Charting Invisible Borders: Ethnographic Fieldwork for Identifying Systemic Constraints and Opportunities
Course Overview
This intensive 6-hour course is crafted for those eager to enrich their capabilities in applied ethnographic research as a catalyst for systemic transformation. Participants will engage directly in fieldwork at Boven t’Y Winkel Centrum, using a range of ethnographic techniques to identify and map distinct social groups, competing logics, and behavioral patterns that often remain hidden in standard interviews or co-design sessions.
This training is given by senior researcher Laura Nino (Inholland University of Applied Sciences).
Course Focus
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Beyond the Surface: Move beyond what people merely say or do in participatory settings to uncover the deeper systemic structures, hidden barriers, and forms of social capital that shape collective life but frequently go unexamined.
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Critical Confrontation: Challenge and verify people’s accounts from interviews and co-design by directly observing and mapping realities on the ground.
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Societal Transformation: Harness ethnography not just to understand but to locate actionable leverage points for societal change, by exposing the core mechanisms and conflicts within social systems.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this course, you will:
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Master ethnographic techniques for mapping groups, relationships, and patterns within complex social systems.
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Identify and analyze conflicting logics, the worldviews, rules, and value systems that coexist (and often clash) within a shared space, impeding systemic change.
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Reveal hidden systemic barriers and resources that are crucial for transformative design but are overlooked by conventional research.
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Navigate multiple system levels, macro (structural), meso (community), and micro (individual), to reveal how their interactions and frictions produce obstacles and opportunities.
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Build reflexivity and critical perspective, confronting your own assumptions and biases to unlock new insights for systemic change.
Unique Features
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Field-Based, Applied Learning: Immerse yourself in real-life observation and mapping exercises at a vibrant urban center.
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Integrative Approach: Learn to complement co-design and interview-based insights with deeper ethnographic inquiry to unravel systemic opportunities.
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Reality Checks: Encounter unpredictable “curveballs” and exercise reality-testing methods to encounter the unexpected dynamics of living social systems.
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Systems Mapping: Develop practical maps and frameworks to visualize relationships and antagonisms in context.
Who Should Attend?
Ideal for designers, social innovators, researchers, or anyone looking to apply ethnographic research for systemic impact and to sharpen their ability to identify, understand, and address hidden dynamics in complex social environments.
Key Takeaways
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A toolkit of actionable ethnographic techniques for system mapping
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Strengthened analytical skills to recognize and mediate clashing system logics
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Practical experience in uncovering leverage points for systemic transformation
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Enhanced ability to critically question assumptions, your own and others’, in pursuit of meaningful change
Deepen your ethnographic practice and become equipped to challenge, map, and strategically shift the boundaries of complex systems for real-world transformation.
Costs: €600,- (ESC-practice partners can join 1 ESCuela training for free).