Download Syllabus - Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Anthropology and Sociology of Development
(ANSO)
Academic year 2016 - 2017
Institutional Ethnography: Theory and Method
ANSO059 - Spring - 6 ECTS
Wednesday 10:15 – 12:00 (room S1)
Course Description
PROFESSOR
Shaila Seshia Galvin
[email protected]
Office hours :
Office :
Phone :
ASSISTANT
Aikokul Arzieva
[email protected]
Office hours:
This course considers state bureaucracies, international
organizations, and NGOs as sites of anthropological
research.
Drawing on classic social theory and
contemporary work in the areas of political anthropology,
the anthropology of policy, and science and technology
studies, we examine definitions of fieldwork and the field
site, the challenges and dilemmas of conducting
ethnographic research within institutional settings, and the
relation of theory and method. Class readings and
discussions are complemented by assignments which offer
students the opportunity to conduct their own original
research using anthropological methods and perspectives.
The course aims to demonstrate the ways in which
anthropology can expand and deepen understandings of
institutional power and practice, as well as the ways in
which ethnographic theory and practice have developed
through the study of institutions.
MO 14:00-16:00
MdP P1-529
+41 22 908 4585
Office :
TU 14:00-16:00,
by appointment
MdP P1-550
Syllabus
Requirements and Assignments
To consider the relation between theory and practice, this course combines assignments based on
readings and academic writing with the opportunity to develop skills in the research methods used in
institutional ethnography outside the classroom. Consequently, managing your time in order to
complete assignments successfully will require a considerable amount of self-direction and
organization on your part
Class Participation (40%): There are two components to your participation grade.
Attendance and Participation
Attendance in class is mandatory, and I expect you to come to class on time, having read and
reflected on the readings, ready to participate by contributing your ideas and questions. If you cannot
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MAISON DE LA PAIX
attend class, please inform me by 5pm the day before. More than one unexcused absence will
negatively affect your participation grade.
Discussion Questions
In advance of each class, you will be required to craft one open-ended discussion question in
response to each reading. You should post your questions on Moodle by 8am on Friday morning.
While you may relate your question to that posed by another student, questions should not be
duplicated. Your questions may address issues raised by a single, or multiple, readings. You can
also pose a question about something in the readings that you did not understand or would like
clarification on. The key idea here is that these questions should provoke further exploration and
reflection on the readings. Please be aware that I may refer to your questions in class and may ask
you or your fellow students to respond to what you were asking.
Ethnographic Essays (60%)
Two short ethnographic essays, of 6-8 pages (approx. 2000-2500 words), will allow you to conduct
original research in different settings using different methods, bringing your own fieldwork and
analysis into dialogue with course material. More specific guidelines pertaining to each paper will be
discussed in class. Each essay is worth 30% of your grade.
Essay #1 : The International Conference
Home to a high concentration of international, non-governmental, and corporate institutions, Geneva
is also a hub for international conferences. For this assignment, you will attend an international
conference, considering how an agenda is constructed and unfolds, paying attention to the
participants (who they are, what they say and don’t say), and observing spaces and interactions
outside the formal program itself.
Essay #2 : The Everyday UN
During the week of May 2, we will have the opportunity to observe a Steering Committee meeting
inside the Palais des Nations. Provisionally, we will attend parts of the Sixty-Fourth Session of the
Standardization of Fruits and Vegetables, on May 2-5 (subject to approval). You will have the
opportunity to consult the meeting agenda and relevant documents beforehand, and to observe the
routine work of discussion and negotiation that takes place in a UN Steering Committee.
Your second and final ethnographic essay will be due on June 7.
Contact
Email is the best way to contact me, and between 9am and 5pm during the working week I will do my
best to respond to your email as soon as possible. At other times of day, and on the weekends, it
may take me longer to respond. I will use Moodle to circulate class announcements, assignments,
resources, and other course-related information. I encourage you to attend my office hours, and I can
also meet with you by appointment.
Academic Honesty
The free exchange of ideas, at the Graduate Institute and as members of a larger intellectual
community, hinges on academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism involves deliberately or
inadvertently representing the work of others as one’s own. Please refer to the Graduate Institute's
policy on academic honesty and plagiarism, available in the "Academic Policies and Regulations"
section of the Student Portal.
While research and knowledge advance in part because we use and build on the ideas of others, it is
vital that we always acknowledge our sources. I encourage each of you to develop a consistent
system for note taking, referencing, and citing your sources. Please use the Chicago author-date
system for both in-text citations and bibliographies. See:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
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I encourage you to visit the Graduate Institute's Library where you will find information on training
presentations for using bibliographic and referencing software such as EndNote and Zotero.
