What makes research ethnographic in 2002? What makes ethnography
feminist? How do the details and surprises of everyday life mobilize
our ethnographic senses? This course takes this triple question as its
terrain of exploration. We will read six books which share qualities
of the ethnographic, although only the first two are securely in the
center of the genre. Lorraine Nencel and Anna Tsing challenge the
conventions of classic ethnography in the field and on the page. Anne
McClintock borrows ethnography for her rich mix of cultural forms.
Elaine Brown and Patricia Williams write autobiography as a form of
social action and analysis. And Allison Young chooses the media as her
field site, creating a discourse-centered approach to crime. Through
reading, writing and discussion we will exercise the genre of feminist
ethnography, pushing out its boundaries as we experiment with core
theories and methods in our independent projects.




Required Readings: 

Lorraine Nencel. 2001. Ethnography and Prostitution in Peru.
Sterling, VA:
Pluto Press.


Anne McClintock. 1995. Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality
in the Colonial Contest. New York: Routledge.


Elaine Brown. 1992. A Taste of Power: A Black Womanıs Story.
New York: Anchor.


Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. 1993. In the Realm of the Diamond Queen:
Marginality in an Out-of-the-Way Place. Princeton: Princeton.


Patricia Williams. 1991. The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a
Law Professor. Cambridge: Harvard.


Alison Young. 1996. Imagining Crime. Thousand Oaks:
Sage.


Class meeting:  Thursdays, 5:45 - 8:15, SY 146


Instructor:  Professor Stephanie Kane, criminal justice department.