URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY: DOCUMENTING CITY LIFE
CAN WE LISTEN ETHNOGRAPHICALLY? HOW DO WE USE SOUND AS A MAIN MEDIUM FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH?
Urban Ethnography, a class developed by John Jackson, Dean of the School for Social Theory and Practice, and adapted for a summer course by Sandra Ristovska, Ph.D. candidate in communication, examines these questions by looking at the ways in which ethnographic work can be done with audio and disseminated in a radio format. Harry Wolcott defined ethnography as a way of looking that involves experiencing, enquiring, and examining. In this sense, ethnography is not only a process and a product, a method and a research, but it is also a sensibility and a way of living. Can we then look ethnographically without privileging the eye? The three projects that Penn students produced as part of Urban Ethnography, a summer class in 2013, explored the potential of anthropology and critical listening. By telling empirically grounded stories about urban life in Philadelphia, each project tackled with issues ranging from the role of critical ethnography in social justice, the politics and ethics of representation, and the line between journalism and audio ethnography. The projects were broadcast on 900 AM WURD in August 2013, podcast on 3620, and they are part of 2014 Screening Scholarship Media Festival at the University of Pennsylvania. Greenfield Intercultural Center facilitated the successful execution of the course.
To listen to the projects, check out the 3620 episode # 30: City Docs
http://podcast.asc.upenn.edu/2013/09/episode-30-city-docs/
Urban Ethnography, a class developed by John Jackson, Dean of the School for Social Theory and Practice, and adapted for a summer course by Sandra Ristovska, Ph.D. candidate in communication, examines these questions by looking at the ways in which ethnographic work can be done with audio and disseminated in a radio format. Harry Wolcott defined ethnography as a way of looking that involves experiencing, enquiring, and examining. In this sense, ethnography is not only a process and a product, a method and a research, but it is also a sensibility and a way of living. Can we then look ethnographically without privileging the eye? The three projects that Penn students produced as part of Urban Ethnography, a summer class in 2013, explored the potential of anthropology and critical listening. By telling empirically grounded stories about urban life in Philadelphia, each project tackled with issues ranging from the role of critical ethnography in social justice, the politics and ethics of representation, and the line between journalism and audio ethnography. The projects were broadcast on 900 AM WURD in August 2013, podcast on 3620, and they are part of 2014 Screening Scholarship Media Festival at the University of Pennsylvania. Greenfield Intercultural Center facilitated the successful execution of the course.
To listen to the projects, check out the 3620 episode # 30: City Docs
http://podcast.asc.upenn.edu/2013/09/episode-30-city-docs/