Women’s Czech Folk Costume: Negotiating Ambivalence and White Ethnicity in the Midwest

2021 ◽  
pp. 0887302X2110275
Author(s):  
Erin French ◽  
Kelly L. Reddy-Best

Folk costume is traditionally worn to represent and preserve ethnic heritage. Large numbers of Czechs emigrated to America from the 1870s to 1920s, but eventually, a generation was born that had little contact with their immigrant ancestors. The purpose of our research was to examine what role folk costume plays in the negotiation of Czech ethnic identity and how meaning is constructed and communicated through Czech folk costumes for modern-day wearers. We conducted 11 indepth, semi-structured interviews with descendants of Czech immigrants in a previously unexplored Czech population of the Midwest. We identified four major themes: feelings of connectedness; sense of pride and joy; importance of perceived authenticity; and variation, nuance, and meaning of costume construction and style. Through our work, we contribute to the preservation and documentation of modern-day Czech traditions, ongoing discussions surrounding defining cultural traditions, and business practices of retailers.

2021 ◽  
pp. 136346152097693
Author(s):  
Carla Pezzia ◽  
Luisa M. Hernandez

Reported suicide rates in Latin America remain low, but there is evidence to suggest they may be increasing, particularly among indigenous populations. To better understand who may be at risk for suicide, we examined the prevalence of suicidal ideation and explored factors contributing to suicidal thoughts in an ethnically mixed, highland Guatemalan community. The data presented in this article are from a mixed methods ethnographic field project conducted over 15 months from 2010 to 2011 in Panajachel, Guatemala. We surveyed a random sample of 350 community members. Survey questions included standardized modules from the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, as well as questions on experiences of violence and mental health care. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 self-selected survey participants with current suicidal ideation. These interviews included questions regarding survey responses, experiences of mental illness, and access to mental health care. A total of 55 survey participants (N = 350; 15.7%) scored positive for suicidality. Ethnic identity, gender, psychiatric illness, and experiences of violence were all correlated to suicidal ideation. Qualitative interview data highlight distinctions between genders within prominent themes of religion, family, experiences of violence, and seeking resources. Three key findings emerged from our research that are relevant to the literature: 1) ethnic identity may be both a critical risk and a protective factor for suicide in some indigenous people; 2) intersections between violence and gender highlight different patterns in suicidal ideation; and 3) high rates of suicidal ideation and other psychiatric comorbidities underscore the need for greater access to mental health services.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 245-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria M. Arredondo ◽  
Melanie Rosado ◽  
Teresa Satterfield

Studies show positive associations between ethnic identity, socio-emotional health and academic success. However, most work is carried out with adolescents and few have examined how young children develop an ethnic identity, particularly u.s. Latino children. The present study represents a first-pass investigation of children’s ethnic identity mechanisms and their relation to academic success. We carried out semi-structured interviews in Spanish with 25 Latino children (ages 5–12). Open-ended questions addressed items on the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and Ethnic Identity Scale, incorporating a mixed qualitative (i.e., themes) and quantitative (i.e., scoring) analysis. Results revealed that children provide great detail when discussing their ethnic background. Additionally, Latino children’s bilingualism and Spanish-language proficiency were significant markers of ethnic identity formation, which in turn were positively associated with affect and Spanish literacy. These findings shed light on the complexities of ethnic identity construction during children’s early years, and establish a path for further investigation of Latino children’s socio-emotional health and academic achievement.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronique Roussy ◽  
Grant Russell ◽  
Charles Livingstone ◽  
Therese Riley

