scholarly journals Archaeological Stratigraphy, Flat Ontology and Thin Description. A Note on (Inter)disciplinary Dialogue

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Staša Babić
Keyword(s):  
Social Engagement ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
Human Responsibility

Over the last decades, some archaeologists have adopted the approaches from philosophy and anthropology that may loosely be denoted by the term new materialism. The key assumptions are that archaeological investigation, regardless of the theoretical stance applied, has always been burdened by the modern mode of thinking and dichotomies such as nature/culture or subject/object, wherefrom stems the anthropocentric approach to the study of objects, primarily in respect to humans. It is suggested that the reality consists of a plethora of diverse elements, all deserving equal attention and all their existences being of equal relevance. Objects, animals, plants, all have the potential to act in a network of equal actors. A researcher must therefore respect the flat ontology, where none of the actors has primacy. The paper problematizes some of the (un)intentional implications of the ontological turn for the theory and practice of archaeology. First of all, the proposed flattening destabilizes the key disciplinary distinction – study of the human past through its material remains. The downplaying of the importance of human actions in the formation of networks of mutually equal actors at the same time downplays the human responsibility. In this way, various forms of inequality among humans as research priorities and the potential of social engagement of archaeology are neglected. Similar critique of new materialism is raised in the fields of philosophy and anthropology as well. This brings about the issue of interdisciplinary transfers of thin descriptions – selective adoption of concepts whose full implications remain neglected.

Communities of Practice

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Practice Environment ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Approach To Learning

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Please check back later for the full article. A Community of Practice (CoP) is an approach to professional learning and development based on collaboration among peers. In a CoP, individuals come together virtually or physically and coalesce around a common purpose. CoPs are defined by knowledge rather than task and provide a safe space for novices and experienced practitioners to collaborate, construct, and embed sustainable outputs that impact on both theory and practice development. CoPs provide a framework for constructing authentic and collaborative learning. Jeanne Lave and Etienne Wenger are credited with the original description of a CoP as an approach to learning that encompasses elements of identity, situation, and active participation. CoPs blend a constructivist view of learning, where meaningful experience is set in the context of “self” and the relationship of “self” with the wider professional community. The result is an integrated approach to learning and development achieved through a combination of social engagement and collaborative working in an authentic practice environment. In health and education, CoPs blend theory and practice to create a portal for practitioners to generate, shape, test, and evaluate new ideas and innovations. CoPs learn through the act of social participation; active group learning, and collaboration in an authentic practice environment. Membership of a CoP supports the development of professional identity within a wider vocational sphere.

Fatalism, Causal Reasoning, and Natural Hazards

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McClure
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
Causal Judgments ◽  
Risk Communications ◽  
Human Responsibility ◽  
Risk Judgments

Fatalism about natural disasters hinders action to prepare for those disasters, and overcoming this fatalism is one key element to preparing people for these disasters. Research by Bostrom and colleagues shows that failure to act often reflects gaps and misconceptions in citizen’s mental models of disasters. Research by McClure and colleagues shows that fatalistic attitudes reflect people’s attributing damage to uncontrollable natural causes rather than controllable human actions, such as preparation. Research shows which precise features of risk communications lead people to see damage as preventable and to attribute damage to controllable human actions. Messages that enhance the accuracy of mental models of disasters by including human factors recognized by experts lead to increased preparedness. Effective messages also communicate that major damage in disasters is often distinctive and reflects controllable causes. These messages underpin causal judgments that reduce fatalism and enhance preparation. Many of these messages are not only beneficial but also newsworthy. Messages that are logically equivalent but are differently framed have varying effects on risk judgments and preparedness. The causes of harm in disasters are often contested, because they often imply human responsibility for the outcomes and entail significant cost.

From service quality to service theory and practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chatura Ranaweera ◽  
Marianna Sigala
Keyword(s):  
Service Management ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Considerable Change ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
Service Theory

Purpose – The purpose of this editorial paper is to set out the vision for the Journal of Service Theory and Practice (JSTP). Design/methodology/approach – Together with personal reflections of the authors, it is based on a review of literature on the past, the present and the future of service research, an analysis of a broad range of global environmental trends, as well as interviews, communications and feedback from eminent scholars in the field of service research. Findings – The paper sets out the expanded aims and scope for the JSTP. It also explains the rationale for the change in title and elaborates upon expectations for manuscripts submitted to the journal. Research limitations/implications – It identifies a set of research priorities for the journal and the field. Practical implications – It highlights the importance of translating theory into practice by making meaningful recommendations and action plans for firms and managers. Originality/value – This paper is written at a time when the journal has been undergoing considerable change, including retitling as well as the complete restructuring of the editorial team. It is also written at a time when the field of service management is being transformed by new approaches and research perspectives. As such, it is both necessary and timely.

