A Language of Their Own: An Interactionist Approach to Human-Horse Communication

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keri Brandt
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Shared Meaning ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Language System ◽  
Research Challenges ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Interactionist Approach

AbstractThis paper explores the process of human-horse communication using ethnographic data of in-depth interviews and participant observation. Guided by symbolic interactionism, the paper argues that humans and horses co-create a language system by way of the body to facilitate the creation of shared meaning. This research challenges the privileged status of verbal language and suggests that non-verbal communication and language systems of the body have their own unique complexities. This investigation of humanhorse communication offers new possibilities to understand the subjective and intersubjective world of non-verbal language using beings—human and nonhuman alike.

A Qualitative Assessment of the Significance of Body Perception to Women’s Physical Activity Experiences: Revisiting Discussions of Physicalities

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Body Perception ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Activity Involvement ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper builds upon an earlier exploratory discussion about the term physicality that called for conceptual clarity regarding our theoretical understanding and use of it within the context of women’s lives. In light of fieldwork conducted, physicality is suggested to be the complex interplay of body perception, agency, and self-perception. This article focuses on examining one feature of this construct by assessing the relevance of body perception to two groups of women’s experiences of their physicalities through two differently gendered activities: aerobics and wilderness canoe-tripping. Pivotal to this has been qualitatively understanding the lived-body as experienced and understood by the women. In-depth interviews and participant observation were used to explore the meaning and significance these women derived from experiencing their bodies/themselves through these activities. Of specific interest was understanding the effects of these experiences in terms of shaping their understandings of their physicalities particularly beyond that of appearance. Central to this has been apprehending the physically and socially empowering effects of these experiences, especially at the level of their identity. Through the data analysis, body perception was found to be relevant to the women’s physical activity involvement in two distinct ways: as a factor initiating activity involvement and as a perception emerging through the experience. In turn, these differing perceptions of the body were found to impact diversely upon their physicalities, either broadening them or contributing to alternative ways of understanding them.

scholarly journals Phenomenology Study: Pregnancy Women Myth in Malay Community Dumai City, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 283-288
Author(s):  
Hetty Ismainar ◽  
Hertanto W. Subagio ◽  
Bagoes Widjanarko ◽  
Cahyono Hadi
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Sugar Water ◽  
Early Gestation ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study aims to analyze the pregnant women myths in the Malay community of Dumai City, Indonesia. The qualitative research: Phenomenology Study. The total informants were 11 participants (Pregnant women, shaman, midwife, and Primary Health Care Heads). Data collection through in-depth interviews and non-participant observation. Data analysis uses content analysis. The results showed that three things were during pregnancy, namely: cultural tradition in pregnant, food consumption, and activities. That even for pregnant women in “Lenggang Perut” (seven months pregnant ceremony). Use porcupines, scissors, and needles in the body to avoid the devil. Cannot consume sugar water from “Tebu” (a kind of sweet plant), pineapple, and “Tape” (food from cassava fermentation) because it will cause bleeding or abortion. Prohibited activities, bathing at night, sitting in front of the door, for early gestation may not leave their homes and still visit shamans. Until now, this myth is still practiced by pregnant women in the Malay community, although there is no empirical research that proves the real impact of the myth.

(Re)placing the Terengganu Peranakan Chinese as “Mek Awang”: Making Chinatown and Heritagising the Peranakan Identities in Kuala Terengganu

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Hong Chuang Loo ◽  
Giok Hun Pue ◽  
Puay Liu Ong
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Heritage Tourism ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
National Heritage ◽  
Cultural Terms ◽  
Ethnic Category ◽  
Simple Change ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Depth Interviews

