Ethnography Is an Option

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey Philbrick Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Opportunities For Learning

Reflecting on her own uneven experience carrying out fieldwork in Yemen, Stacey Philbrick Yadav highlights the advantages of ethnography and interpretative methods when working in settings or on questions related to meaning-making. The chapter argues that the tools of ethnographic research can help to reframe what positivists might regard as mistakes into opportunities for learning and reassessment.

scholarly journals Becoming a complementary health practitioner: The construction of alternative medical knowledge

2020 ◽  
pp. 136345932094646
Author(s):  
Maayan Roichman
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Health Practitioner ◽  
Medical College ◽  
The Core ◽  
Practitioner Training ◽  
Experience Of Illness ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become widely popular in many countries, yet little is known about the actual training of CAM practitioners. This article employs ethnographic research methods to closely examine the meaning-making processes used in such training at a complementary and alternative medical college. It delineates how CAM practitioners in training, specialising in naturopathy, make sense of alternative medical knowledge and transform it into medical truth. The study indicates that the core of CAM training rests on overturning the biomedical epistemological hierarchy between the objectification of disease and the experience of illness through extended intersubjective sharing by instructors and students. This study therefore adds to the extensive CAM literature by carefully examining the way naturopathic knowledge is inculcated during practitioner training. The emerging insight is that introspection and the search for authenticity, a central narrative of modernity, have become powerful resources in CAM’s construction of alternative medical truth.

scholarly journals Intersubjective Sensibilities: Memory, Experience, and Meaning in Natural History Interpretation

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Early Memories ◽  
Western State ◽  
Memory Experience ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Outdoor Educators

This ethnographic account examines the perceptions of a group of outdoor educators or naturalists in a mid-western state park in regards to memory construction and how early memories impact their practice of interpretation. Findings show that early personal memories are not only fundamental to their eventual life as a naturalist but further; these memories motivate their work within the park. Of primary focus is highlighting the intersubjective continuity between the memories of naturalists and what they hope for others and the eventual goal of meaning making by way of affective memories. By describing and interpreting their perceptions of experience and memory we can examine how these processes are invested with significance and what role this plays in their subsequent practice. Since there is little ethnographic research concerning naturalists, this form of cultural analysis provides an important lens that permits an intimate account of naturalists’ own awareness as a way to understand their unique contributions as educators.

scholarly journals This has been a real uphill battle — three organisations for the adoption of Last Planner System

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Tarja Mäki ◽  
Hannele Kerosuo ◽  
Anssi Koskenvesa
Keyword(s):  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Expansive Learning ◽  
Construction Company ◽  
Practical Project ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Last Planner System ◽  
Last Planner

This study examines the learning processes of the adoption of the Last Planner System (LPS) and mechanisms of learning indicating the successes and failures of their establishment in three organisations. The organisations under study are a public building agency, an engineering office, and a construction company. One practice-based methodology by Engeström and Sannino of organisational learning based on the theory of expansive learning was applied in the analysis. The ethnographic research data included the observation of LPS adoption processes and the interviews of the participants. This study links the epistemic learning actions of the theory of expansive learning to the adoption process of LPS. It also reveals the mechanisms that indicate the success or failure of the adoption process. A successful adoption process seems to require strong ownership, enough time, resources, and opportunities for learning together in practical project work, and the combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Ethnographic Methods

2019 ◽  
pp. 201-211
Author(s):  
Tatjana Thelen
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Short Overview ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Critical Questioning

This chapter describes the impact of ethnographic methods on the study of transformation. Ethnographic methods comprise a bundle of tools, the most important of which remains participant observation. In general, ethnographic methods aim at insights into processes of meaning making by actors in everyday life. They focus on the plurality of experiences within processes of change and ambivalences in specific contexts, as well as on historical depth. The openness of ethnographic research design allows for unexpected results and critical questioning of taken-for-granted theoretical concepts. The chapter starts with a short overview of the historical development of ethnographic methods in relation to shifting paradigms of transformation. Examples of ethnographic research of (post-)socialist transformations substantiate the potential (and pitfalls) of ethnographic methods. One important insight is that the great diversity of socialist as well as post-socialist transformations do not follow a modernization blueprint, demonstrating the potential of ethnography in generating innovative theoretical approaches.