PurposeComprehensive primary health care (PHC) models are seldom implemented in high income countries, in part due to their contested legitimacy in neoliberal policy environments. This article explores how merging affected the perceived legitimacy of independent community health organisations in Victoria, Australia, in providing comprehensive PHC services.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal follow-up study (2–3 years post-merger) of two amalgamations among independent community health organisations from the state of Victoria, Australia, was conducted. This article explores the perceived effects of merging on (1) the pragmatic, normative and cognitive legitimacy of studied organisations and (2) the collective legitimacy of these organisations in Victoria's health care system. Data were collected through 19 semi-structured interviews with key informants and subjected to template and thematic analyses.FindingsMerging enabled individual organisations to gain greater overall legitimacy as regional providers of comprehensive PHC services and thus retain some capacity to operationalise a social model of health. Normative legitimacy was most enhanced by merging, through acquisition of a large organisational size and adoption of business practices favoured by neoliberal norms. However, mergers may have destabilised the already contested cognitive legitimacy of community health services as a group of organisations and as a comprehensible state-wide platform of service delivery.Practical implicationsOver-reliance on individual organisational behaviour to maintain the legitimacy of comprehensive PHC as a model of organising health and social care could lead to inequities in access to such models across communities.Originality/valueThis study shows that organisations can manage their perceived legitimacy in order to ensure the survival of their preferred model of service delivery.


2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Duling

In this article historical criticism, rhetorical criticism and ethnicity theory are combined to interpret Paul’s boasting about his ethnicity in 2 Corinthians 11:22. Partition theory helps to establish the historical/social context that 2 Corinthians 10-13 is a fragment of the “tearful letter,” which represented the low point (high conflict) of Paul’s relations with the Corinthians. Rhetoric – the theatrical “Fool’s Speech,” which contains irony, self-praise, and comparison – helps to understand Paul’s boastful argumentation in his selfdefence; and ethnicity theory helps to interpret Paul’s construction of his ethnic identity. Paul boasted of his ethnicity by taking up rhetorical comparison and self-praise. But he did so in the so-called “Fool’s Speech”, which is full of irony: his ethnic heritage was part of his argument that he was equal to that of his opponents, but – here is the chief irony – his ethnicity “in the flesh” ultimately meant nothing to him.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-142
Author(s):  
Elena Sheldon

Abstract This study investigates how the importance of English in academia has impacted the academic life of fourteen researchers in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) at one university in Chile and uses semi-structured interviews focussing on scholarly publication. The study intends to discover, firstly, what the national and the university policies are regarding publishing in Spanish and English in Chile; secondly, how important it is to publish in English and Spanish, with respect to the researchers’ disciplines; and, thirdly, whether researchers with expertise in English are better off in terms of publication than those who lack this expertise. Findings suggest that these researchers write more publications in Spanish than in English, but favour publishing in both languages, counterbalancing the spread of English as the dominant language of publication in academia because Spanish and English can co-exist without threatening the scholarly cultural traditions of Spanish scholars. These scholars also recognise that publishing in English assists them to attain a wider readership, and to gain greater monetary rewards for publication in high impact journals, usually in English, as a result of increased grants and promotions. Finally, the paper suggests considering practices for teaching English for Research Publication Purposes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S918-S918
Author(s):  
Trang T Nguyen

Abstract In Vietnam, the majority of dementia caregivers are women. They play multiple social roles, and confront role conflicts and caregiving burdens with insufficient social supports. Dementia caregiving alters their self-concepts, or who they think they are. This paper aims to explore self-concepts of Vietnamese female caregivers of older relatives with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). In total, 21 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, including six follow-up interviews, with 13 Vietnamese female caregivers of older patients with AD were conducted. These 13 caregivers were from 44 to 71 years old, mostly spouses of the patients with AD (n = 8), and retired (n = 9). Thematic coding procedure and the program MaxQDA12 were used for data analysis. Results show that the self-concepts of female caregivers in dementia care were complex, contextualized, and manifested in different aspects. First, self-concepts of these female caregivers were the outcome of the interactions between the guided-self and the performed-self. Their guided-self was the self that their social norms and cultural traditions told them about who they should be, while their performed-self was the self they demonstrated to the outside world. The mismatch between these two types of self caused distress among caregivers. Second, caregivers’ self-concept was the combination of the three key types of the self: the moral-self (a filial daughter or a responsible wife); the feminine-self (a patient and graceful women); and the worthy-self (a devoted and helpful caregiver). Understanding Vietnamese women’s self-concepts associated with their sociocultural context will better inform the development of support programs for them.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Indra Kharisma ◽  
Imron Mawardi

Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is used later to improve the image of the company and its business existence. Instead of CSR to empower people its delude people with a profit motive. Islamic CSR is that CSR refers to business practices that have an ethical responsibility Islamically, companies incorporate Islamic norms characterized by sincerity commitment in maintaining the social contract in its business practices in halal lawful. This study aimed to reveal the implementation of Islamic CSR PT. Bumi Lingga Pertiwi Gresik.This study used a qualitative approach with descriptive case study method. The selections of informant are using purposive sampling method. Data collection was conducted by semi-structured interviews and documentation. Analysis of the data using descriptive method.The results of this study indicate that PT. Bumi Lingga Pertiwi has implemented Islamic CSR based on unity, caliphate, justice and broterhood by creating and running a cooperation agreement in accordance with sharia corridor, provide good service to customers, act fairly and avoid discrimination, provide assistance to the poor in the villages around, helping the development of education and worship, as well as participate protecting the environment by way of planting trees together.


2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 17008
Author(s):  
Valentin Babintsev ◽  
Svetlana Vangorodskaya ◽  
Galina Gaidukova

On the basis of these semi-structured interviews conducted in the autumn of 2018 with the participation of residents of central Russia, the determinants of self-preservation behavior of Russia's population are identified in the context of a complex interaction of social and cultural traditions and innovations. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of behavioral patterns in the field of health, deterministic mental peculiarities of the Russians. Considers the environmental conditions in the place of residence, genetic predisposition to certain diseases, nutrition quality to be the main factors that have the greatest impact on individual health indicators, and also the presence (absence) of financial resources. The study revealed the ideas of Russians about the causes of "male super-mortality", which caused abnormal gender imbalances in mortality rates of the Russian population. It is concluded that the government's policy with regard to the formation of optimal models of self-preservation behavior should, first of all, to focus on the development and implementation of appropriate measures in relation to working-age men, and include not only the "prohibitive" and restrictive measures, but also activities to change the value-motivational foundations of self-preserving behavior.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalie Corona ◽  
Efren Velazquez ◽  
Shelby E. McDonald ◽  
Melissa Avila ◽  
Molly Neff ◽  
...  

Most of the literature on Latinx youths’ ethnic identity development has been conducted in communities with a large Latinx population. Fewer studies have examined Latinx youths’ ethnic identity in communities with a smaller yet rapidly growing Latinx population (i.e., new Latinx destination communities). Twenty-five Latinx youth (10-15 years)living in a new Latinx destination community participated in semi-structured interviews to identify the ethnic labels they use to describe themselves (i.e., ethnic-identity self-identification) and explore their feelings about being Latinx (i.e., ethnic-identity affirmation). Using an existing coding scheme, we found that most immigrant youth used a national origin label alone, while U.S.-born youth used a pan-ethnic term alone or in combination with an American term. Results of the thematic analysis exploring youths’ ethnic identity affirmation indicated three themes among youths’ account of their ethnic affirmation: (a) pride; (b) communication difficulties; and (c) discrimination. Study findings have implications for examining Latinx youth ethnic identity development in new destination communities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-477
Author(s):  
Fei Wang

This phenomenological study provided an in-depth description of the internal meaning of the lived experiences of Canadian-born and foreign-born Chinese students in Canada and uncovered the differences in their social experiences. The study used semi-structured interviews to allow the participants to express their views on their lives in Northern Ontario, Canada. Four themes emerged: (a) perceptions of ethnic identity; (b) cultural integration; (c) perceptions of academic performance and (d) the effect of Canadian education on career options. The study revealed that Canadian-born Chinese students differed from their foreign-born counterparts in their viewpoints on ethnic identity; their perceptions concerning acculturation; and academic performance. They shared similarities in their views about Canadian and Chinese educational systems, teaching styles, and their career expectations.


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