Program Overview

Purpose

The certificate is designed to lend specialization to graduate students interested in honing the practice of ethnographic research. Ethnographic research is a qualitative method that involves unstructured and semi-structured as well as spontaneous and systematic modes of inquiry, analysis, and writing. It is used across disciplines and contexts, whether research in social sciences, humanities, or organizations. It is commonly used in both “pure” and “applied” settings, including community-based participatory research, collaborative research contexts, and multi-modal or digital worlds. The graduate certificate satisfies a demand with a spirit of creating and sustaining an intellectual community among graduate students and faculty across different departments and disciplines.

Requirements

The certificate’s student-centered approach maximizes flexibility. Students choose from a menu of courses to fulfill the 12-credit requirement. Advisors encourage students to take their four courses across departments to enhance an interdisciplinary ethos and encourage diverse mentorship. Students will select a field experience from among various options in dialogue with an advisor, preferably in the student’s department. Possible field experiences could include face-to-face or virtual in the form of a 4-6 week exploratory research project, an intensive field experience integrated with coursework, or long-term fieldwork in conjunction with a thesis or dissertation.

Educational objectives provide well-defined guidelines to allow students to gain holistic experience from start to finish of ethnographic knowledge production: project conceptualization, proposal writing, theory, ethics, case studies, fieldwork experience, ethnographic data analysis, ethnographic writing, and dissemination. Upon the completion of coursework, graduate certificate students will submit an updated transcript and a written reflection to the Steering Committee demonstrating the ways in which their coursework and field experience constitute an integrated studies concentration in ethnographic research.

Download Certificate Checklist — use this form to consult with their certificate advisor and to plan ahead for which courses to take in order to complete certificate requirements.

Course sequencing offers a clear objective to train students in ethnographic theory and practice. Students are encouraged to use the checklist to consult with their certificate advisor and to plan ahead for which courses to take in order to complete certificate requirements. Students may select from a menu of courses and must take at least one course from each of three categories: (I) ethnographic methods and fieldwork, (II) ethnographic analysis and writing, and (III) ethnographic ethics and theory. Alternatively, students may take a sequence of three courses, such as European Field Studies (ANTH 660, 680, and 685).

Course Descriptions