Anthro 398

Honors Ethnology, I

Professor Erik Mueggler


Course Objectives

The Honors Ethnology course sequence in cultural anthropology is designed for senior undergraduate anthropology majors who have applied for senior honors in cultural anthropology. The course is intended to give you the opportunity to carry out an independent, in-depth research project on a topic of interest to you. You will do this under the guidance of a primary faculty advisor and with the support of myself, the group of honors students, and, optionally, a graduate student mentor. In the first term of this two-term sequence you will select and refine a topic, choose a faculty advisor, and begin research During the second term you will complete your research, present your results to the group, and write your thesis. The result should be a publishable paper, displaying original research and integrating your interests.

Selecting a project

Projects may embrace any of several overlapping sources (libraries, museums. interviews, mass media, participant observation, linguistic research). The main thing to keep in mind is the amount of time you will have and the sorts of methods realistically available to you. Within these limits, nearly any topic is open to you, as long as you engage with anthropological theory.

Selecting an advisor

Your faculty advisor should be someone with whom you have had courses and who shares your interests in area or topic. I may be able to help in making suggestions. For those who are interested, graduate student mentors may also be available to offer advice on research design, read drafts of chapters, brainstorm about new ideas, and give encouragement and sympathy.

This semester, we will meet once a week to:

-- discuss your research projects, at different stages, and
-- discuss papers and monographs on fieldwork and research methods, both for themselves and as they relate to your project. After the first three weeks, we will select readings as we go, according to the composite interests of students in the seminar.

 


Department of Anthropology | Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History | Center for Chinese Studies