Cat Culture, Human Culture: An Ethnographic Study of a Cat Shelter

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet M. Alger ◽  
Steven F. Alger
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Animal Communities

This study explores the value of traditional ethnographic methods in sociology for the study of human-animal and animal-animal interactions and culture. Itargues that some measure of human-animal intersubjectivity is possible and that the method of participant observation is best suited to achieve this. Applying ethnographic methods to human-cat and cat-cat relationships in a no-kill cat shelter, the study presents initial findings; it concludes that the social structure of the shelter is the product of interaction both between humans and cats and cats and cats and that the observed structure represents, to a large degree, choices made by the cats. The study also concludes that, within the cat community of the shelter, a distinctive cat culture has emerged, which represents the cats' adaptation to the particular conditions of shelter life. Specifically, the shelter allows for the emergence of higher order needs and goals that stress affection, friendship, and social cohesion among the cats rather than territoriality and conflict. The study further argues that traditional animal researchers have mistaken the relative equality of cat colonies for a lack of social structure, as opposed to a different structure from that found in sharply ranked nonhuman animal communities.

scholarly journals Humour in Sports Coaching: ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nicholas Edwards ◽  
Robyn L Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sports Coaching

The primary purpose of this article was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a 10-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both ‘inclusionary putdowns’ and ‘disciplinary humour’, particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident among the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.

scholarly journals Client or Volunteer? Understanding Neoliberalism and Neocolonialism Within International Volunteer Health Work

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 233339361879295
Author(s):  
Oona St-Amant ◽  
Catherine Ward-Griffin ◽  
Helene Berman ◽  
Arja Vainio-Mattila
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Health Work ◽  
Social Organizations ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Volunteer

As international volunteer health work increases globally, research pertaining to the social organizations that coordinate the volunteer experience in the Global South has severely lagged. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to critically examine the social organizations within Canadian NGOs in the provision of health work in Tanzania. Multiple, concurrent data collection methods, including text analysis, participant observation and in-depth interviews were utilized. Data collection occurred in Tanzania and Canada. Neoliberalism and neocolonialism were pervasive in international volunteer health work. In this study, the social relations—“volunteer as client,” “experience as commodity,” and “free market evaluation”—coordinated the volunteer experience, whereby the volunteers became “the client” over the local community and resulting in an asymmetrical relationship. These findings illuminate the need to generate additional awareness and response related to social inequities embedded in international volunteer health work.

scholarly journals Un relato etnográfico de la conciencia ecológica: historias y prácticas cotidianas de transformación y resistencia/ An ethnographic account of ecological consciousness: stories and daily practices of transformation and resistance

2018 ◽  
pp. 181-203
Author(s):  
Anapaula Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Ecological Consciousness ◽  
Ecological Awareness ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

En este artículo se explora la relación entre la humanidad y la naturaleza, con el propósito de indagar en cómo se construye una conciencia ecológica. A través de un estudio etnográfico se mantuvo conversaciones profundas con tres personas que viven en reservas naturales en diferentes partes de Ecuador, con el objetivo de explorar sus historias de vida en relación con el territorio que habitan. El análisis de estas historias se enmarca en la teoría de la ética ambiental, la antropología ecológica, y la teoría de la práctica. Asimismo, se define lo que se entiende por conciencia ecológica y se identifican las áreas prioritarias de conservación a nivel mundial y en Ecuador, para resaltar la importancia de la conservación privada. A través del uso de herramientas metodológicas como las historias de vida, la observación participante y el diario de campo, se profundiza en la vida de tres practicantes de la conservación para analizar motivaciones y prácticas que dan cuenta de una conciencia ecológica. Abstract This article explores the relationship between humanity and nature, with the purpose of deepening our knowledge on how an ecological conscience is built. In this ethnographic study, conversations were held with three different persons who live in natural reserves in Ecuador, with the objective of exploring their life story and relating it to the territory they inhabit. These stories are framed in the theory of environmental ethics, the theory of the social actor, and the theory of practice, through which we analyze the motivations and transformations towards an ecological consciousness. The history of conservation in Ecuador is also described, making visible the various tools for conservation and their level of incidence in this country. Likewise, hotspots were identified worldwide and in Ecuador, to highlight the importance of private conservation, and finally define what is meant by ecological awareness. Through a qualitative-interpretative paradigm, and the use of methodological tools such as life stories, participant observation, and a field diary, the life of three conservation practitioners is analyzed in depth to identify motivations and practices that give account of an ecological consciousness.

