What We can Learn from Documents Introduction By Jennifer Su Since we conducted our ethnography in a university setting, you may find that some of us do not spend much time talking about the difficulties in learning a new language, integrating ourselves into a family unit, or learning the particular cultural customs of the groups … Continue reading →

What We Tried, Where We Stumbled, What Worked, and Dilemmas that Emerged Introduction By Alexandre Ethnographic fieldwork is a unique way of doing research where one has to use their own body as their main tool of research. By putting themselves in a place where people interact as part of their lives, ethnographers try to … Continue reading →

Introduction By Sarom In the introduction to her book, The Will to Empower: Democratic Citizens and Other Subjects (1999), Barbara Cruikshank draws out a memorable ethnographic vignette of what her attention to “small things” was able to afford her. Around 1989, Cruikshank noticed one day that the garbage bins in her neighborhood had new padlocks. … Continue reading →

PART 1: THEORIES OF POWER Introduction By Jessica Broe-Vayda How do we begin an analysis of power in the university? Over the course of the last three months, our research collective has attempted to disentangle a variety of practices, techniques, relations, modes of action, discourses, and administrative initiatives in order to trace how the university … Continue reading →

Shannon McKechnie Shannon is a fifth-year undergraduate student completing a specialist in Socio-cultural Anthropology. She is currently a Residence Don and Leadership Programs Assistant at the University of Toronto and is interested in all things to do with the student experience at University. Shannon has previously done research in Kerala, India with post-secondary students, exploring … Continue reading →

In this course, students start their research projects by asking broadly “What is the University?” While the university might have its own ideas about what it means to be and to run an educational institution, the students apply their theoretical knowledge acumen to think critically and productively about the thing that we call the university … Continue reading →

Why Study Power in the University? By Dr. Tania Li A few considerations prompted me to propose power as a focus for our study of the university in the undergraduate course, ANT 473 Ethnographic Practicum The University 2015. First, I received a collegial nudge from Professor Nancy Abelmann, who first developed the “Ethnography of the … Continue reading →

The Ethnography of the University project was founded at the University of Illinois by Professor Nancy Abelmann. See the website for a rich archive of past student projects. For readings and methods follow this link. EUI researchers in anthropology and other disciplines have pursued hundreds of research projects over the years. On a visit to … Continue reading →