People-Centered: Doing Anthropology

Anthropology is unique in its people-centered, ethnographic approach to understanding social life and worlds. We begin with a critical eye on colonial era articulations of the method of participant observation, then explore alternative ways of knowing. Throughout, we explore the tensions, contradictions, and creative potentials of producing critical knowledge with people. Students cultivate skills for field and archival work, with forays into digital spaces. Fieldwork exercises allow students to practice ethnographic approaches and challenge more experience-distant, quantitative methodologies.