant observation.' Along with some of the basic 'core' articles that present this perspective, students will read about ethnographic work on specific topics and in particular geographic locations, while at the same time conducting ethnographic observations themselves within a chosen community or site of interaction of their choosing (e.g. a gym, an office, a team working together on a long term project, a religious organization). Class time will be a combination of lecture, workshopping of data (that collected by students as well as data brought by the instructor drawn from her ethnographic projects), and discussion (of course readings and students’ application of the theoretical concepts).

Course Objectives: To cultivate the skills of linguistic observation and analysis through extended participant observation with a group, ideally one that is culturally, socially, or linguistically different from the researcher. Students will learn to balance insider / outsider perspectives in discovering the interactional norms both of the studied group as well as their own, based on the premise that the best way to learn about one’s own “ways of speaking” is to contrast them with those of other communities, a process which reveals that what is assumed to be “natural” is in fact culturally unique.

Course Goals: The goal of the course is to uncover some of the specific ways that language is intertwined with social actions, values, beliefs, group memberships, identities and social institutions.

Evaluation: 20% Observation Activities (2) 15% Fieldwork blog entries 15% Critical Article Summary / Presentation 40% Final Project /Presentation 10% Attendance / Participation

Attendance is Required: Because much of the work done for this class occurs outside the classroom, the time that we do have together for discussion is essential. Students will not receive full credit for the attendance portion of the grade with more than two absences.

Assignments, Journals, Presentations are due at the beginning of the class the day that they are assigned. LATE WORK WILL NOT RECEIVE FULL CREDIT. If you are going to be absent, you need to make arrangements to have your work in before class time. Late work is marked down for every day it is late. DESCRIPTION OF COURSE ELEMENTS:

Observation Activities (2) To gain experience with participant observation, and to cultivate fieldwork skills, students will conduct two small participant observation projects during the first part of the semester. The first will focus on a community to which (it is supposed) most members of the class have an outsider perspective, and the second a group or activity to which the student has an insider status, so as to draw attention to the etic / emic tension in ethnography.

Critical Summary & Presentation of an Article You will each sign up to present an article that you will be using as part of your final project. You will also prepare a written critical article summary to hand in. These presentations will be evaluated by me and by your peers following a peer feedback rubric that I will go over in class before the presentations begin so that you all know what to expect.

Field notes / Fieldwork blog entries As part of the final project, students will be expected to be “in the field” conducting field observations at least once a week beginning in October once they have chosen a group for participant observation. Field note journals are for you and field notes should be taken after each period of observation. The blog entry is a place to note emerging patterns, research ideas as well as questions or problems, lingering concerns or difficulties. I will give you prompts to stimulate your posts, and be responding along with your peers to provide you feedback as the semester unfolds.

Final Project: If you hand in a paper, the length of the final write-up should be roughly 10-15 page (double spaced, 12pt font) formal summary of your project. However, the project need not be a paper. It can be a website, a portfolio, a workshop, a media project (e.g. a film). I encourage you to draw from your personal skills and interests and to be creative. Note that Georgetown has an excellent media facility in the library that can provide you with cameras, editing software, web development software and training (you can actually contact them to set up a one-on-one session to learn software), but you must start early! For a list of what Gelardin has available: http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/gelardin/

There are many stages for developing your final project built into the syllabus: Sept 20th In class discussion of project ideas Sept 27th: Project ideas posted to blog Oct 11th – Nov 8th Critical Article summaries / presentations Think of these as practice in honing the skill of writing a lit review Nov 29th: annotated bibliography of 5 sources Dec 6th Final presentations Think of these as a chance to workshop data and get feedback on your ideas. Dec 9th: Draft: I am happy to provide feedback on a draft if you get it to me by the end of the day Dec 14th Final Projects Due: by noon to my inbox in the Linguistics Dept (2nd floor Poulton)

Honor System: You are all familiar with the honor system here at Georgetown University. Violations of the honor system may include any of the following: cheating on exams and other assignments, committing plagiarism, using false citations, submitting work for multiple purposes, submitting false data, falsifying academic documentation, abuse of library privileges, and abuse of shared electronic media. I have tried my best to explain my expectations for this course; I take the honor system very seriously. If you should have any questions about my expectations or the honor system in relation to your work, please contact me immediately.

