This course is a part of HF's PhD week.
Course description
Many humanities scholars conduct fieldwork, whether they study religious expressions, human migration, political movements or urbanization (to name a few examples) in the deep past or in the present. This one-day PhD course explores ethical issues that may arise in fieldwork settings that involves human subjects, whether living or long deceased, and covers ethical responsibility vis-à-vis local communities, vulnerable individuals or groups and/or research in securitized contexts. While the legal regulations that govern research on or with humans may initially appear straightforward, real-world situations often complicate matters by pitting one ethical principle against the other. Through a combination of written assignments, lectures and group discussions, participants are invited to reflect on the ethical dilemmas that may arise from a variety of fieldwork contexts, including their own.
Key topics include e.g.:
- National ethical frameworks and data protection requirements (NESH, GDPR, Sikt)
- Long-term fieldwork, friendship and conflicting loyalties
- Community engagement, outreach and citizen science
- Fieldwork in authoritarian regimes and among extremists
- Fieldwork as empowerment and negotiation of trauma/difficult pasts
- GDPR vs local morality
The course language is English.
Course readings
The participants must read the core curriculum texts as well as at least three articles of their own choice from the list of suggested readings. The reading list will be posted in Canvas.
Course preparation
Prior to the course, you are required to
- read the required curriculum texts (see above),
- write a 1,000-word reflection paper which relates your own project to these curriculum texts and the ethical aspects discussed there. The reflection papers will be circulated and used in group discussions. Please upload your reflection paper to Canvas within 27 November at the latest.
Course Structure
The first part of the course will consist of short lectures followed by discussion.
In the second part, we will discuss the reflection papers (in smaller groups) as well as constructed cases with the goal of exploring potential solutions.
Course credit
This is a 1 ECTS course.
This course can be taken independently of or in combination with the course Research ethics when observing, experimenting, and communicating with people (online and offline), which focuses on ethical challenges in research that involves human participants, for example in laboratories, concert halls, classrooms, or on social media and the internet. Candidates who participate in both courses are asked to write original submissions for both courses addressing different ethical issues related to their research or discipline more broadly.
About the course instructors
Prof. Kathinka Frøystad (IKOS) is an anthropologist of religion and politics specializing on religious plurality, religious change and religious nationalism in India.
Prof. Per Ditlef Fredriksen (IAKH) is an archaeologist working in southern Africa, Iron Age archaeology and the Nordic region specializing on decay, rust and waste, as well as on craft knowledge, learning and creativity.
Responsible department: IKOS/Kathinka Frøystad
Registration
The course is open to PhD fellows, completion grant holders, and post-doctoral fellows at the Faculty of Humanities, other UiO faculties and external PhD fellows.
Registration opens on 6 October 2025. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact administrative coordinator Kari Andersen
Priority will be given to PhDs from the Faculty of Humanities, then PhDs from other Faculties at UiO, and lastly other applicants.