[ecrea] PhD Course in Media Ethnopgraphy

*Media Ethnography: Theory and Practice*

*Co-directors:* Dr. Debra Spitulnik (Emory University) and Dr. Thomas 
Tufte (Roskilde University)

*Date: 7-9* *June 2011*

The course will take place at Roskilde University, Denmark.

*Application deadline: 30 April*

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*Points given: 3 ECTS (with presentation). 2 ECTS without presentation.*

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*Speakers: *

Dr. Jo Helle Valle, Senior Researcher, Nat’l Institute for Consumer 
Research, Oslo, Norway

Dr. John Postill, C3 Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Dr. Debra Spitulnik, Associate Professor, Emory University, USA

Dr. Thomas Tufte, Professor, Roskilde University, Denmark

*Description:*

This short course is designed to introduce Ph.D. students to the theory 
and practice of media ethnography. We explore how media ethnography 
applies to both media production and media reception, and how it is 
fundamentally both a theory and a method for investigating everyday 
practices and lived experiences as they are shaped by 
culturally-specific ways of being-in-the world. Media to be considered 
include: television, film, radio, newspapers, and new media.* *The 
course will begin with a brief overview of the history of ethnographic 
approaches within media studies and cultural studies, which dates back 
to the mid 1980s. We then engage more recent scholarship within media 
anthropology, focusing specifically on three dimensions of ethnography: 
(a) as fieldwork method; (b) as anthropological lens, and (c) as a 
method of writing and re-presentation.

While all 4 speakers will speak, so will the participating Ph.D. 
students. All students are encouraged to present a media ethnographical 
dimension of their Ph.D project reflecting on one or more of the three 
above mentioned approaches to media ethnography. The students will 
furthermore have the opportunity to conduct small exercises in which 
they practice doing participant-observation fieldwork, field 
note-taking, and working with the writing of ethnographic textures. **

*Participant Requirements: *

A course package of required readings will be compiled and circulated to 
participants 3-4 weeks prior to the course. The participants are 
required to read the full package of scholarly texts and to take an 
active part in discussing them, under the direction of the course 
leader. Participants who wish to present some of their work on the 
seminar must hand in a 7-10 page essay and stating its relation to the 
course area. The deadline for this is May 20^th .

*Price:*

The tuition fee is 3000 DKK (this fee is waivered if you are a member of 
the Danish Doctoral School on Media, Journalism and Communication (FMKJ).

In addition you must budget for travel, food and accommodation. Roskilde 
University will assist you in recommending accommodation. On this issue 
or if you have other practical inquiries, please contact Chris Holmsted 
((holmsted /at/ ruc.dk)).

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