12/6/131:33 PM

Anthropology M249A Ethnographic Methods in Language, Interaction, and Culture

Winter Quarter 2014 Thursday 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Haines 314 Class website: https://moodle2.sscnet.ucla.edu/course/view/14W-ANTHROM249A-1

Instructor: Elinor Ochs E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 310.825.0984 Office Hours: Monday 1-3PM

Research Assistant: Lisa Newon E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 310-825-1092

Required Field Site: All students need to have secured signed consent to observe and video record activities and to conduct an interview with participants in a field site before the first class meeting (January 9, 2014). The consent is only to collect data to satisfy the ethnographic methods course requirements and not for other purposes. A generic consent form is posted on the class website. You can modify the consent as appropriate for your field site. Bring signed consent to the first class meeting.

Required Texts: • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Garcia-Sanchez, Inmacculada. In Press. Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods: The Politics of Belonging. Wiley-Blackwell (see class website). • Articles on class website

Supplies: • If you are using our Digital Lab video cameras for assignments, you need a Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card: o Either 16MB (lasts 1.75 hrs): Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ECQVTM/ref=s9_k2a_gw_tr03?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0 DER&pfrd_s=center2&pf_rd_r=0P9KE52HGYPS01CD7680&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_ rd_i=507846 o Or 32MB (lasts 3.5 hours): Transcend 32 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS32GSDHC6 http://www.amazon.com/TranscendClassFlashMemoryTS32GSDHC6/dp/B001PLIG68/ref=sr_1_1? s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1386101107&sr=1-1&keywords=transcend+32+gb+class+6

1 12/6/131:33 PM

• For subtitling video footage and media presentations, you need Inqscribe, Keynote, and Final Cut Pro/iMovie (available in Digital Lab)

Class Format Classes will have 2 components: 1) review of students’ ethnographic assignments for past week, 2) introduction to ethnographic methodologies relevant to upcoming week’s assignment.

Assignments: • Weekly field notes: Write up 1 typed page of field notes following each field site visit. Copy and post your field notes each week as a PDF file into the “Discussion Forum” on the class website, according to weekly topic. TITLE YOUR FILE WITH “YOUR LAST NAME + TOPIC.”

• Written reflections (prose): Send these assignments to [email protected] by Tuesday, 3PM following the Thursday class they were assigned.

• All other assignments will be presented in class.

January 9: Entering the Community Guests: Hadi Deeb, Jennifer Guzman

Class Exercise: Introduction to fieldwork: field language(s), permissions, protecting the people you observe, becoming ‘invisible’ etc.

Assignment for January 16: (a) Write 250 words about how you entered the community you are studying and reflect on the consequences of the choices you made; (b) Write a question or issue for class discussion that reflects upon Duranti 1997, Moore 2009, and/or Garcia- Sanchez In Press. Send in (a) and (b) by 3PM Tuesday.

Readings: • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology, pp. 84-98 • Moore, Leslie. “On communicative competence in the field,” Language & Communication 29 (2009) 244-253. • Garcia-Sanchez, Inmacculada. In Press. Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods: The Politics of Belonging. Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 3. Learning about Children’s Lives.” Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods • AAA Goal of Ethics (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm)

January 16: Participant Observation Guests: Anna Corwin, Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein, Lisa Newon

Class Exercise: (a) Discussion of reports of field entry and readings; (b) Introduction to participant observation and note-taking.

2 12/6/131:33 PM

Assignment for January 23: (a) Observe an activity in your field site, taking notes; (b) Write and post your notes on class website, (c) Write 250 words describing the activity and its possible cultural meanings. (d) Specify an issue for class discussion that reflects upon the process of transforming participation observation and field notes to ethnographic description and interpretation. Send in (c) and (d) to E. Ochs by 3PM Tuesday.

Readings: • Boellstorff, Tom, et al. 2012. “Participant Observation in Virtual Worlds.” In and Virtual Worlds. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, pp64-91. • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology, pp. 99-102, 113-116. • Bernard, H. Russell. 2002. “Participant Observation” and “Field notes: How to Take, Code, and Manage Them.” In Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. pp.322-389. • Haraway, Donna. 1988. Situated Knowledge: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14(3):575-599. • Garcia-Sanchez, Inmacculada. In Press. Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods: The Politics of Belonging. Wiley-Blackwell. - Chapter 4. Moroccan Immigrant Childhoods in Vallenuevo.

