Co-Construction and Field Creation

2004 ◽  
pp. 219-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Forte
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Web Development ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
Virtual Ethnography ◽  
Modes Of Action

Ethnographic research ethics involved in bridging offline and online modes of action research are the focal point of this chapter, written from an anthropological perspective. The specific form of action research in this case study is that of website development. The author argues that online action research, and Web development as a research tool and relationship in ethnographic research are still very much neglected areas of concern, with respect to both virtual ethnography and traditional forms of field work. In this chapter, the argument put forth is that while traditional offline research ethics are still applicable, especially in the offline dimension of research that precedes collaborative Web development, online modes of action research involve substantively different and more fluid conceptions of research ethics, rights and responsibilities for all parties concerned.

Rethinking the Agency of Women in the Shea Industry

Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiba Yayah
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Good Source ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Home Based

The agency of women in most African countries is often affected by the socio-economic and political policies that are almost always disadvantageous to women, especially women who have little to no knowledge of their rights. Using the shea industry in Ghana as a case study, I chronicle the challenges as recounted by rural women involved in this home-based work in the Northern Region of Ghana and critically analyse these challenges and their implications. Focusing mainly on the results of my recent field work, I present some of the accounts relating to the lack and exclusion of recognition of and respect for the experiences of rural women who are in fact the linchpin of the shea industry in Ghana. Initiatives and strategies of non-governmental organisations and some governmental policies have attempted to address these challenges that have implications for the livelihoods of rural women. Research and policies have only offered “band-aid solutions” to the economic disempowerment of rural women in the shea industry in Ghana as they have not dealt with the causes. This article seeks to refute the claim that equity exists by indicating the lack of equity and justice in the policies in the shea industry. In an attempt to provide an understanding of the economic disempowerment of women in this industry, I consider my field work as a good source as it exposes the experiences and everyday practices as narrated by rural women in the industry. This article seeks to analyse the existing discourses especially those pertaining to the contributions and experiences of rural women in the shea industry.

Is Gay Tourism More Than Tourism? A Case Study of Puerto Vallarta, MX

2021 ◽  
pp. 016059762110140
Author(s):  
Emma G. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Gay Community ◽  
Men I ◽  
Oppressed Group ◽  
Normative Standard

The reasons gay men seek out gay travel destinations has been well established in the literature. However, less research has been published on the consequences of that travel on the destinations themselves and the effect of gay tourism on the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. I use ethnographic research in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a popular international gay tourist destinations for American and Canadian gay men. I focus on how gay destinations are constructed as sites where members of the gay community can experience acceptance and inclusion and I ask the following questions, is this acceptance and inclusion dependent upon consumption? Are the tourist site and expectations for behavior in those sites oppressively normal? That is, does the site create a normative standard of behavior for gay tourists? Furthermore, while gay tourists may experience inclusion and a level of acceptance, how does gay tourism affect the destination site itself? Is this acceptance and inclusion problematized by larger systems of inequality such as class, gender, and race? Lastly, as members of a historically oppressed group, does and should gay tourism rise above its commodification to produce just, equitable relationships within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community including the environment?

scholarly journals Towards Zero Emissions Noosa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4679
Author(s):  
Carina Anderson ◽  
Robert Passey ◽  
Jeremy De Valck ◽  
Rakibuzzaman Shah
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Community Group ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
Set Up ◽  
External Consultant

This paper reports on a case study of the community group Zero Emissions Noosa, whose goal is for 100% renewable electricity in the Noosa Shire (Queensland, Australia) by 2026. Described within this paper are the processes used by Zero Emissions Noosa to set up their zero emissions plan, involving community engagement and the use of an external consultant. The external consultant was employed to produce a detailed report outlining how to successfully achieve zero emissions from electricity in the Noosa Shire by 2026. This paper explains how and why the community engagement process used to produce the report was just as important as the outcomes of the report itself. Modeling was undertaken, and both detailed and contextual information was provided. Inclusion of the community in developing the scenario parameters for the modeling had a number of benefits including establishing the context within which their actions would occur and focusing their efforts on options that were technically feasible, financially viable and within their capabilities to implement. This provided a focal point for the community in calling meetings and contacting stakeholders. Rather than prescribing a particular course of action, it also resulted in a toolbox of options, a range of possible solutions that is flexible enough to fit into whatever actions are preferred by the community. The approach and outcomes discussed in this paper should, therefore, be useful to other communities with similar carbon emission reduction goals.

scholarly journals Replicating Elite Dominance in Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding: The Role of Local Government–Scholar Networks in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Maags ◽  
Heike Holbig
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
National Level ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Intangible Cultural Heritage ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Heritage Discourse

Abstract:Since “intangible cultural heritage” (ICH) became the new focal point in the global heritage discourse, governments and scholars in many countries have begun to promote this new form of “immaterial” culture. The People’s Republic of China has been one of the most active state parties implementing the new scheme and adapting it to domestic discourses and practices. Policies formulated at the national level have become increasingly malleable to the interests of local government-scholar networks. By conducting a comparative case study of two provinces, this article aims to identify the role of local elite networks in the domestic implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, focusing on the incentives of scholars and officials to participate in ICH policy networks. It finds that the implementation of the Convention has not removed the power asymmetry between elite and popular actors but, instead, has fostered an elite-driven policy approach shaped by symbiotic, mutually legitimizing government–scholar networks.

