Anthropology: Method and Practice in the Field
This month-long journey to Guinea with Griots is offered as an interim college course on "fieldwork methods" within Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. Students will have daily classes on field techniques with Lisa Feder based on Transformative Ethnography (see article below). We will also have seminars on Manding culture, history, and values with Lisa Feder, Mamady Kouyaté, Famoro Dioubate, and other Guinean hosts. All classes will be in French and English. Each student will choose to focus on and take part in one aspect of life in this culture such as the study of a musical instrument, a dance, an art, or cooking. We will explore various styles of representing culture through alternative ethnographic methods including writing, photography, performance, audio, and video recording.
There will be an assigned reading list to complete prior to travel to Guinea. During the voyage students will develop a theme of study under Professor Lisa's guidance, and post-trip, students will submit a final ethnography with supplemental multi-media within one month after returning to the US or Europe.*
The methodological approach is based on embodied, ethnography of the senses, and of transformative ethnography. Classes will include daily check-ins, self- and group-reflections on the trials and transformations of mind and body as students adjust to local life.
For more information on Lisa's methodology, click on these links:
Transformative Ethnography (Article on the methodology)
School for Ethnographic Sensibility (Video of students studying in Serbia on Lisa's program)
Lisa's Bio (Founder of the School for Ethnographic Sensibility)
*College credit to be arranged on a case by case basis between Lisa Feder and your college adviser.
**Note. Life in West Africa is very different than life in The US or Europe. Students must prove a steady mental and physical capacity.
Some prior experience living in alternative conditions is essential. Recommendations from professors and others are required.
For more information
send an email to Lisa@lisafeder.com