January 23: Photography, Maps, and Tracking Guest: Jeanne Arnold

Class Exercise: (a) Discussion of participant observation and note-taking assignments; (b) Introduction to visual documentation of field site and systematic observations of activities and uses of objects and space

Assignment for January 30: Return to your field site. (a) Use photography to document activity-relevant environments. Select 5 digital photographs to show in class (on file). (b) Draw a map of a centrally relevant place, including objects and features essential to the social life of the site. Bring digitized map to class on file. (c) Systematically track field site participants’ locations and activities every 5 minutes for 90 minutes. Graphically display the results. One figure/table should convey % of observations in which each participant is located in particular spaces. A second figure/table should convey % of observations in which each participant is engaged in particular activities. Bring in file with digitized figures/tables to class to present.

Readings: • Graesch, A. 2009. Material Indicators of Family Busyness. Social Indicators Research 93: 85- 94. • Ochs, E., Graesch, A. , Mittmann, Bradbury, R., & Repetti, R. 2006. Video Ethnography and Ethnoarchaeological Tracking. In The Work and Family Handbook: Multi-Disciplinary

3 12/6/131:33 PM

Perspectives and Approaches, ed. by Pitt-Catsouplhes, Kossek, E., & Sweet, S. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 387-40. • Nonaka, A. “Estimating size, scope, and membership of the speech/sign communities of undocumented indigenous/village languages: The Ban Khor case study” in in Language & Communication 29 (2009) 210-229. • Collier, John Jr. and Malcolm Collier. 1986. “Shooting Guide for a Photographic Survey” in : Photography as a Research Method. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 41-42.

Optional Readings: • Collier, John Jr. and Malcolm Collier. 1986. “Cultural Inventory” in Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research Method. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 45- 63.

January 30: Videography and Sound Guest: Paul Connor

Class Exercise: (a) Review photography, maps, and tracking assignment; (b) Hands-on use of video camera; ethnographic filmmaking, subjective-evidence-based ethnography (SEBE).

Assignment for February 6: (a) Film establishing shots, pans, tracking shots, plus a relevant activity from 2 different angles to probe how the position of the camera and the microphone makes different phenomena salient. (b) Download video data from SDHC card to computer in Digital Lab with assistance. Be sure to follow instructions, including creating a folder and files with your last name and date. (c) Review your clips, select and label 2 brief examples of establishing shots, pans, and tracking shots and 30 seconds each from the two different angles in which you filmed an activity. (d) Transfer to class external hard drive in Digital Lab to show in class. The total footage should be less than 3 minutes!

Readings: • Barbasch, Ilisa and Lucien Taylor. 1997. Cross-Cultural Film-Making. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 94-123. • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. pp. 116-118 • Lahlou, Saadi. 2011 How Can We Capture the Subject's Perspective. Social Science Information 50(3-4):607-655.

February 6: Video-editing an Activity Guest: Paul Connor Class Exercise: (a) Review filming assignment; (b) Introduction to video editing

Assignment for February 13: (a) Go to your field site and film a centrally relevant activity, including interaction before it begins. (b) Download video from SDHC card to computer in

4 12/6/131:33 PM

Digital Lab. (c) Create a 2-minute edited sequence of the activity that includes 1 segment showing what is happening before the activity begins, 1 segment showing the beginning of the activity, and 2 segments showing the on-going activity. (d) Export the 2-minute edited sequence to class hard drive to present in class. (e) Prepare a one-page chart that delineates key features of language, body alignment, spatial organization, and object use that mark the transition into the activity and the activity as a distinct social phenomenon.

Readings: • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. “Chapter 9: Units of Participation.”, pp.280-330. • Garcia-Sanchez, Inmacculada. In Press. Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods: The Politics of Belonging. - Chapter 5. The Public School: Ground Zero for the Politics of Inclusion - Chapter 8. Heteroglossic Games: Imagining Selves and Voicing Possible Futures.

February 13: Transcription, Framegrabs, and Subtitles Guest: Paul Connor Class Exercise: (a) Review video editing assignment; (b) Introduction to transcription, subtitling, and beyond.

Assignment for February 20: (a) Copy your 2-minute edited sequence to Digital Lab server (or your own hard drive) so that you can use a computer other than the class editing station. (b) Using Word transcribe 20 seconds of verbal and non-verbal interaction according to CA conventions. (c) Select 2 key framegrabs from the 20-second video segment and incorporate them into your transcript. (d) Transfer this Word document to the class hard drive and print one hard copy for instructor. (e) Using Inqscribe subtitle the entire 2-minute edited sequence. (f) Export the transcribed edited segment with subtitles. (g) Copy onto to class hard drive to show in class.

