Fieldwork seminar: Fieldwork in the Humanities - May 5 2014
The convenient fieldwork
Dangers and strengths in heritage studies fieldwork with a commercial agenda
Abstract
The paper presents a PhD-project on use and mediation of heritage from AD 600–1375 in Northern Europe. The project is funded and administrated by a number of various national and local heritage actors. Thus, a number of different interests are at stake. The project aims to find ways to increase heritage tourism in West Zealand as well as other ways to benefit from the regions heritage – e.g. through education. Thus, it is a very broad study, touching upon a number of perspectives such as heritage mediation, the outcome of history teaching in local schools, heritage in tourism marketing and the impact of networks like World Heritage. The many interests represented in the project, affects the fieldwork. At the moment of writing this affect is positive, understood by a very positive reaction from the funding partners towards the results of the fieldwork conducted so far. These results reflects new ways to categorize heritage consuming – which has concreteness and practical options easily understood by politicians and administrators. This has led to a request for more fieldwork of the same kind. There could be a number of dangers connected to a continuing feeding of so far reached successes. However, these should neither be neglected.
Fieldwork in the Humanities
– a series of PhD seminars at ToRS
ECTS: 1,8 for paper presentation and 0,3 for active participation.
Fieldwork is at the core of many of the PhD projects at ToRS and a productive period ’in the field’ is crucial for a successful thesis. The time allowed for fieldwork is, however, limited and it is therefore of importance to have an opportunity to discuss plans and alternatives, to be able to share experiences after coming back from fieldwork and to have response on drafts of analysis when the thesis text is about to take shape.
A series of regular PhD seminars are offered at ToRS on the uses of fieldwork in the humanities. During the seminars there will be an opportunity to present texts (plans, reports, drafts of analysis), discuss and scrutinize various methods for fieldwork – and report experiences as well as discuss theoretical reflections on fieldwork as a method. Fieldwork can be conducted in a number of ways and from very different analytical perspectives; many of them at work in various ToRS projects. The purpose of the seminars is not to streamline your projects, but to open up a forum for discussions about how to plan a fieldwork and still be flexible, choices of documentation, follow-up and where to draw the line. In short: share and learn from others; from tentative research questions to submission of a thesis based on fieldwork.
Some of the issues that will be discussed during the seminars:
– designing a fieldwork plan and preparing for surprises and change of plans
– the relation between research questions and choice of field method
– documentation: technique, ethics and archiving
– follow-up and processual analysis
– combining fieldwork material(s) with other sources
– combining fieldwork material(s) with historical studies
– literature on fieldwork
It is strongly recommended that those of you who use fieldwork material in your thesis continuously take active part in these seminars. The seminars are intended to be a platform for discussions for every stage of fieldwork and for fieldwork in the broadest understanding of the concept. Archaeological, archival, literary and political angles are more than welcome.
Each seminar has a theme and literature (ca 50 pages) will be circulated beforehand as a preparation for the discussions. At each seminar will also one, or more PhD, candidate(s) present a piece from her/his on-going work.
The seminars are chaired by Catharina Raudvere and Esther Fihl.