Field Methods in Linguistic Anthropology ANTH 305 - Spring 2016 Tuesdays 4:00-6:30 pm; Bailey 110 Instructor Jennifer R. Guzmán, PhD Office hours Bailey 108, Mondays 2:30-4:00, Tuesdays 12:45-2:15, and by appointment. Feel free to visit office hours to discuss any questions you have about course content, assignments, or your academic progress. Email [email protected]. Feel free to email questions that can be answered briefly. If you have a complex question or situation, please visit me during office hours. I read e- mail Monday-Friday. Allow 1-2 days for a response. When sending email, include ANTH 305 and a topic in the subject line. Office Phone (585) 245-5174 Course TA Angus McCrumb ([email protected]) Course description This course introduces students to the field methods that sociolinguists, applied linguists, and linguistic anthropologists use to document language use in situ. Students will learn the basic steps in developing a research question and building competencies in field methods that include: participant observation, field note taking, mapping spaces, photography, videography, interviewing, transcription, and basic analysis. A one-day workshop will introduce students to elicitation methods that are used by documentation linguists in the field. Students will learn how to look and listen, to analyze what they see and hear, and then how to present their findings through various presentation media. Through discussion of course readings and the experience of carrying out a project, students will explore, as holistically as possible, how communities use language and other semiotic resources in their everyday interactions to organize their worlds and construct meaning in their lives. Learning Outcomes • Students will develop in-depth understanding of field research methodology as it is used in linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics. • Students will understand ethical considerations, steps in the informed consent process, and institutional review board requirements. • Students will gain basic proficiency in participant-observation, field note-taking, ethnographic photography, ethnographic videography, interviewing, transcription, subtitling, and ethnographic writing. • Students will hone analytical skills for identifying and describing speech communities and patterns of language use in naturalistic contexts. • Students will reflect on how their identity and positionality (i.e. gender, race, ethnicity, class, immigration status, age, language proficiency, and socioprofessional role) influence their access, relations with research participants, and results. 2 Required Texts o Sally Campbell Galman. Shane, The Lone Ethnographer. AltaMira Press. ISBN: 9780759103443 o Agar, MH. 1996. The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press. o Pink, S. 2013. Introduction to Visual Ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage. o All other readings will be posted to MyCourses Please bring each day’s readings (and your notes about them) with you to class. You will need to refer to them regularly during class. Required Supplies • 16GB SDHC Flash memory card for video cameras if you will check out a videocamera from the library for the filming assignment • Access to Inqscribe, Keynote or PowerPoint, and Final Cut Pro/iMovie (available in campus computer labs) Class Format Classes will have 3 components: 1) review of students’ ethnographic assignments, 2) discussion of readings, and 3) introduction to ethnographic methodologies relevant to upcoming assignments. Assignments: • Dropbox ssignments should be turned in to the appropriate Dropbox on MyCourses by the deadline indicated in the course schedule. • In-class assignments will be presented during class among your peers and turned in during class. General Class Assignment: Write up 2 typed pages of field notes following each weekly field site visit as a Word file. Fieldnotes will first be written as part of Week 5’s assignment, “Entering the Field.” Turn in all of your field notes together as a ‘field journal’ with final project and paper. I may also request your field notebook a few times during the semester. Final Assignments: • Students are required to present a final project constructed in Keynote or PowerPoint that pulls all of the weekly assignments together. The final project (about 15 minutes each) will be presented during our final exam period. • Students are also required to write a final paper that focuses on one form of communication discussed in your larger project, such as verbal dueling, directives, gossip, gift giving, prayer, gesture, kinship terms, etc. Participation & Attendance: Engaged participation in class every week is crucial to success in this class. Students are expected to come to class having read all of the required readings and prepared to discuss the material each week. Students will also be expected to present their fieldwork assignments on a weekly basis. If you miss a class, you must still turn in the assignment for that week; unexcused absences will negatively impact your final grade. Late assignments will be penalized one-half grade per day (a B will become a B-). This is a labor-intensive course, but you will come