scholarly journals Telling Tales?

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Dennis Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethnographic Narratives

The ethnographic representation of violence is a controversial issue, involving debates about (avoiding) sensationalism or (acknowledging) emotionality, for example. Less considered is how the subjective nature of ethnography and the fact that ethnographic narratives are always situated can have ramifications for both interpreting and representing violence, particularly in the context of longitudinal ethnographic research. Drawing on my investigations into Nicaraguan gang dynamics begun in 1996, this article explores the subjectivity of the longitudinal ethnographic experience of violence both in and out of “the field” through three specific examples. These highlight in different ways how ethnographic understanding is highly situational and time-bound, meaning that longitudinal research is particularly prone to episodes of discomfiting conceptual disjuncture. At the same time, it is precisely this that arguably imbues it with exceptional power and insight.

scholarly journals Imagining Citizens as More than Data Subjects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Grommé ◽  
Evelyn Ruppert
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Official Statistics ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Design Workshop ◽  
Ethnographic Narratives ◽  
Opening Up

The article presents a methodography of a collaborative design workshop conducted with national and international statisticians. The workshop was part of an ethnographic research project on innovation in European official statistics. It aimed to bring academic researchers and statisticians together to collaborate on the design of app prototypes that imagine citizens as co-producers of official statistics rather than only data subjects. However, the objective was not to settle on an end product but to see if relations to citizens could be re-imagined. Through a methodography composed of two ethnographic narratives, we analyse whether and how a collaborative design workshop brought about imaginings of citizens as co-producers. To retrospectively analyse the workshop, we draw on feminist and material-semiotic takes on ‘friction’ as characteristic of collaboration. ‘Friction’, we suggest, can enlarge the repertoire of collaborative speculative practice beyond notions of rupture or consensus. Finally, we suggest that this analysis demonstrates the potential of methodography for opening up and reflecting on method in STS through eliciting the possibilities of collaboration.

scholarly journals Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-106
Author(s):  
Lidewyde H. Berckmoes ◽  
Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard ◽  
Dennis Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Way

While many anthropologists have previously reflected on longitudinal ethnography— for example distinguishing between different categories of longitudinal research, including the ethnographic revisit, either by the same or another researcher, diachronic research projects, involving continuous and sustained engagement over time, or so-called large-scale or multigenerational projects, among others—there has been little reflection on the way particular topics of research might impact on the longitudinal research process. In particular, we argue here that the stakes of longitudinal ethnographic research come to the fore particularly starkly in relation to studies of violence. More specifically, longitudinality potentially both enhances certain risks inherent to carrying out research on violence, while also offering unique opportunities for better understanding the phenomenon more reflexively.

scholarly journals Temporal practices: time and ethnographic research in changing organizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Subjective Time ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Workplace Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Lived Time ◽  
The Way

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore time dilemmas in ethnographic research and develops a facilitating frame for thinking about temporality. Core concepts developed include: temporal awareness that refers to widening of the understanding and sensitivity to time issues; temporal practices which relate to how the researcher learns to deal with, for example, contradictory conceptions of time in the pragmatics of conducting fieldwork and in the analysis of competing data; and temporal merging which is used to refer to the interweaving of objective and subjective concepts of time, and to the way that the past and prospective futures shape human experience of the present. Design/methodology/approach – An extended case study on workplace change is selectively drawn upon in discussing time and ethnographic research. Two closely related stories are used to illustrate aspects of temporality. These include a discussion of the way that stories in organizing, representing, simplifying and imposing structure (become theory-laden) often compressing the subjective experiences of lived time into a more formalized linear presentation that may inadvertently petrify temporal sensemaking; and an examination of how the polyphony of storying during times of change highlights temporal sensemaking and sensegiving through asynchronous features that emphasize volatility and non-linearity in explaining the way that people experience change. Findings – The conundrum that competing concepts of time often present for the researcher is in the juxtapositions that generate loose ends that appear to require resolution. Temporal merging in being able to accommodate the intertwining of objective and subjective time, temporal practices in being able to use different concepts of time without trying to resolve them during the collection and analyses of data, and temporal awareness in being able to accept the paradox of time in the use of a relational-temporal perspective, all open up opportunities for greater insight and understanding in engaging in ethnographic studies on changing organizations. Practical implications – There are a number of practical implications that arise from the paper in doing longitudinal research on workplace change. Four summarized here comprise: the significance of sustained fieldwork and not trying to shortcut time dimension to ethnographic research; the importance of developing temporal practices for dealing with objective and subjective time as well as the interweaving of temporal modes in data collection, analysis and write-up; the value of engaging with rather than resolving contradictions; chronological objective time is good for planning the research whilst subjective time is able to capture the non-linearity of lived time and the importance of context. Originality/value – A new facilitating frame is developed for dealing with time tensions that are often downplayed in research through the concepts of temporal awareness, practices and merging. The frame provides temporal insight and promotes the use of a relational processual perspective. It is also shown how stories present in the data, in the writing up of material for different audiences, in chronologies and events, and in the sensemaking and sensegiving of individuals and groups as they describe and shape their lived experiences of change – are useful devices for dealing with the conundrum of time in ethnographic research.

