THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Geography

Undergraduate Course: Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life (GEGR10124)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryAdvanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a research elective that provides an opportunity to develop skills in designing, planning and doing research in Human Geography. The primary aim of the field class is to successfully design and execute a group research project. The fieldwork for the research project must be conducted in Berlin. The research project is an opportunity for students to deepen their engagement with a substantive conceptual issue in Human Geography, develop a central research question, and design appropriate research methods to gather, analyse and present research materials. The ideas, initiative and energy for the research project must come from students, although they will receive guidance before the field class via lectures, a research design workshop and feedback on research proposals, and during the field class. The research elective will be of particular benefit for students doing dissertation research in Urban, Social or Cultural Geography, and those using research methods from the social sciences and humanities.

The field trip is also an introduction to Berlin and to several major themes in Urban, Cultural, and Social Geography. During an orientation tour and staff-led field work activities students will be introduced to the politics and practices of place-making in Berlin. In particular, teaching in the field will focus on the politics of commemoration, remembrance and forgetting; how the legacies of Cold War geopolitics are imprinted in urban space; and the diverse and contested claims being made on urban space by groups as disparate as property developers, city planners, squatters, hipsters, tourists, and migrants.

This research elective is an 8-day residential field class in Berlin. The field class is comprised of one orientation day and 6 fieldwork days, during which there will be a range of staff-led activities (equivalent of 2 days-teaching over 6 days). The staff-led fieldwork will develop skills in identifying, gathering and producing original empirical material/research skills.They will also provide opportunities for students to discuss questions, problems and ideas arising from their research.

The majority of time during fieldwork days (at least 5 hours/day) in Berlin is dedicated to group research projects. Students are required to do some preliminary reading and research into their research projects before we depart on the field class. An introductory lecture, alongside a research design workshop and a feedback session will provide students with guidance on the design and framing of their research project before we leave for Berlin. In Berlin workshops and student presentations will provide students with opportunities for further guidance and feedback while they are doing their research. The fieldtrip will end with final workshop focusing on the analysis of research material and writing the research project so that the students return to Edinburgh ready to write the degree assessment.

***PLEASE NOTE FIELD COURSE LOCATIONS MAY CHANGE FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, INCLUDING SECURITY RISKS, INCREASED COSTS OR INABILITY TO ACCESS FIELD LOCATIONS. ANY CHANGES TO THE MAIN DESTINATION OF THE FIELD TRIP WILL BE ANNOUNCED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE***
Course description Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a field class in Berlin provides students with advanced training in the conception, framing and practice of research in Human Geography, with a particular focus on an urban setting.

The primary aim of the field class is to provide students with advanced skills in designing and conducting research projects. Students will gain advanced skills in one or more research methods, which might include: participant observation; in-depth interviews; visual methodologies; quantitative techniques; oral histories; discourse analysis; archival research. Students will also develop skills in the interpretation and analysis of original research materials. Formative and summative assessments will provide opportunities to develop skills in the oral, written and visual presentation of ideas and data.

The course will also deepen the students understanding of a range of theoretical, conceptual and political issues in Human Geography, and particularly the sub-disciplines of Urban Geography, Cultural Geography and Social Geography. Through staff-led activities, workshops and group research students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of the following course themes: memory-work and the politics of remembering and forgetting; Cold War geopolitics and the legacies of urban division; political ideology and the production of urban space; urban subcultures; mobilities; urban green space and geographies of health and well-being; gentrification; rights to the city; urban ruins; squatting and urban informality; technology and relationships in public space; migration and the city; the tourist gaze and the commodification of heritage.

This is an indicative structure for the field trip.
Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a field class in Berlin provides students with advanced training in the conception, framing and practice of research in Human Geography, with a particular focus on an urban setting.

The primary aim of the field class is to provide students with advanced skills in designing and conducting research projects. Students will gain advanced skills in one or more research methods, which might include: participant observation; in-depth interviews; visual methodologies; quantitative techniques; oral histories; discourse analysis; archival research. Students will also develop skills in the interpretation and analysis of original research materials. Formative and summative assessments will provide opportunities to develop skills in the oral, written and visual presentation of ideas and data.

The course will also deepen the students understanding of a range of theoretical, conceptual and political issues in Human Geography, and particularly the sub-disciplines of Urban Geography, Cultural Geography and Social Geography. Through staff-led activities, workshops and group research students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of the following course themes: memory-work and the politics of remembering and forgetting; Cold War geopolitics and the legacies of urban division; political ideology and the production of urban space; urban subcultures; mobilities; urban green space and geographies of health and well-being; gentrification; rights to the city; urban ruins; squatting and urban informality; technology and relationships in public space; migration and the city; the tourist gaze and the commodification of heritage.