Reading, Writing, and Having Babies: A Nurturing Alternative School Program

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hila J. Spear
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Alternative School ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
School Program ◽  
School Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes

This ethnographic study, a component of another study that examined the lived experiences of a small group of pregnant teenagers, focused on the social and learning environment of an alternative school program for pregnant and parenting female adolescents, aged 13 to 19. Field notes, participant observation, group discussion, and informal conversational data were gathered over a 16-week period. Analysis of the data revealed four major themes: nurture and positive regard, sisterhood and belonging, mentoring and sense of family, and proactive learning environment and academic pride. The girls who attended the program developed close relationships with their peers and teachers. Many of them experienced academic success for the first time and reported that pregnancy and impending motherhood motivated them to do better in school. Recommendations for a more comprehensive school-based approach to meeting the needs of pregnant and parenting teens are made, particularly after the babies are born.

scholarly journals Code Choices Used by the Society in the Event of Halal Bi Halal Tradition: An ethnographic Study in Boyolali 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
Sigit Haryanto ◽  
Rini Fatmawati
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Factor ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relationship Of

Language, culture, and society are three things that cannot be separated. The intertwining among them are reflected in halal bi halal tradition. This annually tradition mainly uses Javanese language as a main central of social communication. Two common codes that used by the participants in conducting the event are krama and ngoko.  The participants when choosing the codes, of course, are influenced by the social factors. Dealing with this, the aim of this study is finding the language choices use and the factors that affect the participants selecting the codes. This ethnographic study used participant observation in collecting the data. Then, the collected data were analyzed by theory of social dimension proposed by Holmes. The results of the study showed that (1) the language choices use are (a) Javanese krama, (b) Javanese ngoko, (c) mixture of Javanese and Arabic, (d) mixture of Javanese, and Arabic, and Indonesian, and (e) Indonesian and Indonesian and (2) the factors that affect the language choices are   (a) the social relationship of the participants, (b) the setting of the event, (c) the formality of the vent, and (d0 the function for the event. As a conclusion, code choices that happen in halal bi halal tradition are commonly affected by social factor or nonlinguistic factor.  

scholarly journals Beyond Social Media Determinism? How Artists Reshape the Organization of Social Movements

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511775071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Cossu
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Models ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Creative Workers ◽  
Digital Methods

Artists and creative workers are engaged once more in the social and political space. In the current wave, which started in the early 2010s, they have taken part in broad social movements (e.g., Occupy, Tahrir Square), created movements of their own (e.g., Network of Occupied Theaters in Italy and Greece), experimented with alternative economic models and currencies (e.g., Macao and D-CENT), carried out social research and radical education, partnered with institutional and social actors, supported neighborhoods, filled the void left by states’ retreat from the social, and hosted and co-produced art at a time when the budget for culture and independent art is being decreased in numerous countries across the world. This article aims to investigate the organizational and relational aspects of artistic social movements. Drawing on a 2-year-long ethnographic study conducted for my PhD dissertation and deploying a number of research techniques, including participant observation, digital methods, and semi-structured interviews, I propose a new understanding of the meaning of organization in contemporary artistic social movements. My article, focusing especially on data gathered on Macao, “The New Centre for Arts, Culture and Research of Milan,” constitutes an attempt to reflect on emerging organizational models in social movements.

Commentary

1956 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Ralph Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Substantial Agreement ◽  
Proper Place ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Mass Society ◽  
Total Range ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Mass

Like Dr. Ryan, I too hesitate to speak for my profession. But I would like to record substantial agreement with the main points in Ryan's stimulating paper: that anthropology and sociology complement and reinforce each other. And I would like to place my exclamation point beside Ryan's insistence that modern mass society be viewed in the context of the total range of societal variation. This view offers, it seems to me, the only promise of a widely comparative science of society which will yield successively more accurate generalizations about the nature of human social organization, rather than specific statements about the social organization of Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis. In such a comparative frame of reference, anthropology and sociology can find their proper place in the search for generalizations about the nature of human culture and human social structure.

scholarly journals Experiences, dietary behavior and cultural characteristics of people with colorectal neoplasms

