How the Field School Works

As a fieldwork-based course, UEFS trains students on how to conduct in-depth, community-based research concerned with the social, political, cultural and economic lives of urban Vancouver residents. By immersing themselves in ethnographic research (online and/or in-person), students gain valuable experience linking hands-on research in the classroom to theoretical paradigms related to the study of migration, transnationalism, global diasporas and multicultural communities.

Students are placed in a local Neighbourhood House or community organization where they do volunteer work while conducting ethnographic field research. In collaboration with community partners, students develop final projects based on their experiences in the field and the needs of the organization.

Would you like to learn more about the UEFS? Check out the following multimedia resources:

"Field Work" is a UEFS podcast hosted by  Field School alumnus Bryan Leung. Every episode of the series provides insight into different aspects of the UEFS' past and present through interviews with members of the field school.

Episode 1:  Kerry Greer. Listen here.

This podcast features Kerry Greer - UEFS Instructor and Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at UBC who provides insight into why UEFS is such a unique course for students and how it will benefit them in their academic career. She also explains what exactly ethnography is and why it's so important to have in your toolkit as a student and researcher; “What I really find powerful about ethnography is that it helps us see and produce an understanding of people’s lives that might be hinted at in quantitative data but also might be missing.”

 

Episode 2:  Amir Shiva. Listen here.

Covid-19 has changed our lives forever and it also has changed how UEFS, which is usually a course offered in person at the UBC Learning Exchange in Chinatown, has been delivered in the past 2 years. Amir Shiva - UEFS Instructor and Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at UBC - discusses how UEFS has adjusted to being online. We also talk about digital ethnography and how it will be used more in future social science research.

Episode 3: Pat Moore. Listen here.

Food insecurity has become a top of mind issue especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Pat Moore - Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UBC and UEFS Instructor joins us today to talk about how the UEFS Course interacts with the topic of food insecurity and how students contribute with assisting community organizations with their missions.

Episode 4: TomKemple. Listen Here.

UEFS has a rich history with community involvement. The program has learned and adapted itself with community input into how the program should be structured, so that it does not replicate the historically extractive relationship academic institutions have with communities. Tom Kemple - Professor in the Department of Sociology at UBC and UEFS Instructor joins us today to talk about this storied history with the creation of the program to its present day standing.