Translation teams as cognitive systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-327
Author(s):  
Richard Pleijel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Cognitive Artifacts ◽  
Archival Material

Abstract This paper aims to bring research on different forms of group-level cognition into conversation with Cognitive Translation Studies (CTS), the focal point of the paper being cognitive processes in translation teams. It is argued that an analysis of cognition in translation teams, which exhibit the properties of a cognitive system, needs to be placed on group-level. A case study of a team, translating the Hebrew Bible Book of Psalms into Swedish in the 1980’s, is presented. The empirical base for the case study consists of archival material in the form of draft translations and paratexts. The methodological question is thus raised whether, and if so in what way, cognitive processes may be analyzed retrospectively, and not only from a real time perspective. By treating the archival material as cognitive artifacts which have constituted an integral part of the team’s cognitive process, the question is tentatively answered in a favourable way. This, it is finally argued, opens up interesting possibilities for joining CTS with translator archives research, Genetic Translation Studies (GTS), and cognitive archeology.

Home is Where the Heart Abides Migration, return and housing in Dakar, Senegal

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Guilia Sinatti
Keyword(s):  
Home Country ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Global Age ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
Local Construction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Depth Interviews

The increased interconnectedness and possibilities for travel and communication that characterise the current, global age have strongly affected scholarly ways of understanding contemporary forms of identification and belonging. Literature on the subject strongly challenges the notion of home as a fixed place, particularly where migration is concerned. The case study of Senegalese migration, however, contrasts this argument. Based upon ethnographic research and in depth interviews with migrants conducted in Senegal and in Italy between 2004 and 2007, this article shows that for many Senegalese the ultimate home still remains strongly identified with the country of origin. Questioned on the issue at stake, Senegalese migrants unanimously express the eventual goal of return to the home-land. The perceived importance of an anchorage in Senegal is expressed even more strikingly than in words, in the practices of migrant investment in housing. Migrants invest massively in the home country, significantly altering the landscape of local cities. This article shows that the intensity and features of construction activities undertaken by migrants in the capital city of Dakar are provoking a veritable process of urban makeover, which is transforming the physiognomy of the built environment. Alongside transforming the landscape of many peripheral neighbourhoods by altering mainstream architectural features of buildings and importing Western styles and taste in local construction practices, migrants are also contributing towards the creation of new symbols of success.

Using action research in innovation project management: building legitimacy and organizational learning in an SME during a merger process

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Elizabeth Kampf ◽  
Charlotte J. Brandt ◽  
Christopher G. Kampf
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Project

PurposeThe purpose is to explore how the process of action research (AR) can support building legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation project management and portfolio practices in merger contexts.Design/methodology/approachMeta-reflection on method issues in Action Research through an action research case study with an innovation group during an organizational change process. This case demonstrates an example of an action research cycle focused on building practitioner legitimacy rather than problem-solving.FindingsKey findings include (1) demonstrating how AR can be used for building legitimacy through visualizing the innovation process, and embedding those visuals in top management practices of the organization; and (2) demonstrating how AR can work as an organizational learning tool in merger contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on an action research cooperation during a two-and-a-half-year period. Thus, findings offer the depth of a medium term case study. The processes of building legitimacy represent this particular case, and can be investigated in other organizational contexts to see the extent to which these issues can be generalized.Practical implicationsFor researchers, this paper offers an additional type of AR cycle to consider in their research design which can be seen as demonstrating a form of interplay between practitioner action and organizational level legitimacy. For practitioners, this paper demonstrates a connection between legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation contexts. The discussion of how visuals were co-created and used for building legitimacy for an innovation process that differs from the standard stage gate model demonstrates how engaging in AR research can contribute to developing visuals as resources for building legitimacy and organizational learning based on connections between theory and practice.Originality/valueThis case rethinks AR practice for innovation project management contexts to include legitimacy and organizational learning. This focus on legitimacy building from organizational learning and knowledge conversion contributes to our understanding of the soft side of innovation project management. Legitimacy is demonstrated to be a key concern for innovation project management practices.

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