scholarly journals Amazon-Jap, uma ficção etnográfica

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (39) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel O. Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Region ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Visual Anthropology ◽  
Japanese Character ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ethnographic Fiction ◽  
Ethnographic Narratives ◽  
Experimental Narrative

Este texto é uma ficção, escrita depois de dez anos de realizar pesquisas etnográficas na região Amazônica. Trata-se de um texto experimental, que reflete vivências, tensões, visões de mundo contrastantes. Um texto no qual o sexo é uma alegoria das paixões despertadas neste horizonte etnográfico no qual interatuam índios, caboclos, negros e um personagem japonês que costura antropologia e história. A ficção, ambientada na região de Óbidos, permitiu abordar episódios históricos invisibilizados, como a Comuna de Manaus, quando tenentes tomaram o poder. Um Brasil profundo, cujas tensões ainda ecoam a Cabanagem. Este texto experimental traz para o campo da escrita um conceito amplamente explorado na Antropologia Visual, a ficção etnográfica, e debate indiretamente o status das narrativas etnográficas como ficção, um tema que permeia a Antropologia nos escritos de Geertz, Clifford, Marcus e Fischer, mas também outros mais antigos como Castaneda, Lewis e porque não, o próprio Malinowski.Palavras-chave: Amazonas. Ficção Etnográfica. Narrativa experimental.Amazon-Jap: an ethnographic fictionAbstract This text is a fiction, written after ten years to conduct ethnographic research in the Amazon region. This is an experimental text that reflects experiences, tensions, contrasting worldviews. A text in which sex is an allegory of the aroused passions in ethnographic horizon in which interact indians, mestizos, afroamericans and a japanese character stitching anthropology and history. The fiction, set in Obidos region, allowed us to analyze historical episodes invisible, as the Commune of Manaus. A deep Brazil, whose tensions still echo the Cabanagem. This experimental text brings to the field of writing a widely explored concept in Visual Anthropology, ethnographic fiction, and debate indirectly the status of ethnographic narratives as fiction, a theme that permeates the writings of Anthropology Geertz, Clifford, Marcus and Fischer, but also others olders as Castaneda, Lewis and why not, Malinowski himself.Key words: Amazon. Ethnographic Fiction. Experimental narrative.

Longitudinal Study of Teachers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Beck ◽  
Clare Kosnik ◽  
Elizabeth Rosales
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Time Period ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fine Tune