Communities of Practice in Health and Risk Messaging

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Social Engagement ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Common Purpose

A community of practice (CoP) situated in a health and risk context is an approach to collaboration among members that promotes learning and development. In a CoP, individuals come together virtually or physically and coalesce around a common purpose. CoPs are defined by knowledge, rather than task, and encourage novices and experienced practitioners to work together to co-create and embed sustainable outputs that impact on theory and practice development. As a result, CoPs provide an innovative approach to incorporating evidence-based research associated with health and risk into systems and organizations aligned with public well-being. CoPs provide a framework for constructing authentic and collaborative learning. Jeanne Lave and Etienne Wenger are credited with the original description of a CoP as an approach to learning that encompasses elements of identity, situation, and active participation. CoPs blend a constructivist view of learning, where meaningful experience is set in the context of “self” and the relationship of “self” with the wider professional community. The result is an integrated approach to learning and development achieved through a combination of social engagement and collaborative working in an authentic practice environment. CoPs therefore provide a strategic approach to acknowledging cultural differences related to translating health and risk theory into practice. In health and risk settings, CoPs situate and blend theory and practice to create a portal for practitioners to generate, shape, test, and evaluate new ideas and innovations. Membership of a CoP supports the development of professional identity within a wider professional sphere and may support community members to attain long range goals.

Interpreting Archaeological Evidence in the Anthropocene. Incidentality and Meaning

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Olivier
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
The World ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Ontological Turn

The post-processual archaeology that dominated the scholarship of Anglo-American academics in the 1980s and 1990s now lies moribund, done in by an ‘ontological turn’ in the study of anthropology that began some 15 or 20 years ago. Anthropos is no longer the sole focal point; human beings no longer occupy the central place in our understanding of cultures and societies. As contemporary anthropologists have noted, human actions and ideas are not the lone contributors to the creation of a civilization's structures and objects or the development of societal forms. Other kinds of ‘life’, a variety of other non-human organisms contribute to their creation as well. They most notably include places and what we generally refer to as things: objects, constructions and materials. In effect, they include all the organic and non-organic components of the world about us. These are the ‘beings’, both animate and inanimate, that ‘make’ the world. Moreover, ‘things’ are no longer regarded as pure inert ‘objects’, only created or transformed by the will of humans or the force of their technology. The present transformations of the Anthropocene, which is producing climatic changes at a global scale, are pushing us to consider that ‘natural’ events—such as floods or hurricanes—may be the direct result of human actions and material ‘things’—such as the earth and the oceans—may be active agents of change. In other words, they are also the subjects of history.

On the Nature of an Integral Sociology: An Exploration in Theory and Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-269
Author(s):  
P. Conrad Kotze
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Structure Characteristic ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Order Unity ◽  
Sociological Practice ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
Mode Of Being ◽  
The University

This article is the first in a series of three installments representing a doctoral project carried out at the University of the Free State in South Africa. The aim of this article is to establish an apodictic ontic and epistemic foundation for the construction of an integral framework for sociological practice. To this end, manifest reality is meditated upon in a realist phenomenological manner, thus yielding an etiological framework aimed at reflecting reality in itself, and not as the object of a specific scientific paradigm. Situated against the backdrop of the ontological turn in the social sciences, the argument is developed that contemporary science represents an ill-founded attempt at empirically describing a reality that is fundamentally trans-empirical. It is posited that any scientific enterprise which is founded exclusively on an empirical analysis of “objective” reality can ultimately yield only partial truths. To remedy this situation, the role of intersubjectively constructed meaning-frameworks and subjectively constituted qualia of manifestation during the generation of reality are acknowledged, facilitating an account thereof that enlivens the positivistic “world-as-described” by integrating it with the hermeneutically navigable “world-as-agreed-upon” and the individually encountered/embodied “world-as-witnessed.” The resulting etiological framework facilitates a grasp of the higher order unity of these “worlds” by facilitating the emergence of an aperspectival mode of being that transcends the empirico-perspectival mental consciousness structure characteristic of modern and postmodern epistemologies. In so doing, a universally valid layer of knowledge is laid bare which can serve as a contextualizing point of reference for the continued perspectival exploration of particular conditioned aspects of reality.

