Experiencing Theory, Theorizing Methodology: Teaching Anthropology through Short-Time Ethnographic Fieldwork Projects in Multi-Disciplinary Academic Contexts

Abstract

Often enough, Anthropology seems as an 'abstract' discipline, especially when students of other social sciences or humanities try to get acquainted with its theory, methodology or the main anthropological discussion in general. Under these specific conditions, 'teaching Anthropology' becomes a task of high difficulty without a simultaneous ethnographic practice in the 'field'. It is this specific 'rite de passage' which makes students under training in Anthropology seek theoretical schemas and methodological tools in order to 'experience' theory and 'theorize' methodology. In this paper we present ethnographic material collected from various teaching contexts where Anthropology is neither the main academic background nor the stated educational outcome for students taking the courses. In these courses, anthropological knowledge comes to the surface through an empirical engagement with ethnographic practice as an applied theory in a research project. This connection between theory and practice brings Anthropology to the foreground, since it engages students with both - the procedure of 'doing field work' (something substantial for Anthropology) and their own social experience within this process. The ethnographic material for this reflective approach derives from various academic contexts where we have experienced the emergence of this type of learning. This includes ethnographic and anthropological courses (undergraduate or postgraduate) at the Department of History and Ethnology in Democritus University of Thrace Greece, and field trips including ethnographic exercise for the students and the Konitsa Summer School for Anthropology, Ethnography and Comparative Folklore of the Balkans, organized by the Border Crossings Network in collaboration with the University of Ioannina and the Municipality of Konitsa, Greece, at the Greek-Albanian border.