This is an indicative structure for the field trip.
Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a field class in Berlin provides students with advanced training in the conception, framing and practice of research in Human Geography, with a particular focus on an urban setting.

The primary aim of the field class is to provide students with advanced skills in designing and conducting research projects. Students will gain advanced skills in one or more research methods, which might include: participant observation; in-depth interviews; visual methodologies; quantitative techniques; oral histories; discourse analysis; archival research. Students will also develop skills in the interpretation and analysis of original research materials. Formative and summative assessments will provide opportunities to develop skills in the oral, written and visual presentation of ideas and data.

The course will also deepen the students understanding of a range of theoretical, conceptual and political issues in Human Geography, and particularly the sub-disciplines of Urban Geography, Cultural Geography and Social Geography. Through staff-led activities, workshops and group research students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of the following course themes: memory-work and the politics of remembering and forgetting; Cold War geopolitics and the legacies of urban division; political ideology and the production of urban space; urban subcultures; mobilities; urban green space and geographies of health and well-being; gentrification; rights to the city; urban ruins; squatting and urban informality; technology and relationships in public space; migration and the city; the tourist gaze and the commodification of heritage.
This is an indicative structure for the field trip.
Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a field class in Berlin provides students with advanced training in the conception, framing and practice of research in Human Geography, with a particular focus on an urban setting.

The primary aim of the field class is to provide students with advanced skills in designing and conducting research projects. Students will gain advanced skills in one or more research methods, which might include: participant observation; in-depth interviews; visual methodologies; quantitative techniques; oral histories; discourse analysis; archival research. Students will also develop skills in the interpretation and analysis of original research materials. Formative and summative assessments will provide opportunities to develop skills in the oral, written and visual presentation of ideas and data.

The course will also deepen the students understanding of a range of theoretical, conceptual and political issues in Human Geography, and particularly the sub-disciplines of Urban Geography, Cultural Geography and Social Geography. Through staff-led activities, workshops and group research students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of the following course themes: memory-work and the politics of remembering and forgetting; Cold War geopolitics and the legacies of urban division; political ideology and the production of urban space; urban subcultures; mobilities; urban green space and geographies of health and well-being; gentrification; rights to the city; urban ruins; squatting and urban informality; technology and relationships in public space; migration and the city; the tourist gaze and the commodification of heritage.

This is an indicative structure for the field trip.
Advanced Ethnography: Documenting City Life is a field class in Berlin provides students with advanced training in the conception, framing and practice of research in Human Geography, with a particular focus on an urban setting.

The primary aim of the field class is to provide students with advanced skills in designing and conducting research projects. Students will gain advanced skills in one or more research methods, which might include: participant observation; in-depth interviews; visual methodologies; quantitative techniques; oral histories; discourse analysis; archival research. Students will also develop skills in the interpretation and analysis of original research materials. Formative and summative assessments will provide opportunities to develop skills in the oral, written and visual presentation of ideas and data.

The course will also deepen the students understanding of a range of theoretical, conceptual and political issues in Human Geography, and particularly the sub-disciplines of Urban Geography, Cultural Geography and Social Geography. Through staff-led activities, workshops and group research students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of the following course themes: memory-work and the politics of remembering and forgetting; Cold War geopolitics and the legacies of urban division; political ideology and the production of urban space; urban subcultures; mobilities; urban green space and geographies of health and well-being; gentrification; rights to the city; urban ruins; squatting and urban informality; technology and relationships in public space; migration and the city; the tourist gaze and the commodification of heritage.

This is an indicative structure for the field trip.

BEFORE THE FIELD TRIP:
Introductory lecture
Research Design workshop
Feedback on research proposals

DURING THE FIELD TRIP:
Day 1: Travel to Berlin orientation
Days 2-7: Student fieldwork (c. 5 hours per day) alongside daily staff-led activities that will include walking tours and fieldwork that focuses on developing research skills; workshops for feedback and guidance; student presentations.
Day 8: Final workshop on analysing research materials and writing the degree assessment. Return travel to Edinburgh.

