Diasporic Circularities

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-102
Author(s):  
Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Large Wave ◽  
Forced Migrations ◽  
Multiple Accounts

The experience of the Omani-Zanzibaris who were forced to migrate from Zanzibar to Oman in 1964 has received relatively little attention, particularly as seen from the arriving/returning Omani-Zanzibaris’ emic perspectives. As we will see in this chapter, Oman’s identity as a cosmopolitan empire offers a variety of pathways for understanding its present-day culture and politics, as well as its responses to the large wave of arrivals from postcolonial Zanzibar. The chapter seeks to arrive at a better understanding of the forced migrations by telling the story of this period from the theoretical stance of hybridity, which challenges the prevailing essentialism of the historical narratives of the 1964 events as an African uprising against Omani colonizers. To expound the experiences of Omani-Zanzibaris, this project gathered multiple accounts drawn from multi-sited ethnographic research carried out in the first round of fieldwork in Oman and Zanzibar together with extensive conversations held in Zanzibar and Muscat in 2016 and 2017. Life-history collections, memoirs (both published and in private family possession in Arabic, English, and Swahili), archival materials in London and Muscat, and digital sources were also researched.

From Beginning to End: An Irish Life History

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Gmelch
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Research Assumptions ◽  
Published Account

Abstract This article discusses the two ends of the life-history process: the reasons for its undertaking and the research assumptions these engender, and the impact of the published account on readers. In doing so, I draw on my own experience in the research and writing of Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling woman (Gmelch, 1986/1991) and upon the responses of Traveller and non-Traveller readers to this life history. (Ethnographic research; life-history interviewing, editing, and narra-tive construction; literary criticism)

scholarly journals Memory and Alterity in Zar: Religious Contact and Change in the Sudan

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M Kenyon
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life History Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Ninteenth Century ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the Blue Nile town of Sennar, supported by archival and historical documentation, this article explores the history of Zar spirit possession in Sudan, and the light this throws on the interplay of religions over the past 150 years. Life history data supports the argument that contemporary Zar is grounded in forms and rituals derived from the ranks of the ninteenth-century Ottoman army, and these remain the basis of ritual events, even as they accommodate ongoing changes in this part of Africa. Many of these changes are linked to the dynamic interplay of Zar with forms of Islam, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other. In the former colonial periods, political power resided with the British, and Khawaja (European) Christian Zar spirits are remembered as far more important. Today that authority in Zar has shifted to spirits of foreign Muslims and local holy men, on the one hand, and to subaltern Blacks, on the other. These speak to concerns of new generations of adepts even as changes in the larger political and religious landscapes continue to transform the context of Zar.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Traditional Method ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Product Life ◽  
Communicative Process

The individualistic orientation of life histories has long been hailed as an antidote to the generalizing tendencies of ethnographic research. However, the life history method is not without problems of its own, as the author explains by referencing some of the most well celebrated life histories and so-called “autobiographies” in the anthropological corpus. The traditional method of composing the life history as a flowing narrative is not only morally dishonest but also intellectually inadequate because it conveys the false impression of a chronologically timeless and uninterrupted soliloquy. By focusing only on the final product, life histories ignore the other two components in the communicative process. In this opening chapter, the author emphasizes the need to (re-)insert the producer and process into the research equation.

Towards a Reflexive Ethnography: (Re-)inserting the Producer and Process Into the Research Equation

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Sam Pack
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Traditional Method ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Product Life ◽  
Communicative Process

Abstract: The individualistic orientation of life histories has long been hailed as an antidote to the generalizing tendencies of ethnographic research. However, the life history method is not without problems of its own, as I explain by referencing some of the most well celebrated life histories and so-called ‘autobiographies’ in the anthropological corpus. The traditional method of composing the life history as a flowing narrative is not only morally dishonest but also intellectually inadequate because it conveys the false impression of a chronologically timeless and uninterrupted soliloquy. By focusing only on the final product, life histories ignore the other two components in the communicative process. In this article, I emphasize the need to (re-)insert the producer and process into the research equation.

Doing ethnography among Latinos in London and Barcelona: languages, genders, and ethnicities

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-205
Author(s):  
Victor Corona ◽  
Sophie Kelsall
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Global Cities ◽  
Community Membership ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Social Pressures

AbstractBased on two ethnographic studies of people of Latin American descent in global cities, this article explores how language, gender, and ethnicity shape field relations, community membership, and data collection. It examines some of the implications of being positioned intersectionally as an outsider or insider of the community, and being sexualised by a male gatekeeper. It suggests that gender roles are a powerful aspect of conducting ethnographic research among Latinos, while pointing to the challenge of dealing with, and potentially contributing to, essentialising discourses in the field. It argues that the notion of ‘being Latino’ is imagined and constructed interactionally and contextually, in reaction to social pressures, as well as local and historical narratives.

May God Repay You: The Tenet of Baraji in Southern Mali, West Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-169
Author(s):  
Dianna Bell
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Social Life ◽  
African State ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
West African ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The West ◽  
West African State ◽  
Ritual Practices

Muslims in the West African state of Mali usebaraji, which translates from Bambara as ‘divine reward’ or ‘recompense’, as a criterion for understanding proper religious practice. The concept also drives Muslims’ lifelong aim to acquire the unspecified amount of merit that God requires for a person to enter paradise. Drawing from life history and ethnographic research, this piece deepens understanding of West African Islam by exploring the Qur’anic basis ofbarajiand situates the concept as a form of value through which Muslims discern the complementary places of different ritual practices and daily choices in their lives. In order to understand the ways that Malian Muslims seek measurable units ofbarajito benefit both the living and the dead, this study also shows how kin earnbarajion one another’s behalf, especially through posthumous sacrifices. By doing so, the article highlights death as a process in which the acquisition ofbarajicontinues through kin and sacrifices, revealing West African Islam as embedded in daily social life and relations with one’s ancestors.

scholarly journals Konceptuel imperialisme og engageret sympati i forskning om kvindelige sexsælgere

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanett Bjønness
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Female Sex

Conceptual imperialism and engaged sympathy in research on female sex-sellers: This paper investigates academic knowledge production on sex-sellers’ everyday life and strategies. Methodological discussions are first contextualized in public discourse on prostitution in Denmark characterized by a highly polarized debate often opposing ‘the victim’ to ‘the autonomous individual’ and second in the researcher’s autobiography. The paper discusses how the researcher’s ownclassed and gendered experiences affect the ethnographic research process. Does attempted identification with informants sometimes obscure valuable knowledge? Does it even sometimes lead to unintended kinds of ‘othering’ or ‘epistemological imperialism’? The paper builds on data from long term fieldwork in a drop-in center for marginalized Danish women, life history interviews, and a critical reading of contemporary debates on prostitution in Denmark.

Writing Kwaio Life Histories

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger M. Keesing
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Research Assumptions ◽  
Published Account

Abstract This article discusses the two ends of the life-history process: the reasons for its undertaking and the research assumptions these engender, and the impact of the published account on readers. In doing so, I draw on my own experience in the research and writing of Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling woman (Gmelch, 1986/1991) and upon the responses of Traveller and non-Traveller readers to this life history. (Ethnographic research; life-history interviewing, editing, and narra-tive construction; literary criticism)

Interrelationships of factors of social development are more complex than Life History Theory predicts

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Kotchoubey
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
Behavioral Features

Abstract Life History Theory (LHT) predicts a monotonous relationship between affluence and the rate of innovations and strong correlations within a cluster of behavioral features. Although both predictions can be true in specific cases, they are incorrect in general. Therefore, the author's explanations may be right, but they do not prove LHT and cannot be generalized to other apparently similar processes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document