ASS204 - Ethnographic Method and Imagination
Unit details
| Year | 2026 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 2: David Giles |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week (recordings provided) 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Content
This unit allows students to practice "doing anthropology" - using ethnographic research methods to explore anthropological questions in their own communities or contexts. They will design and carry out fieldwork projects incorporating: participant observation, fieldnotes, interview techniques, audiovisual documentation, data analysis, and ethnographic writing and communication in traditional and emerging media.
The unit applies these methods to contemporary, cosmopolitan issues at work in students' own "backyards", developing anthropological and interdisciplinary frameworks to explore the sociocultural, political, and economic dynamics that shape our everyday lives and environments. This unit will therefore explore questions such as: What social relations make a community, neighbourhood, city, nation, and so on? How do people practice identity? How is culture reflected in space? What forms of power and agency do people enact through their everyday lives? How do global flows of people and things remake local places and economies? And so on.
Learning outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Analyse cultural processes of urban space- and place-making according to anthropological theories and methods; and engage these with the theories and methods of other disciplines, including geography and sociology | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Identify the relationships between urban place-making and global forces such as migration, mass communication, economic liberalisation, and post-colonial conflict | GLO4: Critical thinking GLO8: Global citizenship |
| ULO3 | Identify and pursue a specific line of anthropological inquiry; develop and support an argument regarding contemporary events using primary and secondary data sources | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO4 | Capture detailed, effective descriptions of sociocultural processes and systems using text and visual media; effectively and communicate and support arguments in writing | GLO2: Communication |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Seminar/Online Exercises | 1000 words or equivalent | 25% | Ongoing |
| Assessment 2: Journal | 1400 words or equivalent | 35% | Week 6 |
| Assessment 3: Essay | 1600 words or equivalent | 40% | Week 11 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for ASS204 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.