Program(s): Undergraduate Courses
“Virtual worlds are places of imagination that encompass practices of play, performance, creativity and ritual.” – Tom Boellstorff, from Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method
This course is designed to provide students in the social sciences with a review of ethnographic research methods in an online environment, exposure to major debates on virtual ethnographic research, and opportunities to try their hand at practicing fieldwork virtually. We will analyze and problematize enduring oppositions associated with ethnographic fieldwork – field/home, insider/outsider, researcher/research subject, expert/novice, ‘being there’/removal—and we will debate epistemological, ethical, and practical matters in online ethnographic research. Mirroring the complexities and opportunities of research in virtual worlds, this course will alternate between in-person and online instruction, and will combine synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for conversation, work, and play.
Remote or Residential
Course Considerations
This course is open to all undergraduates and is included in the Summer Institute in Social Research Methods.
For UChicago students: This course is cross-listed with Anthropology (ANTH 21432/31432), Environmental Studies (ENST 20224), Global Studies (GLST 26220), and Sociology (SOCI 20515), and Social Sciences (SOSC 30224.)
This course is an approved elective for students in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies major and in the Health and Society minor. It also satisfies the methodology course requirement for the Sociology major and the Anthropology major. It counts as a methodology elective for the Global Studies major. It is an approved elective course for the ENST major and minor requirements, but students must petition with relevance to course of study. It may be approved as an elective for additional majors by petition.
Course Overview
Start Date
End Date
July 12
Current Grade / Education Level
Program
Class Details
Course Code
Class Day(s)
Class Duration (CST)
11:00 A.M.