From Applied Research to Participatory Action, Part I: Beyond the “Bucket Theory” of Community-Based Leadership

In this short article, we share our work as part of a partnership to study and promote community-based leadership in San José, California. Our objectives are to contribute to applied anthropological work on community-based leadership and to relay how our project evolved from a standard applied “contract” partnership to a more equitable collaboration. We employed focus groups, pile-sort exercises, and follow-up interviews with established and emerging community leaders and residents in their communities in order to inventory leadership attributes, skills, and relations and social networks. Our results point to the need to think beyond the idea of one-way transfers of skills and resources from established to emerging leaders—“the bucket theory”—and instead support a more collaborative and multidirectional approach. We conclude by discussing how this project developed—initially unexpectedly—into a participatory action initiative.

Challenges Faced by Dialysis Unit Staff during COVID −19 times-A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACTIntroductionThe novel SARS COV2-Covid −19 has become a global pandemic since January 2020 and has been spreading exponentially. Dialysis patients with lowered immunity are at high risk. The dialysis patients come for repeated treatment. Hence the dialysis staffs are also at great risk of contracting COVID-19.ObjectiveTo study the challenges faced by the dialysis staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural hemodialysis unit.Material and MethodsThe study was conducted in the hemodialysis unit of Sri ManakulaVinayagar Medical College Hospital, Puducherry, India. We did free list and pile sorting to understand the salient problems and its structure as perceived by the team members. We found Smith’s S value for free list. Multidimensional scaling and Hierarchical cluster analysis were done to pile sort data. Data was analyzed using Anthropac 4.983/X. In addition, group interview was done to get in-depth information and validate the findings obtained from the free list and pile sort exercise.ResultsTwelve salient items were generated from the free list. In pile sort, we got three broad domains-the shortage of personal safety equipment, the lack of personal safety and presence of logistical and operational problems. Relative to other items, testing by RT-PCR was surprisingly not perceived to be important for them.ConclusionAddressing the shortage of personal safety equipment, impediments to personal safety and giving credence to the feelings, fears and needs of the dialysis staff in a dialysis unit during COVID −19 pandemic are paramount in ensuring their safety and improving working dynamics.

Participatory Methods to Identify Perceived Healthy and Sustainable Traditional Culinary Preparations across Three Generations of Adults: Results from Chile’s Metropolitan Region and Region of La Araucanía

Traditional diets reflect different cultures and geographical locations, and may provide healthy diet options. In Chile, it is unknown whether traditional culinary preparations are still remembered, let alone consumed. Therefore, we adapted methods to identify traditional culinary preparations for healthy and sustainable dietary interventions. In Chile’s Metropolitan Region and the Region of La Araucanía, we collected data on the variety of traditional diets through cultural domain analyses: direct participant observation (n = 5); free listing in community workshops (n = 10); and pile sort activities within semi-structured individual interviews (n = 40). Each method was stratified by age (25–45 year, 46–65 year and ≥ 65 year) and ethnic group (first nations or not). About 600 preparations and single-ingredient foods were identified that differed both in frequency and variety by region. The foods most consumed and liked (n = 24–27) were ranked in terms of sustainability for public nutrition purposes. Methods originally designed to collect information about plants of indigenous peoples can be extended to collect data on the variety of existing traditional culinary preparations, globally. Context, both geographical and cultural, matters for understanding food variety, and its subsequent use in the design of healthy and sustainable diet interventions.

Tourism, Representation and Compensation among the Dukha Reindeer Herders of Mongolia

Increasingly, tourists come to northern Mongolia to visit the camps of the Dukha reindeer herders, a small group often characterized as primitive and disappearing. The year-round entry of tourists to Dukha camps is unregulated; the timing and context of these encounters, including compensation and accommodation, unpredictable. Some herders leverage dominant cultural and social capital, gaining more visitors and more opportunities to earn cash. However, while visits bolster the local economy, these cross-cultural contacts may disrupt traditional socio-cultural identities, migration patterns and egalitarian norms. This qualitative, interpretive study used guided, open-ended interviews (N=30), a modified pile sort and participant observation to examine reindeer herders’ perceptions of tourist visits and gift giving. Results show Dukha most involved with tourists have a positive attitude toward their visits. As tourists generally stay only two to four days, negative outcomes vis-a-vis gifts, cultural misrepresentations and economic compensation currently appear minimized. However, as visits increase, taiga tourism would further benefit from Dukha owned and controlled economic and ethnographic initiatives.

