Listening to our Global Partners: Kenyans’ perceptions of international volunteers

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-698
Author(s):  
Jennifer Smyer Dickey ◽  
Rosemary Wasike ◽  
Jon Singletary ◽  
Megan Levers Sayers
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Skill Transfer ◽  
Community Members ◽  
International Volunteers ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
International Volunteerism ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
International Volunteer

Abstract Although international volunteerism is a common service practice among Americans and Europeans, research exploring host community members’ perceptions of volunteers and their practice is lacking. In this phenomenological study, thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with Kenyan participants and their perceptions of international volunteers’ attitudes and behaviors were explored. While positive themes of skill transfer and honoring cultural practices emerged, so did negative themes that suggested international volunteers had demeaning perceptions of Kenyans, controlled collaborative projects, and gave Kenyans cursory roles to play. The study also suggests that international volunteers departed from service hastily without empowering Kenyans, which led to project failure. Recommendations for strengthening international volunteer practice are identified and described.

scholarly journals A Displaced Community’s Perspective on Land-Grabbing in Africa: The Case of the Kalimkhola Community in Dwangwa, Malawi

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Yuh Jin Bae
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Sugar Industry ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Land Grabbing ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Resistance ◽  
Depth Interviews

In recent years, the sugar industry in Malawi has been criticized for its connections to land-grabbing. The general trend in the current literature has been the attempt to identify the main actors and factors that were instrumental in the displacement of local communities. These studies often neglect the importance of each community’s in-depth perspectives on land-grabbing, which is essential in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of land-grabbing. By conducting field research based on in-depth interviews with the Kalimkhola community, this study had two main objectives: (1) to analyze the wider implications and effects of land-grabbing and displacement, other than its often-cited economic aspects; and (2) to analyze more specific reasons behind the community’s complaints and strong resistance to land-grabbing. The main findings of this research are that (1) land-grabbing leads to a loss of traditional cultural practices, and (2) the main reason for discontentment amongst community members is not the process of displacement, per se, but the worsening of their living and working environments. For those who were forcibly moved twice, their environmental change for the worse contributed to community resistance. These findings, along with the others in this paper, show that land-grabbing studies have the potential to broaden the research area. This can only be achieved by engaging in close interactions and in-depth interviews with specific local communities, which will lead to a more comprehensive understanding of land-grabbing in Dwangwa.

scholarly journals Contested or complementary healing paradigms? Women’s narratives of COVID-19 remedies in Mwanza, Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Mshana ◽  
Zaina Mchome ◽  
Diana Aloyce ◽  
Esther Peter ◽  
Saidi Kapiga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Belief Systems ◽  
Emerging Infections ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Women's Narratives ◽  
Traditional Remedies ◽  
Traditional Therapies ◽  
Audio Files ◽  
Smart Mobile ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
African Setting

Abstract Background COVID-19 has caused worldwide fear and uncertainty. Historically, the biomedical disease paradigm established its dominance in tackling emerging infectious illnesses mainly due to innovation in medication and advances in technology. Traditional and religious remedies have emerged as plausible options for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, especially in Africa and Asia. The appeal of religious and traditional therapies against COVID-19 in the African setting must be understood within the historical, social, and political context. This study explored how women and community members dealt with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 in Mwanza, Tanzania. Methods This study was conducted in Nyamagana and Ilemela districts of Mwanza, Tanzania, between July and August 2020. We conducted 18 mobile phone in-depth interviews with a purposively selected sample of women aged 27–57 years participating in an existing longitudinal study. For safety reasons, smart mobile phones were used to collect the data. Each interview was audio recorded after obtaining verbal consent from the participants. The audio files were transferred to computers for analysis. Four researchers conducted a multistage, inductive analysis of the data. Results Participants reported wide use and perceived high efficacy of traditional remedies and prayer to prevent and treat suspected symptoms of COVID-19. Use was either alone or combined with public health recommendations such as hand washing and crowd avoidance. Despite acknowledging that a pathogen causes COVID-19, participants attested to the relevance and power of traditional herbal medication and prayer to curb COVID-19. Four main factors underline the symbolic efficacy of the traditional and religious treatment paradigms: personal, communal, and official reinforcement of their efficacy; connection to local knowledge and belief systems; the failure of biomedicine to offer a quick and effective solution; and availability. Conclusions In the context of emerging contagious illnesses, communities turn to resilient and trusted treatment paradigms to quell fear and embrace hope. To tackle emerging infections effectively, it is essential to engage the broader sociopolitical landscape, including communal considerations of therapeutic efficacy.

