In spring and summer 2020, Kate Spanos organized three workshops on ethnography in the Fulbright experience. These workshops are a collaboration with EducArte. For those who couldn’t make the workshops, check out the recordings below!
Workshop #1: Ethnography & Cultural Encounters
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
At the core of Fulbright’s mission is cultural ambassadorship and international partnership. What are some common concerns for Fulbrighters when working in a new country? How do cultural encounters shape our Fulbright research or work? How do we develop meaningful collaborations with other Fulbrighters and local researchers in productive and sensitive ways?
Panelists:
- Rachita Sood – Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India, 2015-16 – postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University, medicine
- Janet Robbins – Fulbright Specialist in Brazil, 2018 – professor emerita at West Virginia University, world music pedagogy
- Kate Spanos – Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Brazil, 2018 – adjunct faculty and marketing staff at University of Maryland, dance anthropology and performance studies
- Amy Kuritzky – Fulbright Student Research in Ecuador, 2019-20 (current) – recent graduate of Rice University, nutritional anthropology, environmental science, and anthropology
- Ilana Herold – Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Korea, 2019-20 (current) – recent graduate of University of Maryland, environmental science and technology
Workshop #2: Ethnographic Observation Methods in Fulbright Research
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
How do we acknowledge our biases and reflect on how our cultural perspectives are formed? How do we physically position ourselves in a space that is unfamiliar to us? How do we behave when etiquette is unknown or language is an obstacle? What does participation look like, and when is participation appropriate or inappropriate?
Panelists:
- Gordon Bronitsky – Senior Fulbright Professor, Germany 1984-5, teaching area American Indians; Senior Fulbright Specialist, Kenya 2010; Senior Fulbright Specialist Zimbabwe 2016-2017; President, Bronitsky and Associates indigenow.com, a firm that works with Indigenous peoples around the world in the performing arts (traditional and contemporary) and festival development on every continent except Antarctica
- Padmini Bhuyan Boruah – Professor & Head, Department of English language Teaching, Gauhati University, India; FNAPE Teaching & Research Fellowship, 2019-20. Host institution: University of San Diego, CA; Home institution: Gauhati University, India; Research interests: English Language Teacher Education; Action Research
- Loneka Wilkinson-Battiste – Assistant Professor of Music Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Brazil 2019; Fulbright Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellowship, 2019. Host institution: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Areas studied: coco de roda
- Kate Spanos – Brazil 2018, dance anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park (moderator)
Workshop #3: Ethnographic Interviewing in Fulbright Research
Friday, July 31, 2020
What are the differences between formal interviews and informal conversations? What are best practices when working with translators and transcribers? What are discipline-specific suggestions for reading and re-reading transcriptions, note-taking, and qualitative research coding? How do we deal with issues of consent/confidentiality when using quotes from interviews or informal conversations?
More information and registration here: tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography3
Sign up for this workshop here: tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography3.
Workshop #4: Sharing Ethnographic Research Findings After Your Fulbright Grant
Friday, September 25, 2020
What are some creative ways that we have shared our Fulbright research findings, beyond academic publications? How do we write for a general, non-academic audience? How do we build strong, long-lasting collaborative partnerships? How do we share our research findings to promote dialogue and action, or activist work?
This workshop is an open forum, come with questions or discussion topics related to publishing or otherwise communicating ethnographic research for the group. We encourage you to share your experiences and expertise. Prospective Fulbrighters are also welcome to join us and ask questions about ethnographic research in the Fulbright program. The discussion is moderated by organizer Kate Spanos, Ph.D. (Brazil 2018).
