Date/Time
Saturday
21 Feb 2015
All Day

Event Type
Non-CSTMS Event

The Anthropology Graduate Organization (AGORA) at the University of California, Berkeley will host a one day symposium on Saturday, February 21, 2015. The theme of the conference is “Thought on the Unexpected from the Field.” The symposium will have graduate students from UCB and other departments to share their experiences and critically interrogate aspects of the discipline of anthropology and the nature of fieldwork. Graduate students will address the following issues related to the discipline.

Field Sites

How do we “locate” and “construct” the field site? What do we expect in the field site, and how should we consider the differences between the construction of “expectation” against unexpected evidence? What do unexpected objects or experiences tell us about the field site?

Field Methods

How do field methods lead to unexpected insight and results? How is information technology impacting data collection? How do anthropologists incorporate research methods from other disciplines?

Writing The Field

How are encounters with the unexpected framed in anthropology? How do we explain and integrate the unexpected into our understanding and our writing? How is ‘the unexpected’ a trope of the discipline?

The Contemporary Field

How does the contemporary social and political climate unexpectedly shape anthropological research? How does graduate teaching shape undergraduate education? How do anthropologists convey information to the public? What are unexpected career options beyond the advanced degree?