In 2017, the Terengganu Chinese Peranakan Association (TCPA) withdrew its participation in the 4th Annual Terengganu Peranakan Festival (TPF) organised by the Terengganu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCCI) because of a dispute over the combined term “Mek Awang”. To TCPA members, Mek Awang is a derogatory term, which the Malays used to refer to someone as being “soft”, effeminate, or a cross-dresser. However, TCCCI has appropriated the term Mek Awang and used it as a brand name to promote the festival, and to highlight the “uniqueness” of the Terengganu Peranakan Chinese community. This case is an example of how local cultural terms or practices have been readapted to suit tourism interests. Tourism is often accused of reinventing culture for capital ventures. Consequently, many academics and social critics have come to regard official national heritage sites and heritage tourism with scepticism and disdain. Combining ethnographic data from our in-depth interviews with the Terengganu Peranakan Chinese and our participant observation during the festival, we argue that the dispute over Mek Awang is not only a simple change in reference, but is also an indication of a deeper contemporary global process that affects ethnic minorities and their identities. We conclude that various attempts to commodify the peranakan experiences and culture in Terengganu as well as the intention to place the peranakan as a marketable heritage in Chinatown can be interpreted as attempts to replace a heterogeneous community with a homogeneous, uniform, genetic and identifiable ethnic category with a Peranakan1 (with capital “P”) identity.

‘Come Night-time, It’s a War Zone’: Women’s Experiences of Homelessness, Risk and Public Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1136-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Menih
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
War Zone ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract This paper explores constructions of ‘risk’ in the lives of women experiencing homelessness in Brisbane, Australia. Drawing on ethnographic data, including in-depth interviews, informal conversations and participant observation field notes, two main themes emerged: the narratives or risk; women navigating risk on the streets by employing transiency, invisibility and squatting. The analysis indicates that women consider the ways in which risk calculations are spatially and temporally located and argues that risk is embedded in social and cultural discourses of gender. Women experiencing homelessness face particular risks due to gendered spatiality and have to manage their spatialized selves to avoid everyday risks on the streets.

All Animals Are Equal, or Are They? The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s Animal Epistle and its Unhappy End

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarra Tlili
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Main Text ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Privileged Status

The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s animal epistle is an intriguing work. Although in the body of the narrative the authors challenge anthropocentric preconceptions and present nonhuman animals in a more favourable light than human beings, inexplicably, the narrative ends by reconfirming the privileged status of humans. The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation for this discrepancy. I argue that the egalitarian message reflected in the body of the narrative is traceable back to the Qur'an, the main text with which the authors engage in the fable, whereas the final outcome is due to the Ikhwān's hierarchical worldview.

Do we form or deform? Qualitative Investigation in Public Hospitals of Madrid

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Jesús Gómez Camuñas ◽  
Purificación González Villanueva
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Small Hospital ◽  
Student Learn ◽  
Depth Interviews

<div><i>Background</i>: the creative capacities and the knowledge of the employees are components of the intellectual capital of the company; hence, their training is a key activity to achieve the objectives and business growth. <i>Objective</i>: To understand the meaning of learning in the hospital from the experiences of its participants through the inquiry of meanings. <i>Method</i>: Qualitative design with an ethnographic approach, which forms part of a wider research, on organizational culture; carried out mainly in 2 public hospitals of the Community of Madrid. The data has been collected for thirteen months. A total of 23 in-depth interviews and 69 field sessions have been conducted through the participant observation technique. <i>Results</i>: the worker and the student learn from what they see and hear. The great hospital offers an unregulated education, dependent on the professional, emphasizing that they learn everything. Some transmit the best and others, even the humiliating ones, use them for dirty jobs, focusing on the task and nullifying the possibility of thinking. They show a reluctant attitude to teach the newcomer, even if they do, they do not have to oppose their practice. In short, a learning in the variability, which produces a rupture between theory and practice; staying with what most convinces them, including negligence, which affects the patient's safety. In the small hospital, it is a teaching based on a practice based on scientific evidence and personalized attention, on knowing the other. Clearly taught from the reception, to treat with caring patience and co-responsibility in the care. The protagonists of both scenarios agree that teaching and helping new people establish lasting and important personal relationships to feel happy and want to be in that service or hospital. <i>Conclusion</i>: There are substantial differences related to the size of the center, as to what and how the student and the novel professional are formed. At the same time that the meaning of value that these health organizations transmit to their workers is inferred through the training, one orienting to the task and the other to the person, either patient, professional or pupil and therefore seeking the common benefit.</div>

Informalitas Dalam Formalitas: Sebuah Kajian Budaya Organisasi Perusahaan Keluarga

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Hardiyanti Munsi ◽  
Ahmad Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Family ◽  
Formal Organizations ◽  
Religious Aspects ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Big Men

