What is the role of data in the production of ethnographic knowledge? What methods are used to collect, organize, interpret, and represent ethnographic data? What can data reveal about the social world, and what might it obscure, exclude, or leave unknowable? Throughout the semester, students will work with existing qualitative datasets and create their own, examining how each is produced, what forms of knowledge it makes available, and what it obscures or renders unknowable. Through critical analysis and hands-on exercises, students will explore the possibilities and limitations of data as a medium for ethnographic research. Students will be encouraged to engage with data and course materials through multiple modalities, including crafting, AI tools, and media editing tools. Throughout the semester, we’ll host guest lectures and take field trips to see these methods in action, and students will have the opportunity to conduct a final research project, which could take the form of a written research paper, an ethnographic report, or a research-based creative project. While this seminar serves as the core course for the Anthropology and Design track, graduate students from across the university are encouraged to enroll. Permission Required. Please fill out href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5GmOPXEhOODSuFu4qBZqZSuV7i0me_pll01rlAMo2tQkWwA/viewform">this form to request permission to register.