Please do not hesitate to see me if you ever have any questions about academic honesty and how it
applies to your work.
Late Work
Late assignments will lose one half a point for each day of lateness. Extensions will be granted only
in exceptional circumstances.
Technology in the Classroom
Use of technology within the classroom must be limited to only that which is necessary for note-taking
or consulting course material. Please disable Wi-Fi settings on laptops or tablets to minimize sources
of distraction to you and others during class. I do not allow the use of cell phones or other mobile
devices inside the classroom.
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February 22, Introduction : Why Study Institutions ?
Nader, Laura. 1969 Up the Anthropologist: Perspectives Gained from Studying Up. In Reinventing
Anthropology. D. Hymes, ed. Pp. 285-311. New York: Pantheon Books.
Smith, Dorothy E. 2005
Institutional ethnography: a sociology for people. Walnut Creek, CA:
AltaMira Press. Introduction.
March 1, Knowledge, Power, and Subjectivity
Foucault, Michel. 1991
Governmentality. In The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. G.
Burchell, C. Gordon, and P. Miller, eds. Pp. 87-104. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Brigg, Morgan. 2001 Empowering NGOs: the microcredit movement through Foucault's notion of
dispositif. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 26(3): 233-259.
March 8, Reimagining Fieldwork
Marcus, George E. 1995
Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited
Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24(1):95-117.
Gupta, Akhil, and James Ferguson. 1997. Anthropological locations : boundaries and grounds of a
field science. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Chapter 1: Discipline and Practice:
“The Field” as Site, Method, and Location in Anthropology.
March 15, Doing Institutional Ethnography
Readings TBA
March 22, Ethnographies of International Organiztions
Regina F. Bendix. The Power of Perseverence : Exploring Negotiation Dynamics at the World
Intellectual Property Organization. In The Gloss of Harmony : The Politics of Policymaking in
International Organizations, ed. Birgit Müller. London, Pluto Press, 2013.
Jennifer E. Telesca. 2015. Consensus for Whom? Gaming the Market for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
through the Empire of Bureaucracy. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 33(1):49-64.
March 29, No class – work on participant observation and/or essay
** Participant Observation of an International Conference to be completed by April 4 **
April 5, Class Discussion – The Anthropologist Among Conference Participants
** Field Paer #1 Due April 11, 11pm (Geneva Time) **
April 12 , Documents and Bureaucracy as Ethnographic Objects
Max Weber, Economy and Society, selections.
Mathur, N. (2012), Transparent-making Documents and the Crisis of Implementation: A Rural
Employment Law and Development Bureaucracy in India. PoLAR: Political and Legal
Anthropology Review, 35: 167–185.
Riles, Annelise. 1998. Infinity within the Brackets. American Ethnologist 25(3):378-398.
April 26, Networks, Human and Nonhuman
Bruno Latour. Circulating Reference. In Pandora’s Hope : Essays on the Reality of Science Studies.
Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1999.
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May 3, No class
** Participant Observation at Palais des Nations, May 2-5 **
May 10, Ethnography in/of NGOs
Dove, Michael R. 1999. Writing for, versus about, the Ethnographic Other: Issues of engagement
and reflexivity in working with a tribal NGO in Indonesia. Identities Global Studies in Culture
and Power 6(2-3):225-253.
Lashaw, Amanda. 2012. How progressive culture resists critique: The impasse of NGO Studies.
Ethnography:1466138112463803.
May 17, The Ethics and Dilemmas of Institutional Ethnography
Pierce, Jennifer L. 1995
Reflections on Fieldwork in a Complex Organization: Lawyers, Ethnographic
Authority and Lethal Weapons. In Studying Elites Using Qualitative Methods. R. Hertz and J.B. Imber,
eds. Pp. 94-110. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Mosse, David. Politics and Ethics: Ethnographies of Expert Knowledge and Professional Identities.
In, Cris Shore, Susan Wright, and Davide Però. Policy worlds: anthropology and the analysis
of contemporary power. Eds, New York: Berghahn Books, 2011.
May 24, Reflections on Fieldwork at the Palais des Nations
In this session, you will have the opportunity to discuss your observations and preliminary draft of
your ethnographic paper based on fieldwork at the Palais des Nations.
May 31, Wrap-Up Discussion
How does institutional ethnography contribute to our understandings of institutional power and
practice ? What are the strengths and limitations of studying institutions from within ? How can the
theories, methods and perspectives generated by institutional ethnography inform professional work
for international organizations, state bureaucracies, NGOs and within other institutional settings ?
** Field Paper #2 Due by Moodle June 7, 11pm (Geneva Time) **
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