Fieldwork

Teacher: Jan Blommaert, Finland Distinguished Professor (Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä)

Course description: This course addresses ethnographic fieldwork from the viewpoint of knowledge construction, and follows the fieldwork trajectory from preparation, through processes of data collection, all the way to analysis. Throughout, the way in which 'learning' takes place is highlighted, and such learning is a situated, contextualised process. We will use a draft book as our basis for teaching, and the sessions will take the form of 'clinics' in which various practical aspects of fieldwork are being unpacked and illustrated. There will be lots of space for discussion on personal fieldwork experiences as well.