AANA18128U Multimodal Anthropology: Audio-visual and digital experimentation

Volume 2021/2022
Content

This course is for students interested in audio-visual and digital ethnographic methods and formats. It is based on workshops, hands-on group work, and masterclasses with guest lecturers. The exam is portfolio-based, and feedback sessions are an integral part of the course.

 

This course in multimodal anthropology focuses on working audio-visually, in combination with digital ethnography and sensory ethnography. It integrates hands-on practical work and theoretical work. Students will be introduced to the history of ethnographic film and newer work within multimodal anthropology. The weight is on collaborative and experimental approaches, and we draw on the many technological possibilities available to ethnographically do research, perform analysis, and share knowledge in various modalities. Students will learn to formulate questions and research them through audio-visual and digital ethnographic means in short field exercises. The course work takes it point of departure in ‘media ecologies’, and students are invited to participate in the lecturer’s research project investigating how (digital) images circulate globally and in specific empirical contexts. During the course students will be introduced to making and editing video, stills, podcasts; making elements for websites, visualizations or mappings (computational methods), and choose in which modality they work primarily. It is an integral part of the course to practice arguing (in writing) for the modalities and formats you choose to work in to shed light on the research questions. By formulating individual sub-questions and approaches, within the overarching research field/question, students learn how different research practices and ethnographic materials can complement and challenge each other (triangulation). Questions pertaining to knowledge-sharing (dissemination and publishing of results in various formats) is part of the course, as students will learn to critically engage with questions of audiences and public(s): who can access this knowledge and whom does it benefit?

 

This course may prepare interested students for MA research, and thesis in the form of ‘anderledes formidlingsprodukt’.

Learning Outcome

Learning outcomes: Students will learn to:

  • formulate questions and research them through audio-visual and digital ethnographic methods
  • relate their own practice to the history and theory of (visual) anthropology and current/newer multimodal work
  • research, perform analysis, and share knowledge in various modalities
  • familiarize themselves with video, podcast, websites, visualizations or mappings – and producing in one or more of these formats
  • practice arguing (in writing) for the modalities and formats they choose to work in and the relation to the research questions pursued
  • critically engage with questions of audiences, public(s), and access

TBA

The home arena for the course is Ethnographic Exploratory. The form of teaching is underpinned by the belief that learning occurs in communities of practice, where you move in-between exercises, instruction, discussion of literature, experiments in co-research and feedback sessions. Through these iterative movements, an embodied understanding of working ethnographically in different formats and across the physical and digital dimensions emerge.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 84
  • Preparation
  • 200
  • Exam
  • 128
  • Total
  • 412
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
Length: Portfolio exam can be written individually or in groups of Max. 4 students. Portfolio exams consist of 2-7 submissions. For MA students, there is a submission more than for BA students, i.e. if the BA student has to submit five submissions, the MA students must submit six submissions. The number of submissions is set by the lecturer. The total length of all of the submissions must be max. 30,000 keystrokes for one student. For groups of two students, Max. 40,000 keystrokes. For groups of three students, Max. 45,000 keystrokes and for groups of four students, Max. 50,000 keystrokes. In the case of group assignments, the contribution of each individual student must be clearly marked in the assignment. For groups with both BA and MA students, the same number of submissions is required as for MA students. The assignments are assessed jointly with a single grade.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

1st re-exam: An essay must be submitted. The new assignment must be submitted by the deadline for the re-exam.

 

2nd re-exam: A new essay must be submitted. The new assignment must be submitted by the deadline for the re-exam.

 

Essay length: 21,600–26,400 keystrokes for an individual submission. 6,750–8,250 keystrokes per extra member for group submissions. The maximum number of students who can write an essay in a group is four.

For groups writing together it must be clearly indicated which parts of the assignment each of the students has written.

Criteria for exam assesment

See description of learning outcome. Formalities for Written Works must be fulfilled, read more: MSc Students/ BA students (in Danish)/ exchange and credit students