ANTH 2– WALSH
FALL 2014
Students enrolled in this course will deliver a five-page ethnographic paper to their TA after lecture on Monday, December 1. The purpose of this paper is to familiarize students with the process of doing research and writing in sociocultural anthropology. In this paper, the student will address the following question:
What are the everyday experiences and effects of the current drought in California?
To address this question, students are expected to:
1) Choose a group to be studied. This group can be defined in terms of occupation, class, race, place, gender or any other social characteristic or identity. Examples of groups include: “wealthy homeowners,” “firemen,” “neighbors of my parents,” “agricultural workers”, etc.
2) Carry out ethnographic fieldwork among this group. Students will utilize ethnographic methods such as interviews, observation and casual conversations, and will record the responses of those people studied.
3) Analyze the data they generate using the concepts presented in the course lectures, readings, and films.
The Ethnographic Paper will have four (4) parts:
1) Introduction (1 paragraph): briefly identifies the group studied, the methods used to answer the question, and the main analytical conclusion reached by the student.
2) Group Description (about 1 page) describes the group selected. This includes the reasons for selecting this group, the number of people the student spoke with from that group, and other relevant information.
3) Methods and Data (about 1 page) describes the methods utilized and the data generated.
4) Analysis and Conclusion (about 3 pages) uses concepts from the course to analyze the data and reach a conclusion about the everyday experiences and effects of the economy today.
Formatting:
12-pt font
1-inch margins (“normal” on MS Word)
Double-spaced, no extra spaces between paragraphs
1650 words, minimum
The student will work on this paper in the discussion