The Undergraduate Ethnographic Field School as a Research Method

Abstract

The undergraduate ethnographic field school can and should be a frequently used field research method. The key to transforming a field school from an excellent pedagogy into a viable research instrument requires the fusion of the field school with intensive postfield coauthored collaboration between field school directors and students. Engaging the field school as a full-round research process—to include writing to peer-reviewed standards—can overcome the opportunity cost of time spent in managing a field school. That could catalyze a much needed expansion in the availability of field schools as a best-practices pedagogy embedded in a community of practice centered on research. To some, these propositions will seem both daunting and controversial. But those who implement the conditions of a research- and publication-oriented field school will find that research, publication, and teaching synergies fully reward the additional investment that transforms the teaching field school into a productive research method.