Readings: • Ochs, Elinor. 1979. “Transcription as Theory” in Developmental pragmatics, ed. by E. Ochs & B. Schieffelin. New York: Academic Press, pp. 43-72. • Schieffelin, Bambi. 1979. “Getting it Together.” In Developmental Pragmatics, ed. by E. Ochs & B. Schieffelin. New York: Academic Press, pp. 73-108. • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. pp. 122-161. • Schegloff, Emanuel. 2007. “Conversation-analytic transcript symbols” in Sequence Organization in Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.265-269 • Bucholtz, Mary. 1999. “The politics of transcription” in Journal of Pragmatics, 32 (2000) 1439-1465. • Goodwin, Marjorie H. 2007. “Participation and Embodied Action in Preadolescent Girls’ Assessment Activity.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 40(4), pp. 353-375.

5 12/6/131:33 PM

Optional Readings: • Duranti, Alessandro. 2006. “Transcripts, Like Shadows on a Wall” Mind, Culture and Activity 13 (4) 301-310. • Bucholtz, Mary and John W. Du Bois. “Transcription in Action: Resources for the Representation of Linguistic Interaction” (http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/projects/transcription/index.html).

February 20: Interviewing Guests: Keziah Conrad, Carolina Izquierdo, Muriel Vernon

Class Exercise: (a) Review transcription and subtitle assignments; (b) Introduction to interview practices

Assignment for February 27: (A) Prepare a limited set of questions for an interview that explores some dimension of a participant’s life in relation to the social group/field site you are studying. (b) Audio record the interview between yourself and the participant. (c) Transcribe very brief segments of the interview that are significant. (d) Create a Word file that presents these segments, along with a line or two that comments on their import. (e) Bring file to show in class.

Readings: • Levy, Robert I. and Douglas W. Hollan. 1998. “Person-Centered Interviewing and Observation” in Handbook of Methods in , H. Russell Bernard, ed. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, pp. 333-364. • Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. pp. 102-110. • Bernard, Russell. 2006. “ Interviewing: Unstructured and Semistructured” in Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. pp. 210-250. • CELF Interview protocols (See class website)

Optional Readings: • Briggs, Charles. 1986. “Interview techniques vis-a-vis native metacommunicative repertoires; or, on the analysis of communicative blunders” in Learning how to ask: A sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-60.

February 27: Micro-Macro Linkages

Class Exercise: (a) Review Interview assignment; (b) Relating activity to socio-cultural context.

Readings: • Boellstorff, Tom, et al. 2012. “Data Analysis.” In Ethnography and Virtual Worlds. Princeton NJ:

6 12/6/131:33 PM

Princeton University Press, pp159-181.

• Garcia-Sanchez, Inmaculada. In Press. Language and Muslim Immigrant Childhoods: The Politics of Belonging. Wiley-Blackwell. - Chapter 1. Introduction - Chapter 2. Mors En La Costa: The Moroccan Immigrant Diaspora in Spain - Chapter 6 Learning How To Be Moroccans in Vallenuevo: Arabic and the Politics of Identity - Chapter 7 Becoming Translators of Culture: Moroccan Immigrant Children’s Experiences as Language Brokers - Chapter 9. Conclusion

Assignment for March 6: (a) Write a question or issue related to micro-macro linkages for class discussion, (b) In 700-750 words situate the focal activity in your field site in the context of broader structures, ideologies, processes etc. Send (a) and (b) by 3PM Tuesday.

March 6: Bringing it All Together: Guest: Paul Connor Class Exercise: (a) Review Micro-Macro linkages assignment. (b) Introduction to building a presentation

Assignment for March 13: (a) Using KeyNote, Inqscribe, and Final Cut Pro/iMovie assemble a 10-minute visual presentation that introduces your field site and analysis. The presentation should draw from and display participant observation insights, photographs, maps, tracking data, interviews, establishing and pan shots, subtitled video footage, transcripts and frame grabs. (b) Copy onto to class hard drive to show in class.

March 13: Show Time! The last day of class will be devoted to final presentations of fieldwork. Presentations will be will be 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of discussion. More information on the format of the presentations will be provided in class.

7