Ethnographic Writing: Method and Craft
This seminar cultivates the craft of ethnographic writing as a central practice of anthropology. Combining writing exercises with critical reflection, the course explores how ethnographic texts bring social worlds to life through the careful integration of sensuous description and analytical insight, what Paul Stoller has described as ”weaving the world.”
Students will experiment with diverse forms of ethnographic writing, including descriptions of place, dialogue, soundscapes, and character portraits, while engaging with exemplary works from anthropology and creative non-fiction. These practices are not oriented toward notions of ”good writing,” but toward cultivating attentiveness to the textures, ambiguities, and complexities of lived experience.
Approaching writing as a situated and affective practice, the seminar also reflects on the emotional and ethical dimensions of ethnographic work, including questions of voice, presence, vulnerability, and care. Students are encouraged to engage their own writing processes, habits, and hesitations as part of developing a sustainable and reflexive practice.
Learning objectives:
- Develop skills in crafting ethnographic texts that integrate description and analysis
- Experiment with diverse genres and techniques of ethnographic writing
- Cultivate attentiveness to affect, embodiment, and atmosphere in writing
- Reflect on the ethical and emotional dimensions of ethnographic representation
- Build a sustainable and reflexive writing practice
Notes: The course will be taught primarily in English, but contributions in German are welcome.
- Lehrende/r: Thomas Stodulka