Emotions in community research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zanib Rasool
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Women's Writing ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Emotions ◽  
Women’S Writing ◽  
Academic Social Science

This chapter argues that emotions help people with ‘meaning making’, and offer different experiences of the world through a different lens. It does so in the context of women's writing, as writing connects ordinary women and gives them the opportunity to articulate feelings not expressed or shared before. In academic social science, emotions have historically been associated with the irrational and quite opposed to the objective scientific search for knowledge. However, in the last decade or so, sociologists have recognised that ethnographic research cannot be clinical and detached from human emotions. We can say ‘emotions do things’ — they move us but also connect us with others.

Decision-making as performative struggle

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander Merkus ◽  
Jaap De Heer ◽  
Marcel Veenswijk
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of performative struggle through the use of an interpretative case story focussed on a strategic decision-making process concerning infrastructural development. Performativity is about “world-making” (Carter et al., 2010), based on the assumption that conceptual schemes are not only prescriptions of the world, for the practices flowing from these abstract ideas bring into being the world they are describing. The focus on agency and multiplicity in the academic debate on performativity in organizational settings are combined, resulting in the conceptualization of a multitude of performative agents struggling to make the world. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological approach of this paper is based on an interpretative analysis of contrasting narratives that are told by political-executives in a strategic decision-making process. These narratives are based on in-depth interviews and participant observation. The interpretative case story, exhibiting the strategic decision-making practices of Aldermen, Delegates and Ministers – focusses on the moments of performative struggle based on strategic narrative practices. Findings – The interpretative case story will exhibit the way in which a multiplicity of agents reflects on the performative dimension of the decision-making process, anticipates on its performative effects and attempts to manipulate the strategic vision that is actualized into reality. Moreover, the agents are not primarily concerned with the actualization of a specific infrastructural project; they are more concerned with the consequences of decision making for their more comprehensive strategic visions on reality. Research limitations/implications – The notion of performative struggle has not yet been explicitly studied by scholars focussing on performativity. However, the concept can be used as an appropriate lens for studying meaning making within ethnographic studies on organizational processes such as for instance culture change intervention and strategy formation. The concept of performative struggle is especially useful for understanding the political dimension of meaning making when studying an organizational life-world through the use of ethnographic research. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in the innovative conceptualization of struggle between a multiplicity of reflexive agents in the debate on performative world-making. Moreover, the incorporation of the perspective of performative struggle within organizational ethnographic research is valuable for the development of organizational ethnographic methodology.

scholarly journals “The Meranaw Rina-rinaw and its Emerging Semiotic Resources”

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-192
Author(s):  
Hasmina Domato Sarip
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Public Place ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Musical Accompaniment

This study aims to discover the emerging semiotic resources found in the Meranaw rina-rinaw. Through semiotic analysis, this ethnographic research determines how faithful the rina-rinaw has remained to the prototype, the traditional bayok, or how far it has drifted from the latter. Specifically, this study seeks to identify and discuss how the semiotic resources contribute to the meaning-making function of the rina-rinaw. The findings revealed the emerging semiotic resources such as the use of guitar as a musical accompaniment, the wearing of modern evening gowns instead of the Meranaw traditional malong or landap, transfer of the setting from the torogan to a private residence or more public place, and less formality and exclusiveness of the contemporary rina-rinaw event which, unlike the traditional bayok, is performed for the delectation of the general public. These semiotic resources have evolved in its own time. There are also evidence of departures or breaks where singers no longer exhibit the typical Meranaw arts of “kakini-kini” and “kakurum.” Instead, the onor walks naturally toward the stage. Moreover, the rina-rinaw event is open for everyone. The audience is no longer as exclusive as that of the traditional bayok; it is more heterogeneous. The participants could become rowdy or boisterous.