Enhancing the professional dignity of midwives: A phenomenological study

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1062-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Froneman ◽  
Neltjie C van Wyk ◽  
Ramadimetja S Mogale
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Optimal Care ◽  
Team Members ◽  
University Of Pretoria ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design ◽  
The University ◽  
Depth Interviews

Background: When midwives are not treated with respect and their professional competencies are not recognised, their professional dignity is violated. Objective: This study explored and described how the professional dignity of midwives in the selected hospital can be enhanced based on their experiences. Research design: A descriptive phenomenological research design was used with in-depth interviews conducted with 15 purposely selected midwives. Ethical considerations: The Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee of the University of Pretoria approved the study. The research was conducted in an academic tertiary hospital with voluntary participants. Findings: To dignify midwives it is essential to enhance the following: ‘to acknowledge the capabilities of midwives’, ‘to appreciate interventions of midwives’, ‘to perceive midwives as equal health team members’, ‘to invest in midwives’, ‘to enhance collegiality’, ‘to be cared for by management’ and ‘to create conducive environments’. Conclusion: The professional dignity of midwives is determined by their own perspectives of the contribution that they make to the optimal care of patients, the respect that they get from others and the support that hospital management gives them. With support and care, midwives’ professional dignity is enhanced. Midwives will strive to render excellent services as well as increasing their commitment.

Large-Scale Sport Events and Resident Well-Being: Examining PERMA and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Jason Doyle ◽  
Kevin Filo ◽  
Alana Thomson ◽  
Thilo Kunkel
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Sport Events ◽  
Commonwealth Games

Delivering community-based benefits is oftentimes cited to justify the high costs associated with hosting large-scale events. The current research is embedded in positive psychology to examine how an event impacts host community members’ PERMA domains, reflected through positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Adopting a longitudinal approach, the authors interviewed 15 host community members before and after a large-scale sport event to determine if and how the event impacted their well-being. The findings uncovered evidence that the event activated positive emotions, relationships, and meaning across both phases, and evidence of accomplishment within the postevent phase. The findings contribute to the knowledge by examining the links between large-scale sport events and well-being throughout the event lifecycle. This research forwards implications for event bidding committees, event organizers, and host community officials to maximize community well-being through hosting large-scale events and to help justify associated expenses from a social–psychological perspective.

scholarly journals "So We Thought not to Lose Our Background Completely": Agency and Belonging among South Sudanese Acholi in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ryan O'Byrne
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Cultural Performance ◽  
The South ◽  
Community Members ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Background Population

<p>The members of the South Sudanese Acholi population in New Zealand are part of the burgeoning number of refugees worldwide. As such, they are at risk of having their personal experiences submerged in the stereotypical view of ‘the refugee experience’. The South Sudanese Acholi community are a small but distinct ethnic sub-community within the wider South Sudanese refugee-background population in New Zealand. One of my primary aims in this thesis is to represent the specifically-situated experiences of individuals from this group within the broader contexts of refugee resettlement. A fundamental aspect of these experiences is the ambiguous and often contradictory senses of belonging which community members describe. Using analysis of the narratives through which these individuals make sense of their resettlement experiences, I determine agency to be an important consideration in experiences of belonging and, therefore, I argue that the role of agency to belonging should be more widely recognised. In this thesis I demonstrate how various attempts by South Sudanese Acholi at cultural (re)production in New Zealand are intimately linked to the many difficulties these individuals experience in resettlement, and particularly to how these difficulties impact the development and maintenance of a sense of belonging. Analyses of individual and common factors demonstrate the importance of belonging to experiences of resettlement. This is apparent throughout all aspects of South Sudanese Acholi’s everyday lives. This thesis is organised around the interlinking nature of three aspects of everyday life: marriage, cultural performance, and discursive practices. A central unifying factor is that each of these aspects of every day experience can be understood as attempts in developing more stable senses of belonging. Data was collected through a combination of participant observation and unstructured interviews. Participant observation was primarily undertaken among the Sudanese Acholi Cultural Association (SACA), a community-organised Acholi cultural performance group. Although not exclusively the focus of this research, the members of this group comprise the basis of my research participants and their resettlement experiences form the basis for my results. A focus on participants’ stories about their lives in resettlement allows analysis of the importance of their everyday practices and perceptions to the ways in which they experience and understand their lives in New Zealand and demonstrates that the on-going interaction between their experiences as refugees and their resettlement experiences are mutually reinforcing. I suggest that if refugees’ own voices and opinions are to be accurately represented, a holistic perspective of the full range of their experiences is required. The ambivalent, multiple, and multifaceted nature of belonging described by South Sudanese Acholi individuals’ is a defining feature of their resettlement experiences. I suggest that South Sudanese Acholi attempts at performing and reproducing their customary cultural practices in New Zealand serve primarily as creative means of adapting to the conditions of resettlement in ways which allow the construction, development, and maintenance of feelings of belonging among community members. However, I also determine that lack of agency is especially important for understanding the ambivalence about belonging South Sudanese Acholi demonstrate when speaking of these resettlement experiences. I argue that behind many of the everyday actions taken by refugees are simultaneous attempts to rediscover a sense of agency and to recreate a foundation for belonging.</p>