AFTER THE FIELDTRIP:
2 hour feedback session on analysis of empirical material
Two office hours each week for feedback and guidance until the submission deadline.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs £250
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  24
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 2, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 8, Fieldwork Hours 50, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 6, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 122 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework: 100%«br /»
Degree assessment: One 4000-word project«br /»
Formative assessments to include a research proposal and 2 oral presentations on progress during the fieldtrip.«br /»
Feedback Student receive feedback and guidance throughout the fieldtrip, including:
- introductory lecture with guidance for developing a research proposal
- research project proposal workshop where students receive detailed feedback and guidance on the research projects before the field class
- staff and peer feedback on student presentations (total of 3) during the fieldtrip focusing on during the field trip on 1.) research proposals; 2.) data collection; and 3.) analysis
- mentoring of research projects includes verbal feedback and guidance throughout the fieldtrip
- written and oral feedback on 800 words of analysis for degree assessment
- further feedback will be available after the field trip during office hours, via email or by appointment
- tick box and written comments on degree assessment
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. design, plan and execute a group research project that is appropriately framed by a critical understanding of theoretical and conceptual issues in Human Geography
  2. demonstrate advanced skills in the use of research methods and the appropriate analysis of original research materials
  3. employ an range of writing and analytical skills for the original interpretation and presentation of research
  4. evaluate and reflect critically on your research practices, and to make judgements where data or information is limited or comes from a range of sources.
  5. demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of a substantive concern at the forefront or Urban, Social or Cultural Geography
Reading List
RECOMMENDED READING:
ON BERLIN:
Allen, J. (2006). ¿Ambient Power: Berlin¿s Potsdamer Platz and the Seductive Logic of Public Spaces, Urban Studies 43(2), 441-455.
Boyer, C. (1996). The City of Collective Memory: Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments. Boston, M.A.: MIT Press.
Boym, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.
Cochrane, A. (2006). Making Up Meanings in a Capital City: Power, Memory and Monuments in Berlin, European Urban and Regional Studies, 13(1), 5-24.
Cochrane, A. and Passmore, A. (2001) Building a national capital in an age of globalization: the case of Berlin, Area 33(3), 341-352.
Dekel, I. (2009). Ways of looking: observation and transformation at the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin, Memory Studies, 2(1), 71-86.
Funder, A. (2003). Stasiland. London: Granta Books.
Huyssen, A. (1995). Twilight Memories: Marking Time in a Culture of Amnesia. London: Routledge.
Knischewski, G. and Spittler, U. (2006). Remembering the Berlin Wall: The wall memorial ensemble Bernauer Strasse, German Life and Letters, 59(2), 280-293.
Ladd, B. (1997). The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Staiger, U. (2009). Cities, citizenship, contested cultures: Berlin's Palace of the Republic and the politics of the public sphere Cultural Geographies, 16, 309-327.
Stangl, P. (2008). The vernacular and the monumental: memory and landscape in post-war Berlin, GeoJournal, 78, 245-253.
Till, K. (2005). The New Berlin: Memory, Politics, Place. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Varvantakis, C. (2009). A monument to dismantlement¿, Memory Studies, 2(1), 27-38.
Young, J. (1992). The Counter-Monument: Memory Against Itself in Germany Today, Critical Inquiry, 18(2), 267-296.
ON RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:
Back, L. and Puwar, N. (2012). Live Methods. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Becker, H. (2001). Georges Perec's experiments in social description, Ethnography, 2(1), 63-76.
Clifford, N., French, S. and Valentine, G. (2010). Key Methods in Geography. London: Sage.
Cloke, P., Cook, I., Crang, P., Goodwin, M., Painter, J. and Philo, C. (2004). Practising Human Geography. London: Sage.
Crang, M. and Cook, I. (2007). Doing Ethnographies. London: Sage.
DeLyser, D., Herbert, S., Aitkin, S., Crang, M. and McDowell, L. (2009). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Geography. London: Sage.
Emmison, M., Smith, P. & Mayall, M. (2012). Researching the Visual. London: Sage.
Phillips R. and Johns, J. (2012). Fieldwork for Human Geography. London: Sage.
Law, J. (2004). After Methods: Mess in Social Science Research. London: Routledge.
Lury, C. and Wakeford, N. (2012). Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social. London: Routledge.
Rose, G. (2012). Visual Methodologies. London: Sage.
Silverman, D. (2010). Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
Ward, K. (2014). Researching the City. London: Sage.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills At the conclusion of the course students will have further developed their transferable skills in:
- working with autonomy to plan, design and execute a research project (both independently and as part of a small group).
- applying knowledge and understanding to frame empirical research, and to employ a range of research methods and practices to gather, produce and analyse original data
- oral, written, and visual presentation of ideas and analysis, including a formal presentation of research to an informed audience.
- Working effectively as part of a team
KeywordsEthnography,Berlin
Contacts
Course organiserDr Daniel Swanton
Tel: (0131 6)50 8164
Email: dan.swanton@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kirsty Allan
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: Kirsty.Allan@ed.ac.uk
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