syllabus


 * __ PORTFOLIOS FALL 2015 INDEPENDENT STUDY __**

Professor Kim Fortun, x2199, fortuk@rpi.edu Office hours: R 3-4 pm and by appt, Sage 5114
 * __ ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS __** SPRING 2016, Thursday, 9-12, Sage 5711
 * aka FIGURING OUT METHODS** posted 28 January 2016

This course immerses you in and encourages experimentation with ethnographic research design, and is organized to help you develop a research proposal and begin ethnographic writing. It should help you think about your research goals, and about different ways that you can design and carry out an ethnographic project.

If you haven’t yet decided on a dissertation topic, you should select a trial topic that you will develop throughout the semester, and turn into a trial research proposal. Each week, you will begin produce a set of structured research sketches. These sketches will help you articulate a focus and direction for your research, and to contextualize it within both scholarly literatures, and within a particular historical period and political economy. Weekly sketches will also draw out the expertise and motivation that you can bring to the research at this point, and will help you recognize other types of expertise that you will need to develop as your research progresses. The sketches are designed to be returned to over the course of your research, watching them continually iterate should help you let your project evolve without loosing full sense of “it.”

Please post the sketches for each week in your wiki portfolio by Wednesday 9am prior to a Thursday class. This will allow me and the students assigned to be your peer reviewers time to read your sketches before the class in which they will be discussed. Please respect this schedule to enable the feedback process. Also please note that your role as a reviewer of other people’s work is important. In addition to helping the person whom you are reviewing, it will also hone your own analytic and research skills.

__**Grading**__ Your grade for the course will be based on the following percentages:
 * Weekly sketches 40%
 * Research proposal 30%
 * Proposal oral presentation 10%
 * Participation (including peer reviews) 20%

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
 * __ Learning outcomes __**
 * identify ethnographic research questions, and associated research material
 * identify scholarly literatures that contextualizes a research project
 * demonstrate proficiency in qualitative research proposal construction


 * ** Thursday, January 28 ** ||
 * ** Thursday, February 4 //Figuring Oneself// **

Sketch 1: Project Hopping (template) ([|project hopping slides]) Sketch 2: Habits, Neuroses, Talents Sketch 3: Biographical Sketch, 2020 Sketch 4: Wish List, 2015 Sketch 7: Three Literatures, Thirty References + Short Annotations

Jakobson, Roman. " Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances ," //On Language//.

Keller, Evelyn. " Dynamic Objectivity: Love, Power and Knowledge ." // Reflections on Gender and Science //. Yale. p115-126.

Fortun, Kim. 2003. "Ethnography In Of As Open Systems,” //Reviews in Anthropology// 32/2: p171-190. ||
 * ** Thursday, February 11 (KF: Paris) // Figuring a Project // **

Sketch 4: Project Definition Sketch 5: Hierarchy of Research Questions Sketch 6: Research Design Grid ([|research design grid slides)] Sketch99: Questioning a Text (template) ([|exemplary texts slides])

Fortun, Mike and Jeanette Simmonds, “Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in the Genomics Era: An Oral history and Ethnographic Project,” Proposal funded by the National Science Foundation, 2003.

Fortun, Kim (2007) 'Strategizing Transdisciplinarity: From Exposure Assessment to Exposure Analysis in the United States, Proposal funded by the National Science Foundation, 2007. ||
 * ** Thursday, February 18 **

Sketch: Historicizing a Project Sketch: Structuring a Project Sketch: Peopling a Project Sketch: Hegemonic Backdrops Sketch: Shifts in Sign Systems Sketch: Core Categories

Please put [|slides here,] with one for your hegemonic backdrop, one for a shift in sign systems, and one for core categories.

Fortun, Kim. “Figuring Out Ethnography” ||
 * ** Thursday, February 25 **

- HASS drafts -

- see examples of most memos below as sections of the and KFortun NSF grants you looked at earlier -

Sketch: Hierarchy of Research Questions (revised) Sketch: Interview Questions Sketch: Study Components Sketch: Schedule of Activities Sketch: 3 Field Sites Sketch: Emerging Narratives (what you think is going on.) Sketch: Methodological, Empirical, Theoretical and Practical Contributions

Fortun, Kim. “Scaling and Visualizing Multisited Ethnography”

Marcus, George. ”Ethnography In/Out of the World System: The Emergence of Multisited Ethnography,” Annual Review of Anthropology. ||
 * Thursday, March 3 (class meeting Tuesday 6pm, Fortuns)

Sketch: Three Journals Sketch: Three Abstracts ||
 * Thursday, March 10

Sketch: Mapping Subject Positions Sketch: Charting Binaries ||
 * spring break ||
 * Thursday, March 24 //Writing Toward Theory//

Sketch27 Describing People to Make an Analytic Point Sketch 28 Describing Places to Make an Analytic Point Sketch29 Describing Practice to Make an Analytic Point Sketch30 Describing Events to Make an Analytic Point Sketch 31:Describing Organizations to Make and Analytic Point ||
 * Thursday, March 31 //Imagining Data Analysis//

Sketch: abstract Sketch: draft overview Sketch: draft background section (drawing on timeline) Sketch: chapter summaries Sketch: ethical conundrums Sketch: “broad impact” Sketch: cover mock-up ||
 * Thursday, April7 //Research Ethics//

Sketch: Ethical Conundrums Sketch: Letter of Introduction to Interviewees Sketch: IRB Proposal, with Informed Consent Form Sketch: Circulations (amongst informants, other experts, policy makers) Sketch: Political Implications ||
 * Thursday, April 14 //Designing A Text//

Sketch: Exemplary Texts Sketch: Chapter Summaries ||
 * Thursday, April 21 (KF: Irvine)

Sketch: draft literature review (with bibliography) ||
 * Thursday, April 28

Proposal presentations

Sketch: Cover Mock Up Sketch: Comparative Positioning (how your book will be different than others on similar topics) ||
 * Thursday, May 5 **

Sketch: Future Plan of Study Sketch: Seed Research Sketch: Figuring Oneself ||

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