scholarly journals Tradisi Maulid pada Masyarakat Muslim Gorontalo: Pertautan Tradisi Lokal dan Islam (Maulid Tradition Among Gorontalo Muslim Community: The Link Between Local Tradition and Islam)

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Kamaruddin Mustamin ◽  
Muhammad Gazali Rahman ◽  
Arhanuddin Salim
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
Religious Perspective ◽  
Acculturation Process ◽  
Local Character ◽  
The People ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Collection Methods

ABSTRACT This article aims to discover and probe deeper into the acculturation process of local culture with the practices and traditions of the maulid of the Prophet Muhammad in the Gorontalo community. This study uses a phenomenological qualitative approach. Data collection methods applied are in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of the study found that the presence and expansion of Islam in Gorontalo also influenced the religious perspective held by the people of Gorontalo. The willingness of the local community to adapt to the new teachings of Islam that they believe is a reinforcement of the acculturation of local cultural practices with the implementation of the tradition of the maulid of the Prophet Muhammad. The early Islamic preachers in Gorontalo managed to distinguish between the part of the local culture that still worth preserved and the part that must be preserved. This combination and acculturation effort between Islam and local culture is able to engender a new version and level of culture that is unique and has a local character. The innovative ability of the preachers to communicate Islamic rituals to the local culture of the Gorontalo people, can lead to a critical appreciation of the local values of the community's culture and the characteristics that accompany these values. Keywords: tradition; political; culture.ABSTRAKArtikel ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menggali lebih dalam proses akulturasi budaya lokal dengan praktik dan tradisi maulid Nabi Muhammad saw. dalam masyarakat Gorontalo. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif fenomenologis. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah wawancara mendalam, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa kehadiran dan ekspansi Islam di Gorontalo turut mempengaruhi cara pandang keagamaan yang dianut oleh masyarakat Gorontalo. Kesediaan masyarakat lokal untuk mau beradaptasi dengan ajaran Islam yang baru mereka yakini menjadi penguat dari akulturasi praktik budaya lokal dengan pelaksanaan tradisi maulid Nabi Muhammad saw. Para pendakwah Islam awal di Gorotalo berhasil memilah antara bagian budaya lokal yang masih layak dipertahankan dan bagian yang harus dilestarikan. Upaya kombinasi dan akulturasi antara Islam dan budaya lokal ini mampu melahirkan versi dan level budaya baru yang khas dan bercorak lokal. Kemampuan inovasi para pendakwah mendialogkan ritual Islam dengan budaya lokal masyarakat Gorontalo, dapat mengantarkan diapresiasinya secara kritis nilai-nilai lokalitas dari budaya masyarakat beserta karakteristik yang mengiringi nilai-nilai itu.Kata kunci: tradisi; politik; budaya.

scholarly journals Habitus, Capital, Agency, and Distinction in Entrepreneurial Field Dynamics: The Case Lafayette

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anderson Sant'Anna
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Business Ecosystem ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Individual Variations ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Depth Interviews

<p>This paper aims to investigate process of requalification of economic functions in the ongoing transition to the digital economy experienced by the American city of Lafayette, in the state of Louisiana. As a starting point an extensive analysis of the history of the city and its surroundings was carried out, accompanied by semi-structured and in-depth interviews with respondents involved in the current process of reconversion investigated. In this transition it was relevant the Lafayette's historical, demographic, cultural, spatial, and socioeconomic dynamics. According to Bourdieu's theoretical framework, it was sought to identify the main cognitive categories, both in relation to the socio-institutional dynamics and individual variations, emerging from the interviews. As result, the analysis of the habitus and the main economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capitals mobilized by community members it was possible to identify themes and categories used to describe the local business ecosystem and its components. It was also possible to reveal alliances and disputes that forge and characterize Lafayette's business environment, taking into account relationships among its main historical agents: White Americans vs. Indians, White Americans vs. Cajuns, White Americans vs. Blackcreoles.<i></i></p>

scholarly journals La relación enfermera-paciente: “a veces lo único que necesitas… es tomar la mano de la persona…”

