Notes on a North American Anthropology of Christianity

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
Rebekka King
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Group Setting ◽  
Anthropology Of Christianity ◽  
Popular Texts

My ethnographic project constitutes two years of participant observation at five churches that have self-identified as progressives and which regularly study popular texts that challenge traditional theological assertions. The research in which I am engaged most closely locates itself within the division of the anthropology of Christianity that focuses upon the language or ideology through which the Christian subject is constructed, maintained, and legitimized (Stromberg 1993; Harding 2000; Keane 2007). More specifically I look at study and discussion groups featuring popular theological texts and seek to delineate the identity constructed through the interplay between the texts and their readers in a group setting.

The St. James Way in Portugal and Spain

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-127
Author(s):  
Martín Gómez-Ullate ◽  
Pedro Corcho-Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Complex Material ◽  
La Plata ◽  
Historical Accuracy ◽  
Depth Interviews

Using case studies, this chapter reviews the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to governance for pilgrimage routes in the Vía de la Plata and the Portuguese Way to Santiago (CPIS). The research is based on a set of qualitative techniques, including discussion groups, in-depth interviews, participant observation, team ethnography, and web analysis. This creates a rich and complex material for a deeper understanding of the route a stakeholder experiences. Stakeholders converge or differ in their perceptions of the actual problems of the route, while it is clearly shown how touristic principles or interests clash with other discourses focusing on integrity of historical accuracy or integrity of Xacobean values.

Satan and the Spiritual Realm

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Bramadat
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
North American ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
American University ◽  
Level I ◽  
Ancient Christianity ◽  
Popular Texts ◽  
The Demonic ◽  
The Way

Although the prominence of women in the McMaster IVCF challenged my presuppositions about several elements of evangelicalism, the role of Satan in this group’s discourse simply bewildered me. Whenever this topic arose during conversations with IVCF students, I became somewhat disoriented. For the first several interviews, I was incredulous and found myself rephrasing the open-ended questions I had posed, seeking more and more details in the answers that were offered to me. I had encountered references to Satan, demons, and angels in most of the scholarly and popular texts I had read before I started fieldwork. However, there is a significant and sometimes categorical difference between what one reads about in the comfort of one’s home and what one experiences in the field. In other words, although I was intellectually prepared to encounter Satan, demons, and angels in evangelical discourse, on a deeper level, I was unable to accept that contemporary North American university students would believe in the existence of such entities in quite the way that IVCF students actually do. Eventually, I was able to understand more clearly and without puzzlement what IVCF members mean when they speak of the spiritual realm. In fact, by the end of my fieldwork, I found myself interpreting several unsettling experiences in my own life according to the IVCF’s relatively “enchanted” worldview. Initially, I began investigating this issue by asking students questions about the role of Satan in their lives at McMaster. However, my respondents rarely referred solely to Satan, but rather to a much more elaborate array of nonhuman entities working for and against Satan. In referring to these entities, I use the phrase “spiritual realm” in addition to God, Satan, demons, and angels, partly for the sake of brevity but in addition because I seek to connote by this phrase an entire cxtrahuman dimension that includes all these figures. Because students talk about the demonic elements of the spiritual realm much more frequently than the angelic elements, this chapter focuses on the former. The evangelical discourse on the spiritual realm is rooted in both ancient Christianity and recent popular fiction.

scholarly journals The Performance and Construction of Subjectivities of Early Adolescent Girls in Book Club Discussion Groups

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ariail Broughton
Keyword(s):  
Book Club ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Early Adolescent ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Shared Meanings ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Louise Rosenblatt

This study examines the performance and construction of subjectivities of four early adolescent, sixth-grade girls as they read and discussed a novel about two adolescent Mexican children seeking a new life in America. Using data gathered through ethnographic methods such as participant-observation, interviews, dialogue journals, and book club discussions, the author describes the participants as they performed their subjectivities in various contexts, focusing specifically on their performances while reading and discussing the novel in book club groups. The girls' conversations about themselves suggested that they engaged in ongoing constructions of their subjectivities as they interacted with the text and with each other. Analysis of data was inductive and was informed by theories of experiential response as developed by Louise Rosenblatt and others. The discussion groups provided a fertile environment in which the girls could reflect on the text, share responses, argue opposing viewpoints, and negotiate shared meanings. During the discussions of the novel, the girls debated a variety of personal and social issues, sometimes recognizing and verbally acknowledging shifts in their values, beliefs, and attitudes as they negotiated meanings and clarified understandings.

Avatar-Based Group Discussions in Virtual Worlds

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Nussli ◽  
Kevin Oh
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Communication Modalities

This article focuses on developing guidelines for the effective facilitation of avatar-based group discussions. This qualitative inquiry is guided by an investigation of (1) social affordances of avatar-based discussions, with an emphasis on social and physical presence, (2) strategies to help establish rapport with other avatars, and (3) the complexities of communication modalities (voice vs. text) in avatar-based discussions. The study also explores the benefits and challenges of participating in virtual discussions. The data originated from avatar-based discussion groups in Second Life moderated by expert hosts and co-hosts and were gathered through participant and non-participant observation. Guidelines for the effective moderation of avatar-based discussion groups are presented throughout the chapter, such as, creating a feeling of acceptance and non-judgment, communicating synchronously to support immediacy, demonstrating virtual sharing acts, using voice for humanized communication, showing social emotionality, and observing real-life social norms.

