Megan Little's Instructor Page

Clifford Geertz argued that doing good ethnography is just like writing good literature. Joseph Conrad wrote that fiction must be about real histories and places or it's about nothing at all. How true do you think these statements are? In this class, we’ll explore the similarities—and differences—between ethnographic and literary narratives.

We start by looking at how different kinds of literary and ethnographic texts represent the values and experiences of what is commonly considered a deviant group in our society, urban nomads. We then move onto ethnographic observation of masculinity in other cultures. Finally, we explore different approaches to representing women's experiences in literature and ethnography. Click the links to learn more about each unit, more about course policies and requirements, to see an activity blog with highlights from class, or to peruse forums that include informal writing assignments and samples of student work.

Unit 1: Telling Others' Stories: Urban Nomads
Unit 2: Observation and Masculinity
Unit 3: Representation and Women's Worlds
Course policy
Activity Blog Spring 2009
Class Forum, Fall 2008
Class Forum, Spring 2009