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Cecilia Landman-Navarro ◽  
Carolina Salazar-Pérez ◽  
Damaris González-Cea ◽  
Francisca Romero-Benavides ◽  
Nicole Conejera-González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Homogeneous Sample ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
The People ◽  
Qualitative Phenomenological ◽  
Qualitative Phenomenological Study ◽  
Perception Of Care ◽  
Depth Interviews

Introduction: Watson established the humanized care as a research phenomenon. It remains an ethical responsibility of nurses in the context of a transpersonal relationship that enhance the harmony and individuals integrity. Humanized care now faces a dilemma for a coexistence of diverse institutional, biomedical, administrative-economist and humanist axiological models. Objective: To know the perception of care, according to lived experience of three retired nurses, through authentic stories. Methodology: A qualitative, phenomenological study describes the experiences through authentic stories of three retired nurses obtained by in-depth interviews. Homogeneous sample selection criteria: nurses belonging to 3 generations removed extensive experience in closed care, participation in training students. Results: four categories were found concatenated with each other, which reconfigure the essence of care, emphasizing the integral character of the people and harmonizing the relational dimension with the technical-scientific dimension. Nurse as a caregiver; person as being of care; essence of care and vocational training. Conclusion: Knowing the perception of retired nurses, regarding care is a contribution for reflection. It is necessary to aim for humanized care, as an ethical duty of nurses. The intervention of various institutional axiological models weakens the possibility of guiding care towards humanization. There is a risk of fragmenting people, leaving aside individualized, warmth care, generated through a transpersonal relationship.

scholarly journals The Meaning of Having an Autistic Child in Malay Family Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Cau Kim Jiu ◽  
Somporn Rungreangkulkij
Keyword(s):  
Autistic Child ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Autistic Children ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Second Category ◽  
Depth Interviews

The condition of families with autistic children raises many views and judgments both from family and society. This ethnographic study aimed to describe the meaning of families and communities towards families with autistic children. Data were collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Key informants come from families who have autistic children and community members recruited by purposive sampling, while the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. This study results generate  two categories of perception of the meaning of having autistic children.  The first category was made by the families which comprises four themes such as 1) A test from God, 2) Destiny of God, 3) Autistic children different with other children, and 4) Children who need intensive helping. The second category was the perception made by the community members which consists of two themes, such as 1) Test for family, and 2) An autistic child as a holy child. This study further shows that  culture is believed to determine how families and the members of the community perceive and interpret the existence of autistic children in the families so that it is very important for health workers to understand the culture that exists in the community.

scholarly journals Beyond knowledge acquisition: factors influencing family planning utilization among women in conservative communities in Rural Burundi.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
SONIA HAKIZIMANA ◽  
Emmanuel Nene Odjidja
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Fertility Rate ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Unintended Pregnancies ◽  
Negative Beliefs ◽  
Contraceptive Prevalence ◽  
Desired Family Size

Abstract BackgroundWith a fertility rate of 5.4 children per woman, Burundi has been ranked as seventh highest country with the highest fertility rate in the world. Family planning is known to allow couples to achieve the desired family size, appropriate space birth and the limitation of pregnancies. Also, family planning can contribute to mitigating some health issues such as unintended pregnancies and abortions all of which, are often associated with multi-parity. In conservative community in rural Burundi, knowledge on family planning is high and such services are free yet utilisation is low. Employing a mixed methods, this study first quantifies contraceptive prevalence and second, explore the contextual multilevel factors associated with low family planning utilisation among married women.Methods An explanatory sequential mixed study was conducted. Five hundred and thirty women in union were interviewed using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Next, 11 focus group discussions were held with community members composed of married men and women, administrative and religious leaders (n=132). The study was conducted in eighteen collines of two health districts of Vyanda and Rumonge in Bururi and Rumonge provinces in Burundi. Quantitative data was analysed with SPSS and qualitative data was coded and deductive thematic methods were applied to find themes and codes.ResultsThe overall contraceptive prevalence was 22.6%. From logistic modelling analysis, it was found that women aged 25 to 29, those completed secondary school and having four or less children was significantly associated with use of family planning. Among factors why family planning was unused included experience with side effects and costs associated with its management in the health system. Religious conceptualisation and ancestral negative beliefs of family planning had also shaped how people perceived it. Furthermore, at the household level, gender imbalances between spouses had resulted in break in communication, also serving as a factor for non-use of family planning. ConclusionGiven that use of family planning is rooted in negative beliefs emanating mainly from religious and cultural practices, engaging local religious leaders and community actors may trigger positive behaviours change needed to increase its use.

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