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Jorge Silva Correa Júnior ◽  
Helena Megumi Sonobe ◽  
André Aparecido da Silva Teles ◽  
Wagner Felipe dos Santos Neves ◽  
Mary Elizabeth de Santana
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biomedical System ◽  
Sociology Of Health ◽  
Toxic Food

ABSTRACT Objectives: to interpret the socio-cultural, religious, and spiritual aspects of the experience of people who have colorectal cancer and were submitted to surgical treatment with ostomy. Methods: ethnographic study under the perspective of the Sociology of Health, in the comprehensive aspect, in a surgical unit of an oncologic hospital of the state of Pará, Brazil. Eighteen deponents participated, eleven patients, and seven caregivers, between December 2018 and March 2019. Data were obtained with non-participant observation, field diary records, and semi-structured interviews with subsequent inductive content analysis. Results: religious attachment and socio-cultural aspects of the illness were interpreted, emphasizing the social fact of the Immediate Dream, emotional shock, modern totemism, toxic food as taboo, and medicalization in the sphere of common sense and biomedical system. Final Considerations: microsocial and macrosocial factors of the participants’ experiences contribute to the qualification of oncologic assistance in the public system, assuming the need for specialized interprofessional assistance.

scholarly journals The Social Fabric of Cheese Agroindustry: Cooperation and Competition Aspects

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2921
Author(s):  
María Camila Rendón-Rendón ◽  
Juan Felipe Núñez Espinoza ◽  
Ramón Soriano-Robles ◽  
Valentín Efrén Espinosa Ortiz ◽  
Luis Manuel Chávez Pérez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
San Jose ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Underlying Network

The aim of this study was to analyze the relational social structure of the cheese factories based on an agribusiness territory of Mexico through social network analysis (SNA) in order to understand how different types of agroindustries coexist and endure. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were carried out in 17 cheese agribusinesses located in the area of San José de Gracia, Michoacán (Mexico), in order to get insight into the family, inter-company, commercial and technical ties they have built. The SNA showed that in the community there is a meso-system where different cheese companies that produce either natural, imitation or both cheeses converge and coexist. These agroindustries make up a complex social structure composed of 1717 actors, comprising a dispersed network with low connectivity (density ˂0.5%) due to the commercial nature of the relationships (95.9%). Simultaneously, an underlying network with a higher density (1.73%) was also evident, enriched by kinship and friendship ties that create cooperation and trust among the parties through 136 reciprocal tangible and intangible exchanges. Despite the differences and asymmetries of cheese agribusinesses in this community, the social structure they form behaves like a ‘local neighborhood’ where everyone knows everyone, and everyone coexists, competes and shares with one another, allowing them to be sustainable in the marketplace. This study provides important lessons for institutions that promote competitiveness and local development, because it shows that in order to achieve sustainability of agroindustrial companies, it is important to recognize and promote long-term social structures based on trust, friendship and reciprocity.

Using Ethnography in Educational Research

Education ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mills
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Study Participant ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Diverse Field ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Relevant Work

The ethnographic study of education combines participatory research methodologies, theoretical engagement, and a richly descriptive genre of writing to depict the lived, everyday complexities of learning in all its forms. The etymological roots of ethnography—“writing the people”—underscore the field’s commitment to writing and to analytical holism. An ethnographic sensibility is key to understanding the power-laden subjectivities created in both formal education and informal learning practices. Education is ubiquitous, and there are many approaches to its ethnographic study. Participant observation is integral to many—but not all—ethnographers. Researchers use a range of qualitative methods (including sensory, visual, and creative approaches) to immerse themselves in, and make sense of, educational cultures. Ethnographic approaches have diffused from their early roots in anthropology and sociology across the social sciences. This bibliography suggests some general overviews of this diverse field, and highlights a range of relevant work. The most insightful ethnographies are book-length monographs, providing authors the opportunity to link together the empirical with broader questions of power and difference. Working across a range of learning fields, ethnographers are united by their careful attention to the everyday, the unexpected and the implicit. They highlight education’s role in generating and reproducing inequalities, at the same time as offering emancipatory possibilities. Any review is inevitably partial. Rather than using theoretical categories, the bibliography is roughly sorted by educational type, with sections on parenting, classrooms, schooling, and students. Further sections highlight innovative ethnographic work on informal learning and educational policies.

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