Kōmako Quilters’ informal learning and the collective zone of proximal development: The ‘5x5 quilt’ project

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Linda Claire Warner ◽  
Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen ◽  
Kai Hakkarainen
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Zone Of Proximal Development ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Guided Participation ◽  
Opportunities For Learning

This article discusses the informal learning processes of a quilting community, located in Aotearoa New Zealand, as participants engage in a collaborative textile project. Few studies have investigated everyday quilters’ collective learning processes, even though communal quiltmaking has been undertaken over the centuries. The concept of zone of proximal development (zpd) is extended as a ‘collective zone of proximal development’ where people are doing something together. This ethnographic study views quiltmaking as a sociocultural activity, and emphasizes the situated nature of knowing within a community-based setting. Research methods reveal the explicit and tacit dimensions of the quilters’ meaning making. During the fieldwork, flexibility and reflexivity are required to overcome ethical issues as they arise. The guided participation is revealed through the quilters’ interactions as they participated in their collaborative activity. Learning sequences present episodic details of the way these interactions are constructed and developed. The quilters actively seek to increase opportunities for learning and for sharing skills and knowledge through participation partnerships involving multi-way collaborations.

scholarly journals Multimodal Technologies in LEGO House: A Social Semiotic Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Digital Cameras ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Border Areas ◽  
Semiotic Perspective ◽  
Play Space ◽  
Gains And Losses

Children’s playworlds are a complex interweaving of modes, with the border areas between the digital and non-digital often becoming increasingly blurred. Growing in popularity and prevalence, multimodal technologies blending digital and non-digital elements present novel opportunities for designers of toys and play-spaces as well as being of interest to researchers of young children’s contemporary play and learning. Opened in Denmark in September 2017, LEGO House defines itself as the ‘Home of the Brick’, a public attraction aiming to support play, creativity and learning through multiple interactive LEGO experiences spanning digital and non-digital forms. Offering a rich context for considering multimodal perspectives on contemporary play, this article reports on a range of multimodal technologies featured in LEGO House, including digital cameras, scanners, and interactive tables used in combination with traditional LEGO bricks. Three LEGO House experiences are considered from a multimodal social semiotic perspective, focusing on the affordances of multimodal technologies for play, and the process of transduction across modes, in order to explore the liminal border-areas where digital and non-digital play are increasingly mixed. This article proposes that LEGO House presents an innovative ‘third space’ that creates opportunities for playful interaction with multimodal technologies. LEGO House can be seen as part of a growing recognition of the power of play, both in its own right and in relation to learning, acknowledging that meaning-making happens in informal times and places that are not positioned as direct acts of teaching. Furthermore, it is suggested that multimodal technologies embedded into the play-space expand opportunities for learning in new ways, whilst highlighting that movement between digital and non-digital forms always entails both gains and losses: A matter which needs to be explored. Highlighting the opportunities for meaning-making in informal, play-based settings such as LEGO House therefore has the potential to recognise and give value to playful meaning-making with multimodal technologies which may otherwise be taken for granted or go unnoticed. In this way, experiences such as those found in LEGO House can contribute towards conceptualisations of learning which support children to develop the playfully creative skills and knowledge required for the digital age.

Ambiguous Masculinities: Gender and Sexual Transgression in Contemporary Dance Works by Senegalese Men

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-65
Author(s):  
Amy Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Sexual Transgression ◽  
Global Entanglement

AbstractContemporary dance in Senegal emerged and thrives at the interstices of the local and the global. Multiple expectations and values, of which gender and sexuality are no small part, converge at the site of creation and production, enlisting choreographers to navigate oftentimes conflicting ideologies. Based on ethnographic research, this article examines three works by Senegalese men that employ gender and sexual transgressions alongside the artists’ seemingly contradictory verbal articulations of their work. Using the local-global entanglement as an analytical framework, I argue that these works offer ambiguous assemblages of masculinities that challenge conventional masculinity in Senegal, thereby elucidating the potentiality for contemporary dance to transcend singular meaning-making capacity.

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