"Teaching Ethnography through Thick and Thin"

Abstract

Teaching ethnography to today's undergraduate students can be a big challenge. Many resist ethnography as "slow" and "wordy;" others cringe at the thought of hanging around unfamiliar people and asking questions face-to-face. In our current predicament, social distancing and online teaching present added obstacles. How can we, then, continue to teach ethnography and the unique insights it generates through the thick and thin of the COVID-19 pandemic? I take inspirations from two radically different stages in the history of our discipline: on one hand, the early 20th century when early ethnographers ventured to far-away places with little prior knowledge and figured things out on their own; and, on the other, the first decades of the 21st century when ethnography has become a novel way of understanding human behavior in fields outside anthropology. What is common at these distinct moments is the idea of ethnography not as an established method of systematic research, but as a way of seeing and interacting with the unknown and learning to be in the world as it unfolds around us. Teaching ethnography as a way of thinking promises unique advantages as we contend with the unknown every day without ever stepping outside of our homes. Instead of conventional fieldwork and fieldwork-based learning, infusing ethnographic thinking in our everyday life opens new opportunities to impart the “ethnographer’s magic” to our biggest audience. I will examine the preliminary outcomes of my ongoing effort to teach ethnographic thinking at various undergraduate courses.