Course From Fieldwork to Analysis

Course objective: The course is primarily aimed at PhD students who have recently finalised their fieldwork and are about to concentrate on writing their PhD dissertation.  The overall objective of the course is to assist PhD students to:

1. unpack their fieldwork material and transform it into data,
2. identify potential analytical issues and how to contextualize these,
3. discuss the development of analytical concepts.

The course will NOT include instructions in the use of computer programs for qualitative research and data management, but general questions about this can be addressed, if required.

Preparations for the course: Participants are requested to submit an ethnographic description from their fieldwork, further details below. The text should be submitted electronically to the course resource persons no later than one week before course start.

Day 1 – March 12, 2026 (venue: Aarhus University):  Day 1 will be an introduction to analytical thinking discussing how one moves from empirical material to data. How does one identify “densities” in the material and transform these into data? What are the requirements for validity in ethnographic research?  This discussion will be based on comments from peers and teachers on the pre-circulated texts. 

We will also pursue different analytical themes emerging in each project and discuss how the field can be constructed. What understandings of the field emerge? What are the implications of particular constructions of the field in terms of literature to cover and discuss? At the end of Day 1, each participant should have been tasked with a way to further push the analysis of their submitted text with a view to revising the text for Day 2.

Assignment for Day 1 to be circulated a week in advance: Each participant is to submit a 5 page text consisting of a ‘chunk’ of data with potential for the thesis you are going to write. It can be an ethnographic description that you find striking or particularly interesting for the research project. This might be a description of a situation, a person, or a case that seems to exemplify the tensions, puzzles, and themes you wish to explore in your thesis. It can be part of an interview that seems especially intriguing, or several observations that circle around the same problem. You may already have an idea about how you are going to analyse your example but keep that in reserve. You may also just know that this is somehow significant material. For now, simply try to present the data in a way that captures the reader’s curiosity.

The text should begin with a brief project outline (½ p.); provide an overview (list) of all empirical material (2 p.); and the ‘chunk of data’ (5 p.).

Day 2 – April 9, 2026: (Venue: University of Copenhagen) This session continues from Day 1. The focus of this session is on how one links analytical concepts to theories effectively and consistently. This discussion will be based on comments from peers and teachers on the pre-circulated texts. Articles by the teacher of the course (or their colleagues) may supplement the papers of the PhD students to broaden the discussion and highlight the difficulties we all have in making analytical sense.

Assignment for Day 2 to be circulated a week in advance: Re-write your first paper in a longer, more polished analytical version of approximately 10 pages on the basis of comments and suggestions from Day 1. The submission should analyze the chosen material in a way that fits into the overall narrative or argument of your thesis. Introduce analytical concepts that help to bring out issues or problems that advance our understanding of the ethnographic material and show us the direction that you may go in your thesis. 

Max. number of participants: 7

ECTS: 3.5 ECTS (0.5 ECTS per day + 2.5 ECTS for written material)

Target group/Participants

The workshop is primarily aimed at PhD students from the Departments of Anthropology in Copenhagen and  Aarhus. PhD students from other research schools are welcome to participate if there are vacant seats. Please note that you must have a background in anthropology, and your project should include anthropological or ethnographic fieldwork.

Workload

• Two full days (11-16)
• 100-150 pages (including peer papers)

Language 

• English

Lecturers

• Maria Louw (etnolouw@cas.au.dk ), Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University.
• Hanne Mogensen (hanne.mogensen@anthro.ku.dk ), Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen

Venue

• 12 March 2026. 11.00-16.00: Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4 , 8000 Aarhus C. Building 1481, room 231
• 9 April 2026: University of Copenhagen

Course dates:

• 12 March 2026 11:00 - 16:00
• 09 April 2026 11:00 - 16:00