RELI 286 - Ethnography of Religion Fieldwork Practicum

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

This intensive offers students the opportunity to conduct their own community engaged ethnographic fieldwork related to religion, spirituality, and/or secularism. Encouraged to think broadly and creatively about what might be considered religious, spiritual, or secular, students will select a primary field site from a range of options that include spiritual retreat centers, small businesses, nonprofits, civil rights organizations, schools, intentional living communities, and more. Through their ethnographic work, students reflect on the many ways that people manage boundaries of religion, tradition, and secularity. In the process, students deal first-hand with the ethics of engaged participant research and explore different methods of ethnographic research and writing. Based upon their research, students craft original ethnographic projects in a genre of their choice, such as writing, performance, graphic novel, or short film. The intensive consists primarily of students’ primary research engagements, with periodic meetings as a group and one-on-one with the instructor. Kirsten Wesselhoeft.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: INT