out of this class having conducted original research on language practices in a particular community, an accomplishment that you can report in graduate school and job applications. Field Methods – Spring 2016 3 Grading Structure 10 Participation 40 Progress assignments 10 Field note journal 20 Final project presentation 20 Final paper 100 TOTAL Grading: Grading for this class follows the standards for letter grading described in the Geneseo Undergraduate Bulletin: A / A- Excellent work B+, B, B- Very good work C / C+ Satisfactory work (note that work fulfilling all stipulated requirements and turned in on time may fall in this category) C- Work demonstrating minimal competence D Marginal work E (failure) Inadequate work Other possible grades are: P (pass), F (fail), S (satisfactory), U (unsatisfactory), and W (withdrawn). Consult the Bulletin for details about these latter grades. Accommodation: If you need classroom accommodations due to a documented or suspected learning difference, please contact Dean Buggie-Hunt ([email protected]) at the Office of Disability Services (ODS) and bring me a letter outlining the accommodations you require. Do so as early as possible. Academic Honesty You are responsible for abiding by the SUNY Geneseo policies on academic honesty. http://bulletin.geneseo.edu/first/?pg=01_Student_Affairs_policies.html Schedule Readings and assignments are due on the date they are listed. Schedule subject to change as needed. Week 1 January 19 WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS In class: Introductions & course overview Review of Center on Everyday Lives of Families research methods Read excerpts from “On Looking” by Horowitz Watch short interview of Alexandra Horowitz discussing “On Looking” Field Methods – Spring 2016 4 Week 2 January 26 WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? WHAT IS LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGICAL FIELDWORK? Assignment due a) “Learning to see” - Take a 20-minute walk around any location, jotting down everything that you see. Then take two or three others on separate walks, jotting down what they tell you that they are seeing and what you see them do during their walk. Type up two to three paragraphs summarizing how you viewed the environment differently than the two/three others that accompanied you on their walks. Bring your typed up notes with you to class. b) Bring in 3-5 ideas for possible projects. Bring a hard copy or have on your laptop: Sunstein and Chiseri. FieldWorking. Choosing a Site. PDF. You don’t have to read this ahead of class. c) Bring in a hard copy of several questions you have about the readings (preferably one from each of the readings). Readings: • Galman, S.C. Chapters 1-3 “Alone on the Range,” “Whither Ethnography” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Beginner” Shane: The Lone Ethnographer. pp. 1-30. • Agar, M. Chapter 2: The Concept of Fieldwork pp. 55-72 and Chapter 5: Ethnography. The Professional Stranger. pp. 113-133. • Duranti, A. Linguistic Anthropology: History, Ideas, and Issues. Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader. pp. 1-10 only. PDF. Week 3 February 2 WHAT IS A LINGUISTIC (ANTHROPOLOGY) PROJECT? WHAT ARE OUR ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS TO THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH? Assignment due: (a) We will further discuss possible subcultures/field sites and students will aim to make a decision about a group they would like to follow. Come to class with ideas about which aspects of the subcultures you would like to analyze. (b) Bring a typed response containing at least one thoughtful comment OR question for EACH of the required readings. Comments should discuss a piece of information that was new, surprising or thought-provoking for you. Include WHY you thought it was interesting or significant. Questions should pertain to something that either you did not understand, did not agree with, or something that you would like to know more about and would be interested in exploring further during class discussion. These comments and questions give you the chance to make judgments and think critically about the articles. We will discuss some responses and questions in class. (c) In addition, each student will read an article or chapter in the “selected readings” listed below, and come to class prepared to give a brief summary (no more than 5-8 minutes) explaining to the class: a. The main findings of the study, b. The data presented to back up the claims, c. The methods used, as best as you can, based on what the reading provided about data collection and linguistic analysis, and d. Comment on ethical issues related to research with this particular group. This exercise is not to test students on their summary skills but to give the class an overview of various topics, methods, and ethical issues involved in field research. Field Methods – Spring 2016 5 (d) Complete the “Protecting Human Research Participants” online training module (https://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/login.php). Bring a copy of your certificate of completion to class. Readings • Agar, M. Chapter 3 “Getting Started” Professional Stranger.