300652 Exploring Anthropology through Ethnographic Texts (MA: Soziologie der globalen Welt) (S) (SoSe 2026)

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Requirements for participation, required level

Publishing a full-length book (commonly called an ethnography or ethnographic monograph) is a significant milestone in anthropology. While articles may make the case for specific arguments, a book allows an in-depth exploration of a research project and often showcases groundbreaking work with multiple arguments. In view of the importance of publishing a book, academic journals usually have special sections devoted to reviewing new books, and reviewers will take care to examine the arguments made in new ethnographies, considering both the arguments made and the empirical material on which those arguments are based.

We can say then that to explore anthropology and the sort of questions that anthropologists ask, is also to explore ethnographies. We can and should engage with books as a whole, looking at their component parts, how these fit together and what they contribute to scholarship. In this course, we will explore three ethnographies published in the last four years. We will read each in detail, considering what arguments the authors make, what material they use for these, and whether we find these arguments convincing, lacking or both.

Bibliography

While there were many possible ethnographies for this course, the three below have been chosen for their accessibility and cross-cutting themes and, one way or another, all engage with questions of resources: how resources are used, navigated and the morals around resources.

1. Field, S. (2025). Carbon Capital: Climate Change and the Ethics of Oil Investing. NYU Press. 168 pages
2. Meszaros, J. H. (2025). Economies of Gender: Masculinity," Mail Order Brides," and Women’s Labor. Rutgers University Press.
3. TBC