Fieldwork in Languages, Cultures and Societies
About
The ILCS Fieldwork Research Group was launched at a symposium for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers held at the Institute in the summer of 2017. In practical and theoretical talks and workshops, participants explored the challenges and opportunities fieldwork presents to researchers in Languages, Cultures and Societies, and related disciplines.
In response to the pandemic, the group went online and delivered seminars on the theory and practice of fieldwork within the School of Advanced Studies University of London doctoral training programme.
Post-pandemic, we retained the online format and launched a new seminar series on the methods, theory and practice of fieldwork in arts, humanities and social science research called Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork. This new seminar series provides an informal and supportive space where we can get together from locations around the globe to discuss fieldwork theory and practice in an online environment. The usual format for these seminars is a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation followed by 30 minutes of Q&A and online discussion live on Zoom on a Wednesday early evening. A call for papers is issued during the UK summer break before the academic session begins.
The seminars held in 2022–23 and 2023–24 are listed below. The current series and registration details can be accessed on the ILCS website under Events.
We hope in the near future to launch a reading group and we are keen to encourage new members to join.
Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork
2023–24 Series
• From border to border: volunteering, photo-voicing, listening, and here we go again! with Abril Rios (Oxford University)
• Anxieties and excitements of archival work: some considerations with Aurora Sturli (Cambridge University)
• Collaboration is a two-way road, or regarding ethnographic work with antagonistic institutions with María Victoria Guzmán (Leicester University)
• Fieldwork with indigenous Amazigh communities with Kaya Davies Hayon (Open University) and Fadma Aït Mous (Hassan II University of Casablanca) (postponed to 2024–25)
• Practical approaches to using participatory photography in research with Tom Martin and Michelle Walsh (University of Lincoln)
• Researching undocumented women in transit: challenges and strategies of fieldwork on the Mexican border with Alejandra Díaz de León (University of Essex) and María E. López (London Metropolitan University)
• The sound of amateur cinema: collections, oral history, experimentation workshops with Jean-Baptiste Masson (Université Rennes-2)
2022–23 Series
Seminars delivered as part of the School of Advanced Studies University of London doctoral training programme 2022–23:
• Working with and interviewing writers, artists and film-makers with Joe Ford (ILCS)
• Ethnography and Modern Languages research (two-session course) with Naomi Wells and Ainhoa Montoya (ILCS)
• Conducting research in post-conflict contexts with Catherine Gilbert and Ariana Markowitz (Newcastle) – cancelled
• Working in the field: photographic methods (two-session course) with Tom Martin (Lincoln University) and Chandra Morrison (London School of Economics)
• Can data be ‘decolonised’ for fieldwork? with Claire Griffiths (Chester University) and Monika Kukolova (Salford University)
• Conducting fieldwork in and with indigenous communities with Kaya Davies Hayon (Open University) and Fadma Aït Mous (Hassan II University of Casablanca)
• Using local language and local culture in fieldwork for social change with Fiona de Hoog Cius (Sheffield Hallam University)
Resources
The Interdisciplinary Bibliography of Fieldwork Resources began as a reading list prepared for the symposium held at the Institute in 2017. From 2020, it underwent considerable expansion thanks primarily to scholars from around the globe sourcing and sharing resources on how to conduct research and fieldwork through the pandemic and beyond. We have been updating the resource regularly with new references. The bibliography now unites eight short discipline-specific bibliographies of podcasts, conference recordings and publications.
If you wish to suggest a resource that does not appear here and is compatible with the format and aims of the bibliography, please contact Claire Griffiths at c.griffiths@chester.ac.uk and we will be happy to add it to the next update.
Interdisciplinary Bibliography of Fieldwork Resources
While most of the references target researchers already conducting fieldwork, in concert with the seminar series, the bibliography is also designed to help those new to fieldwork, or considering integrating fieldwork into their research for the first time.
If you would like any further information about any of this, please contact Professor Claire Griffiths.
