Certificate in Ethnography

The Certificate in Ethnography is designed to provide students with theoretical, ethical, and practical training in ethnographic fieldwork. Ethnography is a qualitative method designed to observe and analyze human behavior, establish rapport in interviewing people and soliciting their perspectives and apply findings to the solution of practical problems.

The program provides hands-on field research skills and training to compete for jobs in social justice organizations, health care, the tech sector and beyond.

Applications Include:

  • Health care, medicine, & public health
  • Mental health & social work
  • Community organizing & advocacy
  • Environmental justice & conservation
  • Anthropological filmmaking & photography
  • Market research, opinion polling, and political forecasting
  • Business organization, product development, & corporate social responsibility
  • User experience (UX) research in technology and design

Core (10 units)

  • Anth 120 Intro to Cultural Anthropology (LD-D1)
  • Anth 300 Foundations of Anthropology: History
  • Anth 651 Ethnographic Field Methods

Electives (3-6 units)

  • Anth 315 Regional Ethnography
  • Anth/Cine 327 Anthropology and Film (UD-D, GP)
  • Anth/Jour 328 Anthropology and Photography
  • Anth/USP 555 Urban Anthropology
  • Anth/USP 557 Ethnography of Urban Inequality
  • Anth 595/Cine 635 Anthropological Filmmaking
  • Anth 630 Medical Anthropology
  • Anth 631 Society, Technology and Medicine
  • PLSI 307 Quantitative Methods in Political Science

Students must earn a B or better in all certificate courses with a minimum 3.3 GPA overall.

Students must have:

  • Completed a minimum of 30 units
  • A minimum 2.7 GPA

Email to anthro@sfsu.edu:

  • Statement of interest (1-2 paragraphs)
  • Unofficial copy of your transcript