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Ethnographic Fieldwork

At a Glance

• Professor Elizabeth Ferry
• Summer 2012, 10 weeks (May 29 -August 3)
• 12 credits
• Program Flier

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Program Overview

Have you ever wanted to do independent research on a topic that is exciting to you? Are you interested in how anthropologists and other social scientists do research and turn it into books, articles, films, Web sites, etc?  

Would you like to do independent study or an honors thesis? Do you want to participate in a JBS program that you help design yourself? 

This 10-week, 12-credit JBS Program provides you with the training and supervision necessary for independent field research in the Boston area, on a project of your own choosing. Learn and practice interview techniques, field note taking and management, and participant observation, all while exploring a topic you are passionate about. This program will allow you to develop skills that you can use for the rest of your life in graduate school and beyond. 

The first five weeks of the program will be devoted to learning field methods for anthropology and qualitative social science more generally, and to designing your own research, including applying for IRB approval, figuring out logistics and contacts, etc.  In the next four weeks, you will carry out your research in the Boston area, with the support of a three-hour weekly workshop and a mandatory weekly one-on-one meeting with Professor Ferry.  The final week of the program will be devoted to putting together final projects, which could be a paper, curriculum, video, or other product depending on the research. This portion of the program can be completed on campus or elsewhere.