SOCI 655: Ethnography

SOCI 655-001: Ethnography
(Fall 2026)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T

Innovation Hall 330

View the schedule of classes

Section Information for Fall 2026

This course will enable students to see (or perhaps taste) the “secret sauce” of how ethnographies are made, by reading and analyzing classic and contemporary  works, and by learning to write ethnographically themselves. What is distinctive about the epistemologies of ethnography?

What can its ways of producing knowledge teach us about the politics and poetics of writing as well as issues of power, place, and point of view?
 
Central to the ethnographic endeavor is the writing itself, and so we will consider issues of form and style, narrative and theory. How do ethnographers bring people and places to life through the writing? What does ethnography share with long-form journalism, creative non-fiction and even fiction, and how does it differ from those genres? This course will give students the tools, practice, and insight into this process in a format that is part seminar, part workshop. Our study of ethnography will alternate between reading ethnographies and practicing our own writing. We will also evaluate how the general move toward more public facing scholarship in a range of disciplines is connected to how and why we write. 

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Introduces ethnography in sociology to graduate students. Teaches techniques for collecting, analyzing and writing-up ethnographic materials. Considers some of the central methodological issues relevant to doing ethnography. Explores some of the critical ethical and political questions that arise within ethnographic research practice. Offered by Sociology & Anthropology. May not be repeated for credit.
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.

Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.

Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.