Course Description
This course treats writing not as a polished outcome but as the central practice of anthropology. Reading, observing, and writing are understood as inseparable acts of inquiry. Through field visits to Ortosay Bazaar (and students’ chosen micro-sites), close engagement with key texts, and a series of structured writing exercises, students will experiment with description, reflexivity, polyphony, affect, and temporality. By the end of the semester, each student will contribute both an individual final paper and a collective monograph on Ortosay Bazaar.
Course Aims and Objectives
Understand writing as a central method in anthropological knowledge production.
Develop skills of ethnographic observation and reflexive self-analysis.
Learn to read anthropological texts critically, asking not only what they say but how they work.
Practice multiple modes of ethnographic writing (description, reflection, analysis, polyphony, affect, temporality).
Recognize anthropology’s entanglement with power, Orientalism, and authority, while experimenting with alternative practices of writing.
Connect individual observation to collective knowledge through collaborative writing.
Produce a substantial final essay that integrates fieldwork, theory, and innovative forms of ethnographic writing.
Contribute to a Collective Monograph on Ortosay Bazaar, demonstrating that anthropology is a practice of writing together.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Read anthropologically – identify not just what texts say, but how they are written and from what position.
Observe reflexively – recognize how personal background shapes what is seen and missed in the field.
Write ethnographically – produce texts that combine description, analysis, and self-reflection.
Engage critically with power – analyze how writing reproduces or resists Orientalism, authority, and silencing.
Experiment with form – write using different modes (polyphonic, affective, temporal) and reflect on their implications.
Collaborate in knowledge production – contribute to a shared ethnographic monograph while developing an individual voice.
- Teachers: Ayse Cavdar
- Teachers: Ayse Cavdar