Observed Format of Seminar/Discussion Groups among College Students

1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 490-490
Author(s):  
Gerald M. Meredith
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Discussion Group ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Group Setting ◽  
Instructional Format ◽  
Group Format ◽  
Instructor Satisfaction

Recently Meredith (2, p. 869) reported that college students described the instructional format of 365 lecture courses as “mostly lecture with some group discussion.” In addition, students preferred significantly more discussion than they received. The seminar-and-discussion group format provides a small group setting, and increased social interaction among participants (1). The empirical questions were formulated: (a) How do college students describe the format of seminar/discussion groups? (b) Does observed format predict course/instructor satisfaction?

Gay Bars

1984 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Israelstam ◽  
Sylvia Lambert
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Social Life ◽  
General Public ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Drinking Problems ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Gay Bars

The gay bar is the centre of social life for many homosexuals. Since drinking problems are reported to be greater among the homosexual population than the general public, a description of the gay bars is provided as a possible starting point for studying the problem. Using the available literature, an international and a North American gay bar guide, and ten years participant observation, we describe the bars and the drinking and other behaviours of their clientele.

scholarly journals Organizational Management by Processes in the Local Health System

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Organizational Climate ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Organizational Management ◽  
Local System ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Organizational Dysfunction ◽  
Local Health System

The study presents the alternative experience of applying the two theoretical management models that the Ministry of Health of Ecuador proposes, facilitating the analysis of information, its relevance, the technical support of the teams, the management of costs and finances in the exercise of health care and organizational climate. The methodology applied was quantitative in relation to global performance indicators and qualitative to assess the level of district organizational climate. This study uses as research techniques, the analysis of indicators, participant observation, open interviews and discussion groups, which generate the following reports: baseline and epistemology of the local health system. The study concludes that the local system of ministerial health, compromises of managerial dyslexia that would cause organizational dysfunction, due to the practice of two models of management not necessarily complementary, that is, the classic vertical bureaucratic system and the process management model that obeys a participatory system by objectives. However, the application of this last model improves the organizational climate and coverage results in 14%.

scholarly journals Análisis de la influencia en el aprendizaje del alumnado tras la organización de tertulias musicales dialógicas en un centro educativo. / Analysis of the influence on student learning after the organization of dialogical musical gatherings in an educational center

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Cantero Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Basic Skills ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Educational Community ◽  
Weekly Basis ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
Music Specialist ◽  
Selection Of

Las tertulias musicales dialógicas (TMD), son parte de las actuaciones de éxito de una Comunidad de Aprendizaje (CdA). El objeto de este estudio se centra en una experiencia realizada en un centro educativo que realiza estas actuaciones con todos los miembros de la comunidad educativa. El CEIP Navas de Tolosa realiza TMD de forma semanal en todas las aulas del centro. El profesorado en general, no solo el de música, realiza esta actividad con el alumnado de forma sistemática, obteniendo grandes beneficios en todas las competencias básicas. La selección de las obras musicales contrastadas procedentes de los clásicos universales, ha sido programada por la dirección del centro, también especialista de música. El estudio analizado desde una mirada cualitativa bajo dos enfoques, la observación participante realizada por la propia docente e investigadora del aula y la moderación de grupos de discusión orientados a conocer la percepción de los discentes sobre el conjunto de actuaciones de éxito realizadas en el aula de música.Analysis of the influence on student learning after the organization of dialogical musical gatherings in an educational center.Dialogical musical gatherings (TMD) are part of the successful actions of a Learning Community (CdA). The object of this study is centered on an experience carried out in an educational center that performs these actions with all the members of the educational community. The CEIP Navas de Tolosa performs TMD on a weekly basis in all the classrooms of the center. The teachers in general, not only the music, perform this activity with the students in a systematic way, obtaining great benefits in all basic skills. The selection of the contrasted musical works from the universal classics has been programmed by the center’s management, also a music specialist. The study analyzed from a qualitative perspective under two approaches, the participant observation made by the teacher and researcher of the classroom and the moderation of discussion groups aimed at knowing the perception of the students on the set of successful performances in the classroom of music.

“If You Do Not Fit in With the Stereotype, They Eat You Alive”: Discourses of Masculinities and Their Reflections in Young Spanish Men’s Health

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110500
Author(s):  
Ariadna Cerdán-Torregrosa ◽  
Daniel La Parra-Casado ◽  
Carmen Vives-Cases
Keyword(s):  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Men’S Health ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Men's Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sexual Orientations

Hegemonic masculinity has been especially linked, among other aspects, to unhealthy behaviors and heterosexuality. This study aimed to explore the discourses of masculinities with young Spanish men with different sexual orientations (heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals), comparing them with the social representations that are put into practice on Instagram. Three qualitative approaches were triangulated to seek a richer comprehension and interpretational level: discussion groups, semi-structured interviews, and an online non-participant observation on Instagram with a total of 26 young men aged between 18 and 24. Results indicate that hegemonic masculinity discourse is still significant when understanding and experiencing young men’s masculinities, promoting behaviors that put their health at risk and generating psychological discomfort, especially among non-heterosexual men. Our findings provide knowledge of the social framework that legitimizes and reproduces male domination in younger generations both online and offline and how this is reflected in men’s health.

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