Northern Ireland: Visual Anthropology

Northern Ireland is a deeply divided society with a rich—but also troubled—history of religious, political, and ethno-national conflict. This ethnographic field school will involve two elements: 1) training students in the research methods of visual anthropology, including film, photography, and sound; and 2) studying contemporary religious and political life in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The research component will involve students receiving intensive training in visual anthropology and ethnographic research methods. Students will use this training and become embedded in religious communities in Belfast, where they will apply their training in visual anthropology by collecting data (interviews and participant observation) in these communities. In order to supplement this ethnographic study of religious life in Northern Ireland, students will also receive formal instruction on the historical, political, and cultural contexts of Northern Ireland. This portion of the program will involve learning about the history of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, as well as its “post-conflict” present. This program includes a series of guest lectures ranging from academic experts on the conflict to members from key social and political institutions on both sides of the sectarian divide. Students will visit key historical and cultural sights, both around Belfast and in other parts of Northern Ireland as part of their research and instruction. This program will integrate this training in conflict transformation with the day-to-day ethnographic research that students are conducting with religious communities around Belfast. Students will have the opportunity to work closely with faculty in this research process, and will collaborate to produce visual anthropology scholarship (film, photographic essays, soundscapes, etc.) based on this research.

Students who participate in this program and complete the suggested prerequisite course (ANTHR 101, which also fulfills 2 GE requirements) will have fulfilled all of the requirements for an Anthropology minor.

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