Soup kitchens: The stigma of being poor and the construction of social identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 584-596
Author(s):  
Joe Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Soup Kitchen

This project involved an ethnographic study that documented how homeless individuals who frequent local soup kitchens view themselves and how they manage the stigma that can be associated with this population. Qualitative techniques of observation and brief conversations over a 3-year period with more than 100 soup kitchen participants constituted the data. Findings of this project confirm the earlier work of Goffman and more recent work where clear stigma responses and identities were observed in homeless and low-income adults.

How Low-Income Mothers Seek Quality Health Care for Their Children: An Ethnographic Study

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marquia Blackmon ◽  
Sherry C. Eaton ◽  
Linda M. Burton ◽  
Whitney Welsh ◽  
Dwayne Brandon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Quality Health Care ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
Low Income Mothers

scholarly journals Not ‘my economy’: A political ethnographic study of interest in the economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110070
Author(s):  
Anna Killick
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
The Rich

Some political economists explain the apparent downplaying of the importance of economic issues in political events such as Brexit with reference to the growing anger or despair people on low incomes feel about the economy. This ‘everyday political economy’ article draws on an ethnographic study conducted between 2016 and 2018 with residents of an English city to explore what people think about the phenomenon of the economy. It reveals significant differences in how interested high- and low-income participants are in the economy and its role as a bedrock for welfare. Low-income participants are more negative about the economy, particularly contesting politicians’ claims that it is distinct from the human sphere, when they view it as controlled by the rich. However, reasoning is based on post-2008 crisis economic conditions, and any lack of interest in the economy may be more calculative and temporary than is often assumed.

Making Sense of Disability: Low-Income, Puerto Rican Parents' Theories of the Problem

1992 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Harry
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rican ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
English Only ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Impact

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the views of 12 low-income Puerto Rican parents whose children were classified as learning disabled or mildly mentally retarded. Different cultural meanings of disability and normalcy led parents to reject the notion of disability and focus on the impact of family identity, language confusion, and detrimental educational practices on children's school performance. Parents' views were in line with current arguments against labeling and English-only instruction.

Parental Agency in Educational Decision Making: A Mexican American Example

2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (12) ◽  
pp. 3074-3101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margy Mcclain
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
American Family ◽  
Mexican American Family ◽  
Educational Decision ◽  
Children's Schooling ◽  
Educational Decision Making ◽  
Urban Parents

Background/Context This article explores the experiences of one Mexican American family as they make a key curriculum choice for their 9-year-old son. Relatively little attention has been paid to parents’ beliefs, attitudes, and, in particular, experiences as they actively engage in—and sometimes affect—their children's schooling. Parents’ agency in utilizing various kinds of educational strategizing, especially immigrant and urban working-class parents, has been overlooked. Deficit theories of low-income families have a long history in educational thought. Although more recent scholarship has debunked these theories, they remain pervasive across the country. Educators often do not recognize the many ways in which urban parents may be involved in their children's schooling. Voices of parents themselves speaking to their experiences with schools are just beginning to emerge. Purpose This article offers a rich example of the educational decision-making process of one Mexican American family. I take a phenomenological approach to examine human agency in specific familial decisions about this child's schooling that support the parents’ own vision of education. Here is a story of thoughtful, reflective decision-making that took place over a period of several years, when the parents finally decided to move their son from a transitional bilingual program at a public school to a parochial school taught in English. Research Design This is a narrative inquiry based on interviews and observations that took place with one family and one focal child through the course of a calendar year. It is situated within the frame of an ethnographic study on the educational life worlds of the family. The analysis draws on van Manen's use of phenomenology to examine how parents reflected upon experience to better understand a situation, resulting in “lived experience,” an understanding of the meanings a particular person finds in an event. Conclusions/Recommendations Immigrant and other urban parents may be actively engaged in their children's education, asking important and valid curriculum questions in ways that remain invisible to educators. I suggest alternatives to deficit theories that render parents’ perspectives invisible. Terms usually reserved for teachers can also be applied to parents: “knowledgeable observers” who make “pedagogically thoughtful” decisions about “curriculum.” This perspective would recommend that educational practice and policy use theoretical frameworks stressing parents’ roles as strong, positive, and active agents on behalf of their children and the need to develop dialogue based on respect. Further qualitative research in particular can provide needed depth in our understanding of parents’ struggles to negotiate the boundaries of culture, history and biography as they guide their children through the complex maze of school.

“IT'S TOO MUCH!”: VICTIMS OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE ENCOUNTER THE MOROCCAN STATE

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Katja Žvan Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Proper Training ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Set Up

AbstractBy using the narrative approach and linking it to feminist research ethics and critical race methodology, this article seeks to understand how non-literacy and poverty hinder low-income women's access to justice and how these women experience the Moroccan state. The state here acts as an oppressive and marginalizing entity in women's lives, but also offers the potential for empowerment. This ethnographic study tells the stories of three victims of gender-based violence to demonstrate that the state needs to (1) set up an efficient and responsive infrastructure for those lacking know-how and money; (2) institute proper training of state agents for implementation of laws and to prevent them from acting on personal opinions and attitudes with regard to women's rights; and (3) strengthen procedures so that state agents can respond expeditiously to the needs and grievances of citizens.