The longitudinal study of teachers gives a time perspective on the life and work of teachers, instead of just a snapshot at a particular point. The time period in question may be just a few intense months, as in some ethnographic research, or several decades, as in some life-history research. Longitudinal research is useful in exploring such topics as how teachers change and grow over their careers, changes in teachers’ professional satisfaction over the years, patterns of teacher retention and drop-out, the impact of teachers on their students over time, and the influence of preservice and/or in-service teacher education on teachers. Continuous study of the same teachers over many years is challenging and accordingly not common. It is typically expensive and time-consuming, and extends beyond the time span of most research funding; moreover, many participants either leave the profession or move to other locations, making it difficult to keep in touch with them. Accordingly, additional ways to do longitudinal research need to be found: for example, studying teachers intensively for a shorter period; asking teachers to recall earlier phases in their life and/or career; or studying different cohorts of teachers at various career points (as in the classic Huberman study and parts of the U.K. VITAE research). Each of these methods has limitations but maintains the valuable outcome of providing a time perspective. Where it can be arranged, however, interviewing the same teachers at intervals over several years has the advantage of enabling researchers to get to know the participants well. As a result, the researchers are in a better position to understand what the participants are saying in the interviews, and assess the veracity of their self-reporting about their views and practices, past and present. Also, a degree of trust is established such that the teachers are more likely to be frank about their feelings, challenges, and concerns. But one danger of the emerging relationship is that the support the relationship it provides may positively impact the teachers’ experience (e.g., helping them fine-tune their practice and maintain their morale to an unusually high level). This limitation has to be weighed against the advantages in deciding whether or not to use this approach to the longitudinal study of teachers.

scholarly journals A Cidade de Manaus a partir da Etnografia do Circuito do “RAP AM”

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (54) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Branquinho Abdala Norberto
Keyword(s):  
Rap Music ◽  
Amazon Region ◽  
Urban Anthropology ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Slum Area ◽  
Urban Ethnography ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ethnographic Narratives ◽  
The City

Resumo: Levo a cabo neste artigo a proposta de apresentar a cidade de Manaus a partir da etnografia do circuito do “Rap AM” - como MCs/rappers, DJs, beatmakers e produtores musicais reconhecem o circuito da música Rap em Manaus -, trazendo interpretações e narrativas etnográficas fruto do encontro intersubjetivo com os colaboradores desta pesquisa de doutorado (2016-20) realizada em quase oito meses de trabalho de campo na referida metrópole amazônica. Parto do amparo teórico/teórico-metodológico interdisciplinar  (etnomusicologia/antropologia) através dos paradigmas da etnografia da música/etnografia urbana enfatizando três eixos centrais da pesquisa: 1. a cidade de Manaus a partir da lente do etnógrafo; 2. o olhar do “Rap de quebrada” e suas interpretações da cidade ao empregar as categorias “periferia”, “quebrada” e “favela”; 3. o olhar do “Rap regional” e a sua demanda por uma “Manaus étnica”. Ressalto as potencialidades desta etnografia ao propor outros olhares/escutas das/nas cidades amazônicas, ao passo que problematizo o imaginário comum em torno de uma Amazônia predominantemente “rural”.Palavras-chave: Música Rap. Manaus. Amazônia Urbana. Etnomusicologia. Antropologia Urbana. MANAUS (A METROPOLIS FROM AMAZON REGION, BRAZIL): PERSPECTIVES FROM THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF “RAP AM” CIRCUIT Abstract: I present on this paper Manaus (a metropolis from Amazon region, Brazil) from the ethnography of “Rap AM” circuit - how MCs/rappers, DJs, beatmakers, and music producers recognize the Rap music circuit in Manaus -, bringing to light both interpretations and ethnographic narratives from the intersubjective encounter with collaborators of this PhD research (2016-20) carried out in almost eight months of fieldwork. I based myself in the interdisciplinary encounter of ethnomusicology and anthropology through the paradigms of music ethnography and urban ethnography. I emphasize the following issues throughout the paper: 1. Manaus city from the lens of the ethnographer; 2. "Ghetto Rap" subgenre and its interpretations of the city through categories such as “periphery” and “favela” ("slum area"); 3. “Regional Rap” subgenre and its demand for an “ethnic Manaus”. I underline potentialities of this ethnographic research for proposing other views and points of listening of and in Amazonian cities, and for problematize the common imaginary around a predominantly “rural” Amazon.Keywords: Rap Music. Manaus City. Urban Amazon. Ethnomusicology. Urban Anthropology.

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