Master’s Thesis Writing Seminar - S0K27A

2023-2024

Workshop 4

Ethnographing

Thursday 7 March 2024

Agenda

• Intro (10 min)

1. Assignment 4.1. Organizing ethnographic material [Build-a-Thesis] (50 min)
2. Assignment 4.2. Writing as bodily and spatial practice [Bring-a-Text,
or better, Read-a-Text] (50 min)

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Intro:
• The building of a narrative resembles a walk: to move (an idea) along a number of changing
environments in which the idea transforms, enriches, thickens and tightens until it settles
wearily but satisfied.
 Akin to ‘positionality’, the time-space situatedness and structure of the fieldwork
site is not only a question of a paragraph in your introduction, but a question of
giving it ongoing attention and visibility in your master’s thesis.
• Writing ethnography is always partly a re-enactment, the reconstruction and revitalization
of situated time-space and multi-sensorial movement through ‘the field’.
• Writing is a sedentary physical activity which is best accompanied, if not reshaped, by
movement intensive physical activities such as walking, running….

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1. Assignment 4.1. Organizing ethnographic material [Build-a-Thesis] [ML: 2 pages]
Part 1: Table of Content (general): put together a complete table of content, from Introduction
to bibliography. Think about: where do I include and how do I cluster the following obligatory
elements: conceptual framework, research questions, positionality and description of
fieldwork context.
Part 2: Focus on the ethnographic chapters of the master thesis. Start from your basic
narrative and try to identify main- and sub themes in your story. For each of the elements you
specify (a) which parts of your ethnographic material (‘data’) you want to use in combination
with (b) which theoretical/analytical concepts. Finally, think about the structure (the ‘flow’):
which are the conceptual/empirical ‘common threads’ throughout your chapters?
Four examples
Drinking Ayahuasca (Liesa Lammens)
Alive in the Dead Zone (Andri Christofides)
Of Orchards and Grassroots Feminism (Laura Becana Ball)
Extra: Alpine Border Conflicts (Cecilia Vergnano)

Plenary Discussion

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Drinking Ayahuasca. a Discursive Study of the
Negotiated Performance and its Assembly
(Liesa Lammens)

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Alive in the Dead Zone: Reinterpreting the
transformation of borders in Nicosia, Cyprus
(Andri Christofides)

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Of Orchards and Grassroots Feminism. The
growth of the feminist movement in rural
Spain (Laura Becana Ball)

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Vergnano (2024). Alpine Border Conflicts.
Migration and social polarization in the
everyday life of intra-EU borders, Lexington

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2. Group Assignment 4.2. Writing as bodily ans spatial practice: read the following two short
essays. [Bring/Read-a-text][ML: 2 pagina’s] (50 min.)
Part 1: Discuss these texts:
1. Besky, Sarah 2020. "Can't Get There from Here: Writing Place and Moving Narratives
" Pp. 83‐86 in Writing Anthropology: Essays on Craft and Commitment, edited by M.
Carole. Durham: Duke University Press.
2. Pandian, Anand 2017. "Walking and Writing". pp. 68-70 in Crumpled paper boat:
Experiments in ethnographic writing. Duke University Press.
Which are important aspects to remember?
Part 2: How do you ‘do’ your academic writing?
Where do you write best? Do you need physical movement or not? How do you use your
breaks? Do you prefer working with or without music? Do you prefer writing in
group/collectively or alone/by youself? With which material do you prefer writing? When are
you the most productive? Which activities improve your writing process? Eating and drinking,
sleeping, showering, running, walking, cycling,…

Plenary: per group, write down 2 pieces of advice for writing-while-moving, or moving-
while-writing.

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