“There Was So Much”

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Work ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Knowledge Loss ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Original Owner ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
Development State

Anthropologists debate the usefulness of an “Ontological Turn” in theory and practice as a way to confront the social and ecological disjuncture at the heart of the Anthropocene. Is it possible, scholars wonder, to validate rather than rationalize the idea that mountains, rivers, and trees are social interlocutors as well as arbiters of justice, resource access, and societal well-being? In a twist of monumental irony, previously market-independent Cambodians are facing, in an odious confluence of fear, need, and desire, an ontological turn toward the rationalized notion that trees, mountains, rivers and all their inhabitants are important primarily as commodities that can be converted to money. This paper explores part of that nexus of fear, need, and desire through accounts of social relationships with the “owner of the water and the land,” whose permission is sought for territorial access and resource use. Successful navigation of relationships with the original owner of the territory require respect, solidarity, conservation, and offerings of gratitude. In return people enjoy resource abundance, ritual/technical knowledge, and good health. Improper comportment results in illness, loss of access to forest and water resources, and knowledge loss. In yet another ironic twist, the Development State (defined within) promises poverty alleviation, education, and health care for all those who master the extractive market economy. The paper explores how different ontologies give rise to particular social, political, and economic possibilities, and demonstrates that the punishments of the Original owner of the water and the land are visited upon those who either will not or cannot successfully navigate the extractive market system.

scholarly journals Archetypification as the Ideology and Technology of Educational Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 644-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera A. Fortunatova ◽  
Elena V. Valeeva
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article is based on the methodology of development of the cultural heritage of the past, which translates the value of educational stability. For this purpose, the concept of generatype is introduced in the form of an educational model that concentrates the best of what humanity has preserved for the formation of human. Generatypes are derived from the change of cultural matrices, vary from era to era and depend on the nature of evolutionary changes of these sources within the individual cultural stages of social evolution. The concept we introduce does not mean grandiose “chips” of archetypal ideas, but only correlates them with the new human and the new world. A generatype is a total (collective) image that creates a special edu­cational ideology and determines the nature of human actions. It is the totality of human actions that forms a special type of person developed in a particular era. The most important in this process is the idea of accumulation of meanings. Educatio­nal gene­ratypes act as structural principles of exteriorization of educational reality, in which we distinguish the following periods characterized by specific generatypes: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the 17th—18th centuries, the 19th and 20th centuries. Classical literature and the art of the past give us examples of spiritual dominants of each cultural era. The anthropological ideals we identify are the following: Antiquity — the hero, the Middle Ages — the saint, the Age of Enlightenment — the encyclopedist (universalist), the 19th century — the engineer/artist, the 20th century — the financier. Actualization of the ideas of the past is the extraction of the studied material from long-term and short-term memory for the purpose of its subsequent use in recognition or direct reproduction in the modern educational process. The combination of educational ideologies (ideas) of different relevance opens up new facets of modern educational theory and practice and reveals their cultural potential. Moreover, the mechanism of actualization should not be based on rough mo­dernization, but involves the use of receptive abilities of people, the development of their imagination and emotional memory. The cognitive-metaphorical scheme of synthesis of humanitarian content given in the article provides an example of the stated idea development both in the research direction and in the educational-applied space of new technologies of teaching eternal meanings.

scholarly journals Science, technology, security: Towards critical collaboration

2020 ◽  
pp. 030631272095351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Weiss Evans ◽  
Matthias Leese ◽  
Dagmar Rychnovská
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Security Communities ◽  
Technical Collaboration

Science and technology play a central role in the contemporary governance of security, both as tools for the production of security and as objects of security concern. Scholars are increasingly seeking to not only critically reflect on the interplays between science, technology and security, but also engage with the practices of security communities that shape and are shaped by science and technology. To further help this growth of interest in security topics within science and technology studies (STS), we explore possible modes of socio-technical collaboration with security communities of practice. Bringing together literatures from STS and critical security studies, we identify several key challenges to critical social engagement of STS scholars in security-related issues. We then demonstrate how these challenges played out over the course of three case studies from our own experience in engaging security communities of practice. We use these vignettes to show that there is a rich vein of developments in both theory and practice that STS scholars can pursue by attending to the interplay of science, technology and security.

scholarly journals Both Like and Unlike: Rebirth, Olfaction, and the Transspecies Imagination in Modern Chinese Buddhism

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 364
Author(s):  
Lina Verchery
Keyword(s):  
Animal Studies ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Critical Animal Studies ◽  
Moral Cultivation ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

This essay considers the importance of the transspecies imagination for moral cultivation in contemporary Chinese Buddhism. Drawing on scriptural, theoretical, and fieldwork-based ethnographic data, it argues that olfaction—often considered the most “animalistic” of the human senses—is uniquely efficacious for inspiring imaginative processes whereby Buddhists train themselves to inhabit the perspectives of non-human beings. In light of Buddhist theories of rebirth, this means extending human-like status to animals and recognizing the “animal” within the human as well. Responding to recent trends in the Humanities calling for an expanded notion of ontological continuity between the human and non-human—notably inspired by critical animal studies, post-humanism, the new materialism, and the “ontological turn”—this essay contends that Buddhist cosmological ideas, like those that demand the cultivation of the transspecies imagination, present resources for moral reflection that can challenge and enrich current mainstream thinking about humanity’s relation to the nonhuman world.

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