Type of course

Admission requirements

Course content

The course will provide a coherent and overarching presentation of theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of social research, including contributions from other areas which are relevant for research on indigenous issues. It will prepare students for different stages of the research process related to the individual master's project.

Lectures will start with a thematic conceptualization of the study field, introduce different ways of understanding and analyzing society on local, national and international levels, a comparative perspective, and give an overview of basic methodological tools as a preparation for collecting data. The teaching will emphasize that indigenous issues can be understood at different levels of social organization both in past and present. It will provide guidelines for tracing the implications between the local level of indigenous predicament, emerging/active indigenous organizations and the pan-national indigenous movement. Ethical considerations are particularly emphasised.

Objectives of the course

Students who have successfully completed the course should have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

• Have an overview and understanding of the empirical themes of the indigenous studies programme
  

Analytical understanding:

• Have the ability to use basic analytical research tools to design research projects
• Have the ability to elaborate an individual project proposal for the Master's thesis
• Be able to analyze concepts about relations, communication and categorisation, of relevance for the field situation
  

Skills and competences:

• Be able to design and carry out a research project that includes an independent data collection process
• Be able to collect, analyze and write up the material for the Master's thesis, SVF-3904
• Develop an analytical perspective on the international indigenous movement and elaborate research questions connected to relevant issues
• Be capable of meeting critique and others' evaluation of one's work
• Develop the confidence and ability to evaluate and analyze research

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

The teaching combines lectures and seminars according to a detailed schedule. The learning outcomes can only be achieved through active student participation, and it is expected that the students are well prepared for each teaching unit.

The teaching will provide the students with a basis for carrying out the research process related to the individual master's thesis, SVF-3904.

The course starts the first fall semester of the MIS-programme with mainly lectures, and continues in the second semester (spring), supplemented with individual tutoring.

The course is to be continuously evaluated by an appointed reference group as well as in an anonymous online evaluation every semester when teaching is offered.

Assessment

Coursework requirements:

During the first semester the students shall attend the annual Forum Conference arranged by the Centre for Sami Studies, and hand in a one-page conference report.

In the beginning of the second semester the students are expected to submit an individual term paper of max. 2000 words (5-8 pages) accompanied by an oral presentation (10-15 minutes) in class. The term paper should reflect on the curriculum in SVF-3026 specifically.

During the second semester students are further expected to give an oral presentation (20 minutes) in class based on a written draft of the project proposal where a preliminary chapter outline, giving a short description the Masters Thesis should also be included. This chapter outline can be revised and handed in again after the students return from fieldwork in their third semester. The objective of the oral presentation is to ensure individual reflection and realistic elaboration of ideas about the master?s thesis project.

An approved term paper with oral presentation, an oral presentation of the individual project and 75% lectures/seminars attendance are a prerequisite for the right to submit the project proposal. Final project proposal:

The final project proposal shall draw on relevant literature from all courses. It shall be max. 3500 words (approximately 10 pages) and shall draw attention to aspects of the planned research project such as hypothesis, method, key concepts and relevant literature on the chosen topic.

Marking of the project proposal is made according to a grading scale from A to F, where F is fail.

The project proposal must be passed before the student is allowed to begin the data collection.

Recommended reading/syllabus

1. Indigenous peoples

Reading:

Kendrick, Jusin and Jerome Lewis 2004: "Indigenous peoples' rights and the politics of the term 'indigenous'". Anthropology Today, vol. 20 no. 2: 4-. 6 p

Niemi, Einar 2007: "Ethnic groups, naming and minority policy", in Lars Elenius (ed.): Cross-Cultural Communication and Ethnic Identities, Luleå Universitet. 15 p

Saugestad, Sidsel 2001: "Contested images: "First Peoples' or 'Marginalised Minorities' in Africa?" In Barnard, A. and J. Kendrick (eds.), Africa's Indigenous Peoples: 'First Peoples' or 'Marginalised Minorities'? Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies. 23 p

Sissons, Jeffrey 2005: First Peoples. Indigenous Cultures and their Futures. London, Reaktion Books Ltd, chs. 1-3. 78 p

Thuen, Trond 2002: "In search of space: Challenges in Saami ethnopolitics in Norway 1979-2000", in Kristina Karppiand Johan Eriksson (eds.), Conflict and Cooperation in the North. Norrlands Universitetsförlag, Umeå. 18 p

Supplementary Reading:

Minde, Henry et al 2008: Indigenous People. Self-determination, Knowledge, Indigeneity. Eburon.

