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79514-01 - Kurs: Atmospheres: Ethnographic Explorations (15 KP)
| Semester | Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Angebotsmuster | Jahreskurs, beginnt im Herbstsemester |
| Dozierende | Michelle Engeler (michelle.engeler@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | This two-semester course introduces students to ethnographic research on atmospheres through the lens of social anthropology. Participants will develop their own research projects and work with a range of ethnographic methods, including observation, conversations, interviews, and sensory and embodied approaches to fieldwork. In addition to written texts, the course also includes the production of visual materials such as picture galleries. Teaching formats include collaborative activities and field visits. Drawing on debates in social anthropology and related disciplines, the course examines atmospheres as diffuse, relational, and often pre-reflective qualities of situations, spaces, and landscapes. It asks how atmospheres can be approached, documented, analysed, and written about ethnographically. Research projects may investigate how atmospheres emerge in and across landscapes, urban environments, political settings, institutions, homes, and everyday social worlds. Projects could explore, for example, the atmosphere of a construction site, an IKEA store, feminist or right-wing political milieus, diaspora communities, neighbourhood spaces, or recreational landscapes such as the Lange Erlen. Possible topics include affect and mood, experiences of place, postmigrant urban life, forms of living together and social difference, everyday negotiations of proximity and distance, multispecies relations, or the perception of weather and environmental change. Over the course of the year, you will: • First Semester: Develop an ethnographic research proposal related to the study of atmospheres and grounded in qualitative research methods. Through initial field visits and collaborative exercises, you will explore possible research environments, engage with ethnographic and sensory methods, and begin generating preliminary material for your project. • Between Semesters: Conduct the main phase of your ethnographic fieldwork. Building on your research proposal, you will develop your project in a chosen field such as urban public life, political milieus, workplaces, retail environments, neighbourhoods, or recreational and landscape spaces. Your research will attend to the sensory, affective, and relational dimensions of atmospheric experience. Using observation, conversations, interviews, and embodied fieldwork practices, you will explore how atmospheres are perceived, negotiated, and lived in specific social and material settings. You will also produce a small visual archive connected to your research topic. • Second Semester: Reflect on, analyse, and write up your ethnographic material in the form of a final report and picture gallery. The second semester focuses on processes of interpretation and ethnographic writing, encouraging you to critically engage with the social, spatial, sensory, and affective dimensions of your fieldwork. |
| Lernziele | A key aim of this course is to foster a collaborative learning environment in which students engage critically with ethnographic methods and debates on atmospheres in social anthropology and related disciplines. Through close reading, discussion, field-based experimentation, and peer feedback, participants will develop their own ethnographic projects while reflecting on questions of positionality, research design, sensory perception, and ethnographic writing. The course encourages an open and exploratory approach to fieldwork and supports students in developing their own ethnographic voice and practice. Across the two semesters, students will work with a variety of formats including short field visits, collaborative exercises, feedback sessions, visual documentation, and experimental forms of presentation such as posters, zines, picture galleries, or short audiovisual formats. By the end of the course, students will have gained practical experience in ethnographic research and developed a deeper understanding of social anthropology as a way of engaging with and analysing lived worlds. They will learn to attend not only to social relations and discourse, but also to the sensory, affective, spatial, and atmospheric dimensions of everyday life, and to relate their observations to wider social, political, and environmental debates in Basel and beyond. |
| Teilnahmevoraussetzungen | The number of participants is limited to 12 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Depending on your research focus/location an average knowledge of German might be helpful. Basic knowledge of qualitative research methods and some experience of doing fieldwork are strongly recommended. Attendance at the first session is compulsory. |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | kein spezifischer Einsatz |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Donnerstag | 08.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
Einzeltermine
| Datum | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|
| Donnerstag 17.09.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 24.09.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 01.10.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 08.10.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 15.10.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 22.10.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 29.10.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 05.11.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 12.11.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 19.11.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 26.11.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 03.12.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 10.12.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Donnerstag 17.12.2026 | 08.15-12.00 Uhr | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Module |
Modul: Anthropological Fieldwork (Master Studiengang: Critical Urbanisms) Modul: Bodies, Objects, Circulation (Master Studiengang: Changing Societies) Modul: Changing Societies Lab (Master Studiengang: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources (Studienbeginn vor 01.08.2026)) Modul: Ethnographic Research (Master Studienfach: Social Anthropology) Modul: Interdisciplinary and Applied African Studies (Master Studiengang: African Studies) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | • Compulsory attendance (max. 3 absences per semester) • Willingness to read and discuss, to prepare and complete related assignments • HS 2026: Willingness to develop a research proposal and present it (Mittwochskolloquium) • Time between terms: Willingness to collect the main body of data and to meet regularly • FS 2027: Willingness to write a final report (approx. 8 000 words) and a picture gallery (3-6 photos and short descriptions) based on the data collected, presentation of results (Mittwochskolloquium) |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | Pass / Fail |
| Belegen bei Nichtbestehen | beliebig wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Fachbereich Ethnologie |