The mission of the Center for Ethnographic Research (CER) is to promote and support interdisciplinary research on social issues using participant-observation and allied techniques. The Center has two mandates: research and training. The primary objective in the area of research is to provide in-depth understanding of issues and problems facing the variety of social environments throughout the world. In the area of training, the primary goal is to instruct undergraduate and graduate students in the principles and techniques of ethnographic methodology.
The Center for Ethnographic Research is international in its focus and encourages, supports, and facilitates research on a wide variety of topics that include, but are not limited to, inequality, poverty, race and ethnic relations, crime and violence, economic development, housing, health, and politics throughout the world. It also facilitates intellectual exchange and collaborative research with students and faculty affiliated with similar research centers in other countries. Further, CER hosts regular workshops and internship programs that train undergraduate and graduate students in ethnographic methods. Finally, CER supports the dissemination of the most up-to-date information from its various research projects to both the academy and public at large
CER was originally called the Center for Urban Ethnography (CUE) and was created in 1998 with the intent of providing an intellectual environment for those scholars on the University of California, Berkeley campus conducting ethnographic research on various urban issues. The name was changed to reflect an expanded focus on using ethnographic methodology in urban, rural, and suburban areas. The name change signals that the Center promotes and supports ethnographic research wherever it is done throughout the world.
Martín Sánchez-Jankoswki, Chair
Deborah Lustig, Academic Coordinator
