Course Information
Feminist Ethnographic Studio
Spring 2025 | M/W 1:30-3:20 | Gould Hall 435
Instructor
Professor Sasha Su-Ling Welland (she/her)
Email: swelland@uw.edu*
Office: Padelford Hall B110-L (inside main GWSS office)
Office Hours: Mondays, 3:00-4:00 pm or by appointment (Sign Up Link)
About the Course
For information on how to request an add code for this course, please read the following details and see the REGISTRATION section below.
Course History
For background on the history of this course, see this article: “Ethnography Unbound: Experiments in New Scholarship.”
Here are a few samples of works that were initially begun and/or developed in this course:
- Ellen Y. Chang, Untitled Vignettes (Soundscapes of Loss)
- Rachel Snyder, Nativos/No Nativos (poem)
- Ying-Hsiu Chou, Deconstructing the Construction: The Female Images in Chinese Detective Films, 2010-2020 (videographic essay)
Image credit: Anqi Peng, ChinaTongue, video installation, Odegaard Library, 2016
Course Description
This course is offered jointly as:
- GWSS 414 for undergraduate students
- GWSS 514 for graduate students
While all students meet at the same time and work together, the assignments for the two levels reflect different expectations for undergraduate and graduate work. For example, all students submit regular Project Development/Reading Response notes for seven weeks of the quarter (7 x 5 points for 35% of the course grade), but 414 students are expected to write at least 250 words per post, whereas 514 students are expected to write at least 500 words per post.
GWSS 414 Description |
GWSS 514 Description |
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This craft-based workshop supports advanced undergraduate students to develop ethnographic research within creative formats alternative to the predominant practice of analytic, propositional prose. It provides a collaborative environment for students to explore the relationship between ethnographic content and form, cultural aesthetics and ethnographic representation. Guiding students in research-creation, in which art practices are research methods, the studio centers critical feminist praxis in knowledge production. The studio guides undergraduate students in developing research skills for a project that is possibly complementary to honors or capstone work. |
This craft-based workshop supports graduate students to develop ethnographic research within creative formats alternative to the predominant practice of analytic, propositional prose. It provides a collaborative environment for students to explore the relationship between ethnographic content and form, cultural aesthetics and ethnographic representation. Guiding students in research-creation, in which art practices are research methods, the studio centers critical feminist praxis in knowledge production. The studio provides graduate students a way to practice or prototype modes of ethnographic inquiry and representation they want to incorporate or develop further through thesis/dissertation research. |
Preparation & Process
In order to participate, students must have a well-defined project based on some previous or planned ethnographic research and a preliminary proposal for the medium in which they intend to work, such as creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, photography, performance, video, audio, or some combination thereof. Previous or planned research can include interviews, oral history, auto-ethnography, participant observation, etc. The focus of the workshop will be on sharing resources and models; iteratively producing and revising well-defined projects that can be completed within ten weeks; and providing constructive feedback to fellow participants.
Registration
To maintain a workshop environment, in which all participants are committed to working together starting on day 1, registration is by add code from the instructor only. Please submit inquiries or project proposals to the instructor at swelland@uw.edu. Proposals (500 words or less) should describe the ethnographic research already completed, underway, or planned and a proposal for how you want to develop this material, including the medium you will use and a rationale for why you have chosen it. Your ideas will obviously change and develop, but you should have a starting point! Participants will be admitted based on the level of preparation and thought demonstrated in their proposals.