Course number: 36C:329 Meets Th 12:30-3:30 105 BCSB 

Instructor: Dr. Kristine Fitch Office: 145 BCSB 
Phone: 353-2264 Office hours: 9-10:30 T Th 
e-mail: kristine-fitch@uiowa.edu and by appointment 

Defining the ethnography of speaking used to be a much simpler task thanit currently is. Roughly speaking, an ethnographic approach to social lifeis one that centers on meaning as created through talk, by participants insome activity or scene, or among members of a speech community. In itstraditional formulation, ethnography was the study of culture; it is anenterprise deeply rooted in anthropology. Its branches have spread far andwide, and use of "ethnographic methods" is no longer synonymous with "doingethnography" as that was originally understood. 
In this course and its follow-up (36C: 641, Seminar in Culture andCommunication), to be offered next spring, we will examine the traditions,theory and practices of the descriptive, anthropological roots of theethnography of speaking, as well as the postmodern and critical challengesthat have stimulated lively debate and spawned productive research andtheory in their own right. The year-long sequence is intended to provide anopportunity to conduct an ethnographic study from start to finish. Bothsemesters will combine discussion of theory, methods, reading of casestudies, and workshop sessions for students to work through various stagesof the research process in a group setting. This semester will be moreheavily oriented toward theory and case studies; next semester will beweighted more heavily toward data analysis and writing. 
I am a believer in small tasks strewn throughout a semester so that theterm paper (although certainly important) is not the beginning and end ofevaluation of your performance. Some or all of the following tasks will beexpected of you, depending on what type of project you undertake and whereyou are in the research process: 

Task 1: Choose a site, question, or event to study. Write a 3-5 (typed,double space) description and justification of the choice (little or noliterature review expected - concentrate on making your argument here). 

Task 2: Approach and obtain some level of access (1-2 pp. description) 

Task 3: Obtain relevant human subjects approval. 

Task 4: Turn in some data: a "pilot" observation/interview, a transcript, etc. 

Task 5: Term paper: 15-20 pps. progress report or research proposal 

We'll talk about different ways these tasks may be completed; I expectthese to be done different ways depending on the types of projects peoplepropose. Notice that a research proposal is an option for the final paper.If you choose this option, I expect the usual form and components for aresearch proposal: lit review, rationale, research questions, descriptionof data to be collected and analytic steps, etc. 

There will also be one or two reports for you to make to the class. We'lltalk about how many and how extensive these will be, depending onenrollment, the first day of class. These reports will be of three kinds: 

a) a description and evaluation of an ethnographic methods text (I have several of them; each person or pair may borrow one) 

b) an area report, i.e. students choose an area of ethnographic research that interests them, prepare a page of summary and a page of bibliography, report to class in 10-15 minute presentation 

c) a convention-style presentation of the final paper to the class, during the final class session. 

Your grade will be figured as follows: 

a) class presence (reads well and thoroughly; carries weight in class without dominating; adds thoughtfully to class discussion): 10% 

b) tasks 1-4: 40% 

c) term paper: 50% 
 

Tentative schedule (subject to change!): 

Readings 

Class time 
Duranti, 1989 
Fitch & Philipsen, 1995 
Hammersley, 1992 (chs. 1 & 3) 
Rosaldo, 1989 (Ch. 2) 8/29 The first two readings define "the enter-prise of ethnography" from a similar, though perhaps slightly differentpoint of view. The second two are critiques (or at least commentaries on)that point of view. What descriptive label(s) would you attach to thisperspective on EOC? 

Hymes, 1972 
Schneider, 1976 
Bilmes, 1976 
Jackson, 1975 9/5 These articles are considered classics in the traditionof ethnography discussed last week. They define culture and norms ascentral concepts and propose theoretical frameworks and associated methodsfor studying those concepts. 

9/10 Guest lecture: Dwight Conquergood 
(On this date only, we will meet on Tuesday in the Green Room; time TBA) 

Conquergood, 1991 
Conquergood, 1994 
Harper, 1995 
A postmodern perspective on culture, ideology and critique. 

How are the aims, assumptions and practices of this strand of ethnography distinctive from the last one? What areas of commonality exist? 

Philipsen, 1992 
 

9/19 
A case study in the Hymesian tradition: Two U.S. American speech communities 

Discuss Task 1: Choosing a site, a question, or an event to study 

Kondo, 1990 9/26 
A case study from a (more) postmodern perspective: Working class Japanese 
 

Continue Kondo 
10/3 

Discuss Task 2: Gaining access 
Readings TBA 

10/10 
Guest lecture: Ralph Cintron, Critical Ethnography 
 

Willis, 1977 

10/17 
A critical ethnography case study 

Task 3: Human Subjects Review approval 
Chapters from Denzin TBA 
10/24 
Ethnographic methods, Part 1 
 

Show and tell (various methods books will be reviewed and reported on by 
students) 
10/31 
Ethnographic methods, Part 2 

Clifford & Marcus, 1986 

11/7 
Ethnographic writing, Part 1: Challenges to received wisdom 
Van Maanen, 1988 
Jones, 1996 
Katriel, 1994 
 
 

11/21 
Workshop and catch-up day: discuss final papers, progress in fieldwork, etc. 
THANKSGIVING 
 

12/5 
Area reports 
 
 

12/12 
Reports on final papers 

Readings 

Bilmes, J. (1976). Rules and rhetoric: Negotiating the social order in a Thai Village. Journal of Anthropological Research, 32, 44- 57. 
Clifford, J., & Marcus, G. (Eds.). (1986). Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 
Conquergood, D. (1991). Rethinking ethnography: Towards a critical cultural politics. Communication Monographs, 58, 179-194. 
Conquergood, D. (1994) For the nation! In H. Simons & M. Billig (Eds.), After postmodernism. 
Duranti, A. (1989). Ethnography of speaking: Toward a linguistics of the praxis. In F. J. Newmeyer (Ed.), Language: The socio-cultural context (pp. 210-228). New York: Cambridge University Press. 
Fitch, K., & Philipsen, G. (1995). Ethnography of Speaking. In J. Verschueren (Ed.), Handbook of pragmatics . 
Hammersley, M. (1992). What's wrong with ethnography? London: Routledge. Harper, D. (1995) Visual ethnography. In N. Denzin & S. Lincoln, (Eds.), 
Qualitative Research Methods, pp. Hymes, D. (1972). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In 
J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 35-71). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 
Jackson, J. (1975). Normative power and conflict potential. Sociological Methods and Research, 4, 237-263. 
Jones, J. (1996). The self as other: Creating the role of Joni the ethnographer for Broken Circles. Text and Performance Quarterly, 16, 131-145. 
Katriel, T. (1994). Sites of memory: Discourses of the past in Israeli pioneering settlement museums. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 80, 1-20. 
Kondo, D. (1990). Crafting selves: Power, gender, and discourses of identity in a Japanese workplace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
Philipsen, G. (1992). Speaking culturally. Albany: State University of New York Press. 
Rosaldo, R. (1989). Culture and truth: The remaking of social analysis. Boston: Beacon Press. 
Schneider, D. (1976). Notes toward a theory of culture. In K. Basso & H. Selby (Eds.), Meaning in anthropology (pp. 197-220). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
Willis, P. (1977). Learning to labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. New York: Columbia University Press. 
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