Bringing the field into the classroom: Methods and experiential learning in the ‘Politics of Development’

Abstract

Methods training is typically cordoned off into specific, designated courses and is often consequently isolated from the content of the topics we study. As a result of this separation, methods may appear abstract or technical, particularly to undergraduate students, who usually have no experience or expectation of applying methods during their degrees. This article discusses one experience of incorporating qualitative methods and experiential learning into a mixed undergraduate/graduate seminar on the politics of development. This substantive course was structured around an interview-based assignment which served to introduce students to qualitative methods alongside exposure to the views of development practitioners and scholars. I argue that integrating experiential methods training into substantive courses can prove a useful introduction to interviewing and fieldwork, enhance student engagement with subject-based literature and concepts, and serve as a gateway for further methods education.