scholarly journals Tourism bisnis and “making ples”: An ethnography of ni-Vanuatu bungalow and tour owners on Malekula

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Annabel Bennett

<p>Since tourism has become a leading contributor to growth in Vanuatu, local entrepreneurs on outer islands have been starting their own small bisnis (business) to take greater part in the industry and the cash economy. This has involved new and challenging negotiations with ples – a Bislama word that refers to land, history, and kastom (traditional values and practices) so integrally entangled with personal and group identity for indigenous ni-Vanuatu. This thesis documents the lived and told experiences of a number of ni-Vanuatu tourismentrepreneurs living on Malekula Island. These accounts are based on seven weeks of ethnographic fieldwork when I stayed at seven bungalows and conducted participant observation and storian (semi-structured interviews) with the owners and other members of the surrounding community. I argue that when building and running a tourismbisnis, ni-Vanuatu engage in a process of ‘making ples’ with a unique purpose of attracting tourists, one which involves a continuous dialogue with their environment, history and community, and ultimately results in a “politics of value” during the tourist encounter. Using participant stories, the ethnographic account explores owners’ motivations to start a bisnis and the building process, the ples-based challenges they face, and how different kinds of value are mediated between tourists and locals when they meet. This thesis reveals that understandings of tourism and its values are interwoven with understandings of, and relationships with, ples.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Annabel Bennett

<p>Since tourism has become a leading contributor to growth in Vanuatu, local entrepreneurs on outer islands have been starting their own small bisnis (business) to take greater part in the industry and the cash economy. This has involved new and challenging negotiations with ples – a Bislama word that refers to land, history, and kastom (traditional values and practices) so integrally entangled with personal and group identity for indigenous ni-Vanuatu. This thesis documents the lived and told experiences of a number of ni-Vanuatu tourismentrepreneurs living on Malekula Island. These accounts are based on seven weeks of ethnographic fieldwork when I stayed at seven bungalows and conducted participant observation and storian (semi-structured interviews) with the owners and other members of the surrounding community. I argue that when building and running a tourismbisnis, ni-Vanuatu engage in a process of ‘making ples’ with a unique purpose of attracting tourists, one which involves a continuous dialogue with their environment, history and community, and ultimately results in a “politics of value” during the tourist encounter. Using participant stories, the ethnographic account explores owners’ motivations to start a bisnis and the building process, the ples-based challenges they face, and how different kinds of value are mediated between tourists and locals when they meet. This thesis reveals that understandings of tourism and its values are interwoven with understandings of, and relationships with, ples.</p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Hulvej Jørgensen ◽  
Tine Curtis

Aim The paper examines teenage alcohol use from an intergenerational perspective through an ethnographic case study of interaction between teenagers and adults. Methods Two periods of ethnographic fieldwork were conducted in a rural Danish community of approximately 6000 inhabitants. The fieldwork included 50 days of participant observation among 13–16-year-olds (n=93) as well as semi-structured interviews with small self-selected friendship groups. The present paper presents an analysis of field notes from a night of participant observation that is used as an emblematic example of informants' alcohol use and their interaction with adults. Theoretically, the paper adopts French philosopher Michel de Certeau's conceptual framework for understanding the practice of everyday life, in particular his distinction between strategic and tactical action. Results Two scenarios are described and taken to represent two different adult approaches to teenage drinking. In Scenario I, adults accept a group of teenagers' drinking in the home, and in Scenario II adults create an alcohol-free space which they guard against the intrusion of intoxicated teenagers. In both cases, however, adults use their intergenerational position in order to strategically contain teenage drinking. Meanwhile, teenagers act tactically by adjusting their alcohol use in time and space. Further, the use of alcohol marks a shift in the interaction between adults and teenagers in so far as it enables teenagers to create and control a place of their own and hence signal their independence from adults. Conclusion The paper points to the creative, tactical agency of teenagers in response to adult strategies. It is illustrated how teenage alcohol use becomes a transformative factor for adult–teenager relationships, and in particular how teenagers rework intergenerational power differences by taking on drinking.


Author(s):  
Deepak Nair

AbstractThis article advances a methodological argument on how to do ethnographic fieldwork amid social elites and inaccessible bureaucracies in international politics. Instead of participant observation or semi-structured interviews, the article proposes “hanging out” as an alternative strategy to generate immersion and ethnographic insight. While the ethnographer studying “down” is arguably always “hanging out” (the village as the exemplary mise-en-scene of this genre), this technique takes a more defined form when studying “up” elites. Specifically, hanging out when studying “up” is a strategy where the fieldworker commits to a period of continuous residence amid members of a community; engages in ludic, informal, and often sociable interactions outside or at the sidelines of their professional habitats; and participates in a range of activities where building rapport is as important as the primary goals of the research. I illustrate this methodological strategy and its payoffs by reflecting upon a year of fieldwork among the diplomats and bureaucrats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—an informal, quiet, and often sub rosa diplomatic project run by a band of mostly authoritarian states in Southeast Asia. This article contributes to debates on the viability of ethnographic fieldwork in international relations (IR); advances a methodological corrective to fieldwork prescriptions in new micropolitical studies of practice, interactions, and emotions in IR; and offers a practical illustration of what studying “up” looks like in diplomacy and international politics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Turner