Niezen, Ronald 2003: The Origins of Indigenism. Human Rights and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

2. Conseptualizing "The Other"

Reading:

Barnard, Alan 2002: "Emic and etic", in Barnard, A. and J. Spencer (eds.), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London and N.Y.: Routledge. 3 p

Berreman, Gerald 2007 [1963]: "Behind many masks. Ethnography and Impression Management", in Robben and Sluka (eds.) Ethnographic Fieldwork. Blackwell publishing pp 137-158. 21 p

Briggs, Jean 1997: "From Trait to Emblems and Back". Arctic Anthropology 34 (1) pp 227-235. 6 p

Evjen, Bjørg: "Measuring heads: physical antropological research in North Norway", Acta Borealia, vol. 14/2: pp 3-30. 27 p

Evjen, Bjørg: Research on and by "the Other". Focusing on the Researcher's Encounter with the Lule Sami in a Historically Changing Context, in print. 20 p

Geertz, Clifford 1983: "From the Native's Point of View", in Geertz, C., Local Knowledge. Further Essays in Interpretive Antrhopology, N.Y.: Basic Books. 15 p

Hall, Stuart 1992, "The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power", in Hall, S. and B. Gieben (eds.), Formations of Modernity, Polity Press. Pp 276-329. 47 p

Henriksen, Georg 1990: "Anthropologists as advocates - promoters of pluralism or makers of clients?" in Pobert Paine (ed.) Advocacy and Anthropology: First Encounters. St.Johns: Institute of Social and Economic Research. 11 p

Hoppin, F.G.. 2002: How I Review an Original Scientific Article in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol 166. 5 p

Koukkanen, Rauna 2000: "Towards an Indigenous paradigm from a Saami perspective", in The Candian Journal of Native Studies, 20:2, Brandon Manitoba. 23 p

Olsen, Kjell 2003: "The touristic construction of the 'emblematic' Saami", Acta Borealia, vol 20/1: 3-20. 16 p

Saugestad, Sidsel 2001: "Research on, with and by indigenous peoples". 8 p

Supplementary Reading:

Cruikshank, Julie 1998: "Discovery of gold on the Klondike: Perspectives from Oral tradition", in Jennifer S.H. Brown and Elisabeth Vibert: Reading Beyond Words: Context for Native History, Broadview press, pp 433-453. 20 p

Dyck, Noel 1993: "Telling it like it is" in Dyck and Waldram (eds) Anthropology, Public Policy and the Native Peoples of Canada. McGill-Queens University Press. 21 p

Myklebust, Kari 2006: "'The northern savages depicted' - the mapping of northern minorities by the imperial Russian geographic society and the Russian museum of ethnograpy 1845-1911", in Lars Elenius (ed.): Minority Policies, Culture & Science, Luleå University. 15 p

Ridington, Robil 1990: "Cultures in Conflict. The Problem of Discourse." In Ridington, R., Little Bit Know Something. Stories in a Language of Anthropology, Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre. 20 p

Sergejeva, Jelena 2000: "The Eastern Sámi: A short account of their history and identity", Acta Borealia 2/2000: 5-37. 32 p

Smith, Linda T. 1999: "Articulating and Indigenous Research Agenda", in Decolonizing Metholologies, University of Otago press. Pp 123-141. 19 p

3. Practicing research

4. Designing an Individual research project

Reading part 3 and 4:

Book to buy:

Silverman, David 2010: Doing Qualitative Research, 3rd ed. Chapters 1-13. 250 p

In Compendium:

Berry, Ralph 2006: "Some Errors to Avoid" in Ralph Berry: The Research Project, Routhledge, pp 113 - 120. 6 p

Blaikie, Norman 2000: Designing Social Research. Chapter 3: "Research Questions and Objectives", pp 58-84. 26 p

Bleie, Tone 2005: Tribal Peoples, Nationalism and the Human Rights Challenge. The University Press Ltd: Ch. 1: Framework, Definitions and Approaches. 40 p

Eaglestone, Robert 2006: "Using the Internet for research" in Ralph Berry: The Research Project, Routhledge pp 28-35. 13 p

Evjen, Bjørg 2009: Some Major Development in the History of Sami education. 20 p

Kraft, Siv-Ellen 2009: "Sami Indigenous Spirituality. Religion and Nation Building in Norwegian Sápmi", Temenos. Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, nr 4.

Rambaldi, Giacomo et al. 2007: "Through the Eyes of Hunter-Gatherers: participatory 3D' modelling among Ogiek indigenous peoples in Kenya". Information development. Vol. 23, nos 2/3, pp 113-128. 16 p

Spradley, James P. 1980: "Doing Participan Observation. Making an Ethnographic Record. Making Descriptive Observations" Step 2-4 in Spradley: Participan Observation Forth Worth; Harcourt Brace, p 53-84. 31 p

Supplementary reading:
Holliday, Adrian 2002: Doing and Writing Qualitative Research London: Sage