This article intends to identify and to describe the unique structure and the managing style that owns primordial characteristics, that is giving significance to kinship, religion, and local Bugis cultural values, which made up the cultural system of PT. Hadji Kalla family business. Theoritically, this research was inspired from Weberian perspective on the ideal types of bureaucracy, that observes organizations (in this case is the family business) as one of the socio-cultural phenomena which is neutral and value-free, that is place aside its subjective aspects. The research was conducted in two locations, the head office and one of the branch offices using qualitative approach that relies on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and literature studies. The results of the research shows that the family business of PT. Hadji Kalla that has advanced into national level still prioritizes kinship, ethnicity, and religious aspects in the daily activities of the company. The value even take parts in providing the company’s colour to the urban societies in various districts where the company stands. This means that although the society has undergone transformations, it doesn’t mean that the primordial value, and the elements that exist outside of businesses (such as kinship, big men, religion, cultural values, and interest) do not influence the activities that are held in formal organizations. Therefore, the interventions of subjective aspects will always appear, followed with the application of the modern management system that is implemented by PT. Hadji Kalla company.

Adopting a mojo mindset: Training newspaper reporters in mobile journalism

Journalism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146488492199628
Author(s):  
Anja Salzmann ◽  
Frode Guribye ◽  
Astrid Gynnild
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
New Production ◽  
Visual Storytelling ◽  
Training Course ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Depth Interviews

Due to the visual turn in journalism and the emergence of mobile journalism, many newspaper journalists have had to change the way they work and learn to use new tools. To face these changes, traditional news organizations apply different strategies to increase staff competencies in using new production tools and creating innovative content in new formats. In this paper, we investigate how a specific training arrangement was experienced by a group of 40 print editors and journalists in a German regional publishing house. The journalists were introduced to audio-visual storytelling and reporting with smartphones in a 2-week training course. The training arrangements were studied using participant observation and in-depth interviews, followed by a thematic analysis of the data. The study indicates that for print journalists and editors, the transition from the print to the mojo mindset depends on three dimensions: (i) mastering mojo skills, (ii) adopting visual thinking and (iii) integrating ethical and legal awareness.

scholarly journals Social entrepreneurship and social enterprise phenomenon: toward a collective approach to social innovation in Tunisia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bechir Fridhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Entrepreneurial Action ◽  
Collective Construction ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Real Challenge ◽  
Collective Dimension

AbstractThis article aims to understand the extent to which social entrepreneurship (SE) contributes to the construction of a collective dimension linked to social innovation (SI). We aim to propose new ideas that can deliver insights into the SE phenomenon. This research is also distinct from entrepreneurial ecosystems as its development already requires some successful entrepreneurial action and to do it, the structuring and consolidation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem constitutes a real challenge for the development of SI.This work has been based on a participant observation of eight major events dedicated to social entrepreneurship or the shared economy. In-depth interviews with Tunisian social entrepreneurs were also conducted in order to enrich our corpus. The results show the necessary cooperation of social entrepreneurs for a sustainable and responsible social innovation. Indeed, the analysis emphasizes that the viability and sustainability of a social innovation rests essentially on a collective construction, beyond common social values.

scholarly journals Intersection of the Religious and the Secular: The Cemetery Festival in Latvia

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Anita Stasulane
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Ritual Practices ◽  
Research Tools

This article addresses the commemoration of the deceased by examining a peculiar Latvian religious tradition—the cemetery festival. Latvian society is moving down the path to secularization. Participation in religious ritual practices could be expected to decrease in a predominately secular society. Nevertheless, the tradition of the cemetery festival practiced in Latvia shows that the relationship between the religious and the secular is much more complex than simply being in opposition to each other. The analysis is based on data obtained by undertaking fieldwork at cemeteries in Latvia. Participant observation and qualitative in-depth interviews were the main research tools used in the fieldwork. Through an analysis of the fieldwork data, this article explains, first, how honoring of the deceased currently takes place in Latvia; second, the factors which have determined the preservation of the cemetery festival tradition despite the forced secularization of the Soviet period and the general secularization encountered today; third, the relationship between religious and secular activities and their transformation at the cemetery festival.

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