TIK9015 – Dokuprax: Document analysis and document work in democracy, politics and bureaucracy

Course content

Documents are everywhere. Whether physical or digital, large or small, loud or invisible, they permeate our societies and individual lives, past and present. Some documents are outright celebrities, such as the UN Assessment Reports on Climate Change; others, such as passports, can open doors and borders - or keep them shut if yours is not accepted. Indeed, documents quickly pile up as empirical materials in our own research projects. So how to make use of this rich resource? How to analyze documents as part of your PhD project?

This PhD course brings together a varied set of methodological approaches to demonstrate and discuss how we can analyze documents as both text, artifact and social practice. Building on a recently published textbook, the course introduces the method of ‘practice-oriented document analysis’ (Asdal & Reinertsen, SAGE Publishing, 2022).

During the course, we will work on the methodological moves developed in this book for analyzing and working with documents: How documents can be approached as sites, how they can be analyzed as tools, how we can examine ‘document work’ and ‘document texts’, how documents are involved in the making of societal issues, and what we can learn from analyzing how documents move. We will draw from a rich source of document studies in STS and across the humanities and social sciences more broadly, and also introduce you to the theoretical underpinnings that have inspired our practice-orientation to documents.

Particular to the course offered autumn 2024 is that we will give special attention to the role of documents in democracy: How documents are key components in democratic procedure, how bureaucrats and other document-workers handle documents and how documents equip actors with capacities to act and take part in democratic politics. The course will invite document-workers into the course and we will learn from them, simultaneously as we will present and discuss the practice-oriented method. 

Learning outcome

Become familiar with analyzing documents as your research material.

Become familiar with the practice-oriented method for analyzing documents.

Learn how documents can be made visible and worked upon in combination with other forms of empirical material.

Learn sound and ethical practices for handling documents in research.

Become familiar with a rich international literature about documents across the humanities and social sciences.

Be trained in writing your PhD with documents as your research material.

Admission to the course

This PhD course is open to PhD candidates from any institution. Admission to a certified PhD program is required for participation.

Please note that the course will only be offered in Norwegian language in 2024.

The application must be submitted digitally and include:

• A completed application form with the following attachments:

  • A letter outlining your PhD project, your motivation for attending the course, and examples of document materials you will be analysing in your PhD (max 500 words).

  • For applicants outside UiO: A letter of confirming your enrollment in a PhD program.

Accepted applicants will be expected to submit a memo in advance of the course week describing three examples of document materials you will be analysing in your PhD (max 1000 words).

Application deadline: 1 September 2024.

Teaching

The course will consist of lectures and writing exercises where you will be able to work on and with documents, and especially with the document material that is a part of your thesis. During the course week, all participants will take active part in giving and receiving feedback on each other’s work.

Teaching dates: 4 - 8 November 2024.

Venue: HF-12, Niels Treschows hus, Blindern Campus

Examination

You should be prepared to work on a draft chapter during the course week where you will explore some of your document materials. Note that it is no prerequisite that documents are your sole material, it can also appear in combination with other data, such as interviews and ethnographic materials. The documents you work on can be digital materials just as much as physical materials.

After the course week, you will develop and submit a paper based on the course readings and exercises. This might be the paper/draft chapter/draft article you started on during the course week. The paper must be accepted for you to pass the course.

Deadline for submission of course paper: 31 January 2025.

Paper length: 4000-5000 words.

All participants will receive a short comment on the course paper from the course leaders within three weeks of submission.

Language of examination

The course paper must be submitted in English or a Scandinavian language.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.