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The Role of Study Abroad in a Cultural Anthropology Curriculum

The Role of Study Abroad in a Cultural Anthropology Curriculum. Melissa Johnson Anthropology Southwestern University. The Special Needs of Anthropology. Centrality of ethnographic ‘fieldwork’—or on site research—to the discipline

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The Role of Study Abroad in a Cultural Anthropology Curriculum

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  1. The Role of Study Abroad in a Cultural Anthropology Curriculum Melissa Johnson Anthropology Southwestern University

  2. The Special Needs of Anthropology • Centrality of ethnographic ‘fieldwork’—or on site research—to the discipline • Importance of cultural immersion/intense cultural difference in development of anthropologist • Reflexive critique of structural inequality • (this fits with liberal arts paradigm)

  3. Specifics of Southwestern’s Anthropology Program • Senior seminar • Original ethnographic data & theory • Study abroad programs as sites for data • Methods class in year two or three • Can study abroad program suffice? • Should we instead train students before hand • Difficulties of timing in a small department

  4. Ideal scenario • Core courses in theory, method, • Semester-long or longer study abroad program that has independent research/internship component • Senior seminar

  5. What Kind of Program • Ideal: MSID, SIT, HECUA, other research or internship oriented programs • Reality of cost, availability • Can a conventional direct-enrollment study abroad experience work? • Uneven quality of a number of smaller, potentially perfect programs • (eg student’s experience last summer)

  6. Difficulties that Arise with Any program • Shifting topics • Inappropriate project for anthropology • Eg learning how to create organic wine—the horticultural/ ecological specificities in Australia • Inadequate data

  7. Ways of Addressing Problems • Research proposal submission prior to departure • ?flexibility…to underscore seriousness of purpose • This is as yet untested! More bureaucracy, paper work, will it be worth it? • With email: • Clarify research agenda • Encourage note taking • Dialogue with students while in field • Amount of data needed • Balance: enough detail v. allaying students’ fears that they have too little

  8. Outcomes • Senior Seminar presentations • Strong • Understand relationship between theory and data in a first hand way • Allow student to reconsider, work more with this experience, what they learned, their relationship more broadly to people, project, world • Goal of liberal learning?

  9. Problems for Discussion • Length of time for research/project is short • Very hard to ensure rigor from afar (and that is not necessarily a keystone of the more experiential programs) • In many programs students have to design project from scratch, without prototypes in past, or help from instructor—difficulty in ensuring the project makes sense locally. • How to make the most of new video/photo/audio equipment • Human Subjects, Institutional Review, Ethics?

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