Blackboard/ Blog: I have activated the class Blackboard site and will primarily use this for the purposes of mass communication and dissemination of readings, and will be using our class blog for sharing resources and discussions. The class blog may be found at this address: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/ling-495-fall2012/

Grades are EARNED – they are not subject to negotiation. Grades are a measure of your mastery of the ideas, your degree of rigorous engagement with key analytical concepts. They are about maintaining the credibility of this institution, and about whether you can be put out to the world to perform at the level that we owe to you as a student, to your classmates, alum, and other members of the faculty. They are not a measure of “did I complete X, Y, & Z?” Course Schedule: (subject to change) Please complete all reading assignments prior to class Due in Class Week Thursday Introduction: What is the ethnography of communication? Aug 30th 1 Expectations (yours of the course, mine of you), accountable talk Discussion: dialoguing abt. diversity / Participant Observation simulation Week Thursday Eliciting Underlying Assumptions - In class List Activity Bring a list th 2 Sept 6 Readings: MST, Chs. 1 & 2; to class Goffman: On Fieldwork, Johnstone: Looking (on Bb) Week Thursday Topic: Participant Observation th 3 Sept 13 Readings: MST Ch. 3, Ethnographic Fieldwork Chs. 1-3 What is coffee? Coffee shop observations Week Thursday Topic: Ethnographies in DC Observation th 4 Sept 20 Readings: Modan & Lou (on Bb) Activity #1 Discussion: choosing a research community Data workshop – Quaker & Improv ethnographies Week Thursday Topic: DC / Deaf Culture in DC Blog post: th 5 Sept 27 Discussion of field activity @ Gallaudet University project ideas Begin reading Deaf in DC, Shaw & Delaporte article Week Thursday Topic: Entering the Community Blog post: th 6 Oct 4 Ethnographic Fieldwork: Ch 4, MST Ch. 4 SP Choose your own activity: D.I.E. Practice / film: Sound and Fury EA 6:30 Guest Speaker: Asli Akkan (Facebook, online ethnography) KI NG gri d Week Thursday Reading: as much as possible of Deaf in DC Observation th 7 Oct 11 Guest Speaker: Madan Vasishta Act Article Presentations ivit y #2 Week Thursday Topic: Field Notes Blog post: th 8 Oct 18 Readings: Field Notes (on Bb) enteri Article Presentations ng the MSEV – CNDLS (5:00 – 5:35 or 6:50 – 7:30 TBD) comm unity Week Thursday Discussion: Final Project Developments Blog post: th 9 Oct 25 To read: Shirley Brice-Heath article (on Bb) “noisy nots” Article Presentations Week Thursday Topic: Patterns of Communication / Attitudes Toward Performance Blog post: st 10 Nov 1 Reading: MST, Chs. 5 & 6 counting Article Presentations something Shirley-Brice Heath lecture 7-9pm (Lohrfink) Week Thursday Topic: Interviews / Acquisition of Communicative Competence Blog post: th 11 Nov 8 Readings: MST Ch. 7 “ah-ha Briggs – Learning How to Ask (Introduction, Chs. 5 & 6) moments” Article Presentations Week Thursday Anna at AAA Conference Blog post: Nov 15th Research Presentation – Lauinger Library (Ding Ye) 12 the interview Week Thursday NO CLASS: Thanksgiving Break nd 13 Nov 22 Week Thursday, Topic: Politeness, Power and Politics Annotated th 14 Nov 29 Reading: MST, Ch. 8 bibliography Week Thursday, Final Project Presentations (Pecha Kucha) th 15 Dec 6 Final Papers / Projects Due by noon on Friday, December 14th Turn projects in to my mailbox in the Linguistics Dept (2nd floor Poulton)

Linguistic Learning Goals

Students will gain knowledge of: Students will be assessed by: 1 Seminal readings and approaches Participation in class discussions and related to the analysis of language. demonstrated knowledge on assignments. 2 The complexity and underlying Insights in observation assignments and systematicity of language. field notes 3 The relationships between language Participation in class discussions and a variety of social contexts. demonstrated knowledge on assignments, field observations

4 How languages are structured and Participation in class discussions how they convey referential and social demonstrated knowledge on assignments meaning.

5 Analyze, critically evaluate, and Critical Article Summary, final project integrate classic and current research in linguistics connected to contemporary theoretical and practical issues. 6 Analyze linguistic data at various levels Participation in class discussions of structure and use. demonstrated knowledge on assignments , final project

7 Craft clear and coherent linguistic This is a developing skill. analytic arguments. 8 Design, carry out, and report an Completion of final project. original research project. 9 Relate linguistic constructs to other Completion of final project. academic fields.