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Abstract
This paper outlines a critical pedagogic approach to field-based learning (FBL) at graduate level. Drawing on student experience stemming from a FBL module and as part of an MA programme in Environment, Society and Development, the paper addresses the complexities associated with student-led, participative critical enquiry during fieldwork in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The paper examines emerging student discourses through a group assessment and a series of individual reflective journals. Both are contextualised in relation to FBL module learning outcomes. Finally, aspects of fieldwork influencing the feasibility and effectiveness of participative critical enquiry as a field-based pedagogic endeavour are considered.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. In the context of the authors’ FBL pedagogy, scale reflects on the hegemony of knowledge and practices as differentiated across multiple-scaled agendas (e.g. community, donor, NGO and state). For further discussion on the importance of scale as part of an FBL agenda, please see Morrissey et al. (Citation2013).
2. One-year taught MA programmes at the National University of Ireland, Galway are not required to engage the ethical review process at an institutional level. As a result, students participate in a number of seminars on ethical research practise during the opening classes of the FBL module, these are supported with further tutorials prior to fieldtrip travel.
3. Bosnia-Herzegovina is divided administratively into two entities (Republica Srpska and the Bosnian Federation). These entities are further divided into cantons and municipalities, each representing an administrative unit of governance in their own right. For greater depth of explanation and context of post-Dayton accord BiH, see Toal and Dahlman (Citation2011).