This course introduces students to ethnographic research, the traditional hallmark of sociocultural anthropology.
Emphasis is placed on methods and techniques for data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
In the first half of the course students will be exposed to some of the issues being debated concerning qualitative research methodologies. In the second half, students will experiment with a variety of research techniques and methods principally observation, participant observation, interviewing, collecting life-histories, collecting and charting genealogical data, and survey design. This course is an intensive introduction to the history and forms of analysis and debate in medical anthropology. The seminar has several goals. First, to provide students with a firm grounding in the field, allowing them to be able to situate, to evaluate, and to respond critically to contemporary work in the Anthropology of Health.