Smith College's Moodle

This lab is a graduate level seminar and writing workshop addendum to DAN 272 Dance Anthropology: Performed Identities and Embodied Cultures. The seminar situates and integrates ethnographic study with regards to the needs of the artist-scholars of the MFA in Dance program. In its focus on autoethnographic method, the lab is designed to deepen consideration of the positionality of the artist’s practice within the contemporary dance world by placing it in dialogue with current conversations in the field of dance studies alongside an excavation of personal cultural influences. In the lab we address such questions as:

• What is autoethnography?

• What is the positionality of my dancing/teaching/making within a broad contemporary discourse?

• How might autoethnographic research influence my dancing/teaching/making  and how might my dancing/teaching/making be material for autoethnography?

• How is autoethnography similar to ethnography and what makes it distinct?

• Which critical theories am I drawn to and how might I apply them to my work?

• How might I incorporate first-person discussion of my dancing/teaching/making  within my scholarly writing?

As we read about autoethnographic methods and study examples of them throughout the semester, students identify autoethnographic definitions, strategies and styles, as well as a critical lens to apply to their 15- to 20-page dance-based autoethnography (AE), due at semester’s end. This is an autoethnography, it’s about you and your process! Here is an opportunity to weave your personal and scholarly voice, and to take charge through individualized research to continue developing skills and potential approaches toward your final MFA thesis and production.

This course explores the representation and construction of Taiwanese identity through various forms of cultural expression, including literature, film, and performance arts. It aims to understand the diverse voices and perspectives present in these cultural productions. By the end of the course, students will be able to articulate their informed perspectives in response to specific questions and connect the topics discussed to their personal experiences.

The course EDC 110-01 is an introduction to and study of the American teaching profession. The students will explore their own attitudes towards learning and teaching as well as many of the essential issues and questions of the American education throughout history and in the present moment. Participation is essential, as we’ll be using and modeling many effective strategies and practices in education. Also, teacher panels, visits to a local elementary school, documentary films, the opportunity to volunteer at a local high school, and interviewing a teacher will bring forth an additional practical dimension to the course. The course is a work-in-progress: some assignments may change according to the students’ interests and the needs of our classroom community.

Today education is a global phenomenon with widespread implications for individuals and communities. In this seminar, we will study education as a social construct through interdisciplinary and qualitative research approaches. To do so, we will engage with current theoretical and historical perspectives of research as well as practical research exercises. Across engagements students will be asked to examine how research can reproduce or disrupt current structural inequalities and power imbalances in ways that advance social justice. By weaving opportunities to learn and deconstruct the theories shaping research and its practices, this course is designed to support students as they critically examine education across contexts, understand the complexity and plurality that currently characterizes research, and gain familiarity with its practice. 

Course Acknowledgements

The knowledge, spirit, and work of many others have significantly contributed to the learning outlined in this syllabus. I explicitly would like to acknowledge the work of Professor Melissa Freeman and the Qualitative Research Program at the University of Georgia.