Every semester, Cultural Anthropology students design, conduct, and write up their own ethnographic research projects based on many hours of original field work over the course of the semester.  Students choose a variety of settings and topics to research, ranging from: life histories of relatives or individuals, religious rituals, community organizations, community events, rites of passage, etc.  While it's one thing to study how published anthropologists think and write, it's quite another thing to jump into the fire and become an anthropologist!  I am always amazed and humbled by the quality of work first-time anthropologists produce by the end of the semester. 

Below you will find unedited student papers that exemplify the spirit of ethnographic fieldwork and teach us something about our communities and individuals within them.  These papers comprise a valuable archive of knowledge about the communities in which Gavilan students live and work.  Our communities encompass Monterey, Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco counties.   

Because I have not consistently requested electronic copies of student papers, our archive is starting off somewhat small and arbitrary.  If you have conducted a project for one of my courses and would like your paper to be included in this archive, please email me your paper!