Summer Field School in Ethnographic Methods in New York City

16th CIFAS Field School in Ethnographic Research Methods

Online: June 19 to 30, 2023 – 9 AM to 12 PM EDT
On-site in New York City: July 24 to August 4, 2023 – 9 AM to 12 PM EDT

The advice I received from the instructor and the participants in the ethnographic methods course really helped me to improve my PhD proposal, and the class itself made me feel confident that I could conduct long-term qualitative research. I really appreciate that I had the opportunity to be a part of the course, and I am grateful to have got to learn a bit from the instructor’s experiences in the field as well!Amani Ponnaganti, graduate student, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The CIFAS course was one of the few that I felt really complemented my studies in anthropology. Before the class, I really had no idea about conducting actual fieldwork. I’ve even encouraged others to take it this year as it’s really worth the money and time.Joan Jocson, M.A., Hunter College, City University of New York

I wish this class was longer than 10 days or all day long. It is so great. I am going to recommend it to my program director for any students interested in using ethnography.Susan O’Hara Sullivan, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School

The Comitas Institute for Anthropological Study (CIFAS) is pleased to announce the 16th CIFAS Field School in Ethnographic Research Methods.

The Field School aims to offer training in the foundations and practice of ethnographic methods. The faculty works closely with participants to identify the required field methods to address their academic or professional needs. The Field School is suitable for graduate and undergraduate students in social sciences and other fields of study that use qualitative approaches (such as education, communication, cultural studies, health, social work, human ecology, development studies, and consumer behavior, among others), applied social scientists, professionals, and researchers who have an interest in learning more about ethnographic methods and their applications.

Program:

    • Foundations of ethnographic research
    • Theory and practice: social theories in the field
    • Ethics
    • Research design
    • Data generation techniques
    • Planning the logistics of field research
    • Digital ethnography
    • Ethnography in interface with Social Network Analysis and other trends in the field of the digital humanities
    • Ethnography in specific fields of activity (applied social sciences, health, social service, environmental studies, public policy design, business, and others)
    • Principles of organization and indexation of field data
    • Analyzing field data; qualitative analysis software packages: basic principles

The total workload of the course is 30 hours. In this edition of the summer school, the option of earning credits is not available.

Coordinator: Renzo Taddei (Ph.D., Columbia University, 2005) – see bio.

Registration and other costs:

Places are limited. The tuition fee is US$ 1,200.

Comitas Field School Fellowship: a limited amount of fellowships are available to students from underrepresented minorities and low-income countries. See information on how to apply at the end of the application form. [05/22 Update: all full fellowships for the 2023 editions of the summer school have already been awarded.]

The application should be completed online here.

For more information, please email us at fieldschool@cifas.us.

Click here to apply

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