Taking Ethnography to Court

Pedagogical Reflections on a Collective Field Study

Bibliographic Data

ID11062883
AuthorsJosh Seim (0000-0002-4503-1228, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, corresponding author), Jamie Adams (Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA), Jiayu Huang (0000-0003-3828-5147, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA), Gabi Celia Ortiz (Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA), Tiago Franco De Paula (0000-0002-9353-4081, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA), Jier Yang (Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA)
Year2025
Volume53
Issue1
Pages3-15
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTeaching Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0092-055X • E-ISSN: 1939-862X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0092055x241262785
OpenAlexW4400935965
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited39

Ethnography is an exceptionally difficult subject to teach and learn in a classroom setting. This article, written by an ethnography professor and five graduate ethnography students, reflects on how a short-term and collectively executed fieldwork study can help alleviate this problem. Within three months, we logged over 100 hours of observations on district court proceedings in greater Boston. Our field notes, memos, and seminar discussions brought to life three key topics in ethnography: theorization, positionality, and intervention. While not without its challenges, we ultimately found this exercise to be an effective and efficient way to sharpen our ethnographic sensibilities. We close with a general defense of collective fieldwork as a practical method for teaching and learning ethnography

Ethnography · Field (mathematics · Intervention (counseling · Key (lock · Library science · Pedagogy · Sociology · Subject (documents · Anthropology · Computer Science · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Innovative Teaching Methodologies in Social Sciences · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

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