Background: Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with British seasonal workers and tourists, this paper provides an extensive overview of the methodological processes of researching drug users and drug dealers within the international nightlife resort of Ibiza. In an innovative application of Bryman’s (2004) Disneyization framework, it is argued that seasonal workers are engaged in a deep form of performative labour. As mediators of Ibiza’s hedonistic atmosphere, this social group are revealed to be deeply immersed in the island’s renowned drug market. Methods: Ethnographic fieldwork employing a grounded theory design was undertaken over three summers in tourist locations across Ibiza, including: nightclubs; bars and cafes; beaches; airports and hotels. Field notes from participant observation were supplemented with data from semi-structured interviews (n=56). Documentary photography was also employed, with 580 images taken during fieldwork. Results and Conclusion: Many British seasonal workers in Ibiza are rapidly enmeshed within the drug market associated with the island’s hedonistic nightlife. Participants in this study were invariably engaged in high levels of illicit drug use, and unlike their tourist counterparts, this was drawn out over several months. As a consequence of the fragile nature of employment within the legal economy, many seasonal workers in Ibiza rely on income from drug dealing. In a social context where drug use is woven into the consumer space, it seems the multiple risks associated with the drug trade are obfuscated. The paper demonstrates that ethnographic immersion within bounded play spaces is essential if researchers are to generate theoretical insight into the complex intersections between illicit drug use, dealing and social context.


2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
ANN Af BURÉN

The article builds on ethnographic fieldwork within the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) milieu of Istanbul. It is based on material collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with people who at the same time selfidentify as practicing Muslims and have romantic and sexual relations with people of their own sex. The protagonist of the article is a pious Muslim woman who can be placed in the category of LGBTQ Muslims who do not seek coherence and are not involved in a reinterpretation of their Islamic tradition. The article explores the complex ways in which this woman handles the potential conflicts between her sex life and her religious beliefs, and points specifically to the way she supports herself on the firm belief that Allah loves and protects her.


Author(s):  
Clara Felício Barreto Zatyrko ◽  
Régia Cristina Oliveira ◽  
Eunice Almeida da Silva

The uniform can be understood as a symbol which represents the individual’s occupation in society and in the institution where he works. Nursing, since its early days, is a profession which demands the wearing of a uniform. Nursing schools, traditionally, are in charge of indicating the wearing of uniform, informing this clothing’s symbolic importance for the profession. The present paper aims at analyzing the uniform’s meanings revealed by nursing teachers at a high school and nursing technician course, in a school located in the North Zone of São Paulo, Brazil. This qualitative research with semi structured interviews and participant observation with nursing teachers. The results showed that there are meanings that update traditional values related to the profession, the feminine gender, professional identity and the association between uniform and painful experiences.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Célia Coelho Gomes da Silva

This work is the result of the doctoral thesis entitled Pilgrimage of Bom Jesus da Lapa: Social Reproduction of the Family and Female Gender Identity, specifically the second chapter that talks about women in the Pilgrimage of Bom Jesus da Lapa, emphasizing gender relations, analyzing the location of the pilgrimage as a social reproduction of the patriarchal family and female gender identity. The research scenario is the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage, which has been held for 329 years, in that city, located in the West part of Bahia. The research participants are pilgrim women who are in the age group between 50 and 70 years old and have participated, for more than five consecutive years in the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage, belonging to five Brazilian states (Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Goiás) that register a higher frequency of attendance at this religious event. We used bibliographic, qualitative, field and documentary research and data collection as our methodology; we applied participant observation and semi-structured interviews as a technique. We concluded that the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage is a location for family social reproduction and the female gender identity, observing a contrast in the resignification of the role and in the profile of the pilgrim women from Bom Jesus da Lapa, alternating between permanence and the transformation of gender identity coming from patriarchy.


Author(s):  
Amanda Cabral ◽  
Carolin Lusby ◽  
Ricardo Uvinha

Sports Tourism as a segment is growing exponentially in Brazil. The sports mega-events that occurred in the period from 2007 to 2016 helped strengthen this sector significantly. This article examined tourism mobility during the Summer Olympic Games Rio 2016, hosted by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This study expands the understanding of the relationship between tourism and city infrastructure, therefore being relevant to academics, professionals of the area and to the whole society due to its multidisciplinary field. The existence of a relationship between means of transportation and the Olympic regions as well as tourist attractions for a possible legacy was observed. Data were collected from official sources, field research and through participant-observation and semi structured interviews. Data were coded and analyzed. The results indicate that the city was overall successful in its execution of sufficient mobility. New means of transportation were added and others updated. BRT's (Bus Rapid Transit) were the main use of mass transport to Olympic sites. However, a lack of public transport access was observed for the touristic sites.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124162110216
Author(s):  
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Issues of power, inequality, and representation in the production of knowledge have a long history in transnational feminist research. And yet the unequal relationship between ethnographers and participants continues to haunt feminist research. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork with the cooperative Sulá Batsú in Costa Rica between 2015 and 2019, in this essay I argue that centering solidarity and working through discomfort creates relationships that can reinvent and endure the persistent imbalance of power between researcher and participant. I conceptualize a solidarity-based methodology that is uncomfortable, tossing between "us and them," the objective and the subjective, akin to Gloria Anzaldúa’s “nepantla,” a liminal space of both fragmentation and unification, of both anguish and healing: a methodology from the cracks. In this essay, I reflect upon my experiences as a Puerto Rican feminist researcher focusing on Sulá Batsú, specifically on my relationship with the coop’s general coordinator. I conducted ethnographic fieldwork with the coop, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis of their research, briefs, blog posts, presentations, and promotional literature.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062096216
Author(s):  
Sarah Barriage

Many children in the USA spend a significant amount of time in center-based childcare. However, research has yet to explore their information practices in this setting. This study investigates young children’s perceptions of the concept of information and their own information-seeking practices within the context of their day care classroom. The participants included 13 children between three and five years of age. Data was collected using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, child-led photo tours, and photo-elicitation interviews. The findings indicate that the children did not perceive the concept of information in a manner consistent with adult understandings of the term, and that they engaged in information-seeking related to finding out new things on their own, through interactions with others, and through classroom resources, activities, and routines. The findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners working with young children.


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