Using the Extended Case Method to Expand the Scope of Policy Research: An Examination of the Educational Outcomes of a College Preparation Program for Low-Income, Racially Minoritized Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-368
Author(s):  
Ezekiel Kimball
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
College Preparation ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Preparation Program ◽  
Extended Case Method ◽  
Policy Work ◽  
College Preparation Program

This article describes how the extended case method, a tool of critical qualitative inquiry rooted in ethnography, can be used to inform policy research. Using examples drawn from a yearlong ethnographic study of a college preparation program, it demonstrates the utility of the extended case method for policy research through a discussion of literature on educational policy and qualitative research methods. It then uses study findings to show how the extended case method can address challenges related to context and meaning in policy evaluation focused on causal relationships. Implications for future qualitative policy work are also offered.

scholarly journals Strategies Used By Community Health Workers to Influence Adoption of Maternal Nutrition Behaviors in Rural Bangladesh: A Focused Ethnographic Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1359-1359
Author(s):  
Gargi Wable Grandner ◽  
Katherine Dickin ◽  
Purnima Menon ◽  
Tiffany Yeh ◽  
John Hoddinott
Keyword(s):  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Cultural Congruence ◽  
Healthy Tree ◽  
Diet Diversity

Abstract Objectives Efforts to integrate nutrition into antenatal health promotion in low income countries have led to increased involvement of community health workers (CHWs) in counseling on maternal nutrition. Little is known about how CHWs “package” messages in resource-poor communities to increase adoption of recommended maternal nutrition behaviors. We developed focused ethnographic techniques to explore this. Methods We interviewed 35 randomly selected CHWs providing monthly counseling to pregnant women and their families in 7 ‘Alive & Thrive’ intervention sites in Bangladesh. Two sorting exercises explored CHW strategies for promoting and perceptions of adoption of messages on micronutrient supplements, maternal dietary adequacy, and rest during pregnancy. In-depth probing on messages identified as “difficult” to deliver or adopt revealed how CHWs addressed barriers. Analysis of quantitative sorting data complemented thematic coding of qualitative textual data using grounded theory. Results CHW communication strategies involved 3 themes: feasibility (attitudes, norms, agency, poverty), audience (influence, motivators, support), and linguistic choice (emotional appeals, metaphors, logic, sellable but inaccurate arguments). CHWs viewed micronutrient messages as least difficult to adopt, requiring minimal “packaging”. Dietary messages were moderately difficult to adopt, prompting CHWs to leverage cultural congruence to target family members with different strategies. For example, messaging on diet diversity targeted husbands—the primary food-buyers—with logical arguments highlighting costs of inaction. When mothers-in-law held beliefs restricting gestational food intake, CHWs used metaphors (‘healthy tree, healthy fruit’) or faith-based appeals. Some CHWs used inaccurate messages (‘mother rests, baby rests’) to promote rest during pregnancy because it was seen as the least feasible behavior to adopt. Conclusions Where behavior change is viewed as feasible, CHWs use culturally resonant strategies to enhance adoption of maternal nutrition behaviors. Cultural congruence, or shared beliefs, language and cultural identity, is key to CHW effectiveness, but unhelpful for contextually infeasible behaviors. BCC programs co-designed with CHWs could improve messaging and effectiveness. Funding Sources Cornell AWARE Travel Grant.

scholarly journals Changing Diagnostic and Treatment Criteria for Chronic Illness: A Critical Consideration of Their Impact on Low-Income Hispanic Patients

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Hunt ◽  
Meta Kreiner ◽  
Fredy Rodriguez-Mejia
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Chronic Illnesses ◽  
Treatment Standards ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Hispanic Patients ◽  
Hispanic Serving ◽  
The Impact

Low-income Hispanics are often identified as especially at risk for common chronic conditions like diabetes and are targeted for aggressive screening and treatment. Anthropologists and other social scientists have extensively explored barriers and facilitators to the management of chronic illnesses in minority populations but have not yet considered the impact of recently lowered diagnostic and treatment thresholds on such groups. In this paper, we critically review recent changes in diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol diagnostic and treatment standards that have dramatically increased the number of people being treated for these conditions. Drawing on an ethnographic study of chronic illness management in two Hispanic-serving clinics in the Midwest, we examine how these new standards are being applied and consider the resulting health care challenges their patients face. Our analysis leads us to question the value of promoting narrowly defined treatment goals, particularly when patients lack reliable access to the health care resources these goals require. While improving the health of low-income Hispanics is a worthwhile goal, it is important to consider whether these efforts may be promoting over-diagnosis and over-treatment, drawing them into an expensive chronic patient role with uncertain benefit.

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