240516 SE Ethnographic Media Practice: Media, Methods, and Multimodality (P4) (2020W)

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung
Students are introduced to a variety of ethnographic media practices through shorter and longer assignments in an active way. Individual assignments are combined with collaborative work to enhance exchange of skills and ideas, and to spark unexpected outcomes. Students are introduced to the following media practices that have been used in anthropological and ethnographic research: sound recording, photography/film, drawing, and elicitation.

After completing this course, students will:
- know how different media practices (film/photography, sound recording, and drawing) have been used in ethnographic research in the past and present.
- have gained experience with some of these practice-based approaches themselves through a small-scale research project, and feel challenged to implement ethnographic media practices in future research.
- have learned to reflect critically on questions of ethics, power, and collaboration in the research process, in particular on the politics of consent and collaboration.

Course set-up
Classes are set up to create a work space in a creative and collaborative atmosphere. During theoretical introduction seminars, students learn how anthropologists have employed different kinds of media as tools of research and presentation, through focused discussions of literature and existing media examples (e.g. a film, to be studied before the class). During workshops, students participate in hands-on media work (e.g. drawing or sound recording), after which they conduct a fieldwork assignment to implement what they have learnt. In student-oriented discussion seminars, students present their assignments in the classroom and engage in peer-to-peer discussion about their experiences and challenges, while the lecturer links student experiences back to core discussions in the (sub)discipline of visual and multimodal anthropology.

Research assignments
During this course, students develop their research skills through hands-on practical assignments. To enhance peer-to-peer learning, students will be divided in small groups (of 3) to work on a shared setting and topic. Advanced Ma students working on an empirical research project for their Master thesis can use the assignments to enhance (or prepare for) their ongoing individual research, if their supervisor agrees. Further information about the assignments will be provided in a hand-out.

Vienna Visual Anthropology Lab
We work with tools that are available in the library of the Vienna Visual Anthropology Lab: a camera with tripod/microphone, specialized sound recording devices, and specialized editing software. You are encouraged to use the Lab’s materials to gain experience with different techniques and equipment besides the ones you are already familiar with. The Lab’s coordinator, Viktoria Paar, is available to help you with technical support (video.ksa@univie.ac.at). More info: https://vval.univie.ac.at/laba0421/.

Study materials: literature and media examples.
Students are expected to read literature and to study a media example (e.g. film) in advance of each class. While a scene from the film might occasionally be shown in class to refresh memory, students are expected to come prepared to engage in discussions about the film and literature. Some films are only 15 minutes, others are full feature length plan ahead.

Ethics
Research ethics will be a part of the class discussion. Before we start: if you consider publishing or exhibiting your outputs beyond the classroom, make sure you talk about this beforehand with the interlocutors and discuss possible consequences. Do not publish without permission.