Virtual Ethnographic Field Research Methods 

“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, exposure to major debates on ethnographic research, opportunities to try their hand at practicing fieldwork virtually, and feedback on a proposed study that employs ethnographic methods. By way of analyzing and problematizing enduring oppositions associated with ethnographic fieldwork – field/home, insider/outsider, researcher/research subject, expert/novice, ‘being there’/removal – this seminar is a practicum in theoretically grounded and critically reflexive qualitative methods of research. By introducing students to participant observation and interviews in virtual worlds, ethics, data analysis and writing up, the course offers an opportunity to make sense of the current pandemic we’re all experiencing in real time. An emphasis will be placed on multimedia, digital, and virtual ethnography."