KF-404 Arts-Based Ethnography (Autumn 2020)

Course language will be English. Supervision will also be offered in Norwegian, and student submissions can either be in English or Norwegian.

It is generally recommended that the students know how to produce some type of artistic or multimedial work (visual media, performance, sound), since the technical aspects of this will not be a major focus.

Upon completion of the course, students will
- have a comprehensive understanding of site-specific research approaches that draw
both on ethnographic and artistic dimensions
- have an understanding of ethical dimensions of site-specific artistic practice and
research, including questions of participation and representation
- have and understanding of site-specificity in arts and research both on
phenomenological, social, institutional and discursive levels
- have acquired methodological skills to engage various contexts through innovative research approaches
- be able to carry out multi-dimensional fieldwork and documentation, and produce
research reports that contain both academic and artistic dimensions
- be able to raise relevant and innovative research questions, and thereby gain a voice within academic and artistic discourse

The course Arts-based Ethnography intends to provide students with experience with and skills to undertake innovative and critical research that approaches site-specificity from two angles: First, through exploring current developments in ethnography, or the methodological tradition of explorative research through engaging with local sites and communities. Second, through employing perspectives and methods from site-specific artistic practice to this research. This combination of research and artistic practice places this course in the realm of artistic research, yet with a narrowed-down focus on site-specificity both in terms of methodology and field. The course focuses on individual and artistic engagement with concrete sites or social contexts as a source of participatory and multi-modal knowledge production. The resulting student works will contain both artistic and research qualities, and aim to speak to and engage audiences both within and outside academic and artistic realms.

Central topics:
- Principles of artistic, practice-led research: traditions, developments and methodological approaches
- Current developments in ethnographic research: sensory, participatory and critical dimension of fieldwork and outcome
- Site-specific artistic practices; phenomenological, institutional and discursive dimensions
- Developing an explorative practice through art and research
- Multi-dimensional fieldwork and research output

Attendance in fieldwork and other gatherings is mandatory. All work assignments must be
passed before the final examination can take place. An overview of the assignments and
workload will be presented at the start of the course.

1) A final individual presentation of the student research in form of an exhibition or performance will include artistic presentation, documentation, and a short text (approx. 2500 words) demonstrating the student¿s process, research question(s) and understanding of the context engaged.
2) An individual oral examination follows the presentation, based on the submitted text and exhibited work. Assessed on the basis of pass/fail

The study programme manager, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.

The students cover expenses for materials and travel to Lesvos. The students may also need to cover some fieldwork transportation costs (depending on their choice of project) and are generally responsible for the logistics needed to carry out their individual projects during the fieldwork phase. Highly motivated and self-driven students are necessitated in this course, and the applicants are required to include a letter of motivation with their application commenting on why they apply, with a preliminary sketch of the project they would like to carry out in Lesvos (max 1000 words).

Literature
Coles, Alex (Ed.) (2000). Site-specificity: The ethnographic turn (Vol. 4). London: Black Dog.
Cox, Rupert A., Irving, Andrew, & Wright, Christopher (Eds.). (2016). Beyond text? : Critical
practices and sensory anthropology. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Culhane, Dara, & Elliott, Denielle. (2017). A different kind of ethnography: Imaginative
practices and creative methodologies. North York, Ont: University of Toronto Press.
Foster, Hal. (1996). The artist as ethnographer? In G. Marcus & F. Myers (Eds.), The traffic in
culture. Refiguring art and anthropology (pp. 302-309). Berkeley, LA and London:
University of California Press.
Kwon, Miwon. (2002). One place after another: Site-specific art and locational identity.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Pink, Sarah. (2009). Doing sensory ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage.

In addition there will be a compendium of relevant articles and resources