Intensive online videogame involvement: A new global idiom of wellness and distress

Extending classic anthropological “idioms of distress” research, we argue that intensive online videogame involvement is better conceptualized as a new global idiom, not only of distress but also of wellness, especially for emerging adults (late teens through the 20s). Drawing on cognitive anthropological cultural domain interviews conducted with a small sample of U.S. gamers ( N = 26 free-list and 34 pile-sort respondents) (Study 1) and a large sample of survey data on gaming experience ( N = 3629) (Study 2), we discuss the cultural meaning and social context of this new cultural idiom of wellness and distress. Our analysis suggests that the “addiction” frame provides a means for gamers to communicate their passion and commitment to online play, even furthering their enthusiasm for the hobby and community in the process, but also a way for players to express and even resolve life distress such as depression and loneliness. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently included “Internet gaming disorder” (IGD) as a possible behavioral addiction, akin to gambling, warranting further consideration for eventual formal inclusion in the next iteration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Our study leads us to suggest that clinicians only sparingly use IGD as a clinical category, given that medical and gamer understandings of “addictive” play differ so markedly. This includes better distinguishing positive online gaming involvement—also sometimes framed by gamers as “addictive”—from other play patterns more clearly entailing distress and dysfunction.

Dimensiones culturales del empleo y desempleo de jóvenes universitarios de Cali, Colombia

Objetivo: Analizar las dimensiones culturales del empleo y desempleo de jóvenes universitarios de Cali, Colombia. Método: Estudio de antropología cognitiva. Se utilizaron listados libres y pile sort para identificar el contenido y la organización de las dimensiones. Participaron 80 jóvenes (40 hombres y 40 mujeres, con edad promedio de 20.5 años), seleccionados por muestreo propositivo. Resultados: El empleo es una actividad laboral que genera satisfacción, permite contar con seguridad económica y acceso a beneficios materiales. Requiere de competencias, valores de tipo personal y contar con la oportunidad para acceder a ello. Implica esfuerzo a fin de tener crecimiento, superación, estabilidad, progreso y futuro. Puede generar frustración por falta o dificultad para alcanzar logros en el ámbito laboral así como la percepción de esclavitud por exceso de trabajo. Se le visualiza como una actividad que se desempeña en empresas o instituciones y en contacto con compañeros. El desempleo es un tiempo perdido que genera pobreza y necesidades, es producto de problemas sociales como la desigualdad, falta de oportunidades, así como por causa del sistema social. Produce situaciones delictivas e impactos comunitarios; en lo personal genera problemas, necesidades, complicaciones y la vivencia de emociones negativas. Es un desafío que lleva a destacar las responsabilidades que se tiene hacia la familia, mas no se especifica alguna alternativa de afrontamiento al mismo. Conclusiones: los jóvenes participantes mostraron alto consenso en la forma de conceptualizar al empleo y al desempleo. Ello indica competencia cultural sobre los dominios culturales de los conceptos estudiados.

Variables affecting positive faculty-student relationships in an Ecuadorian university

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the main variables that affect the establishment of a good faculty-student pedagogical relationship in representative samples from a main university in Ecuador. Design/methodology/approach In the first phase of this exploratory mixed methods study, focus groups were conducted to identify the variables of interest, and in a second phase, these variables were rated in relevance by applying the “pile-sort” method. Findings Results showed that for students, the variable that most affects the establishment of a good relationship with their faculty is the “faculty’s knowledge,” while the variable that showed the least effect is the “number of students in the classroom.” On the other hand, faculty members responded that the variables that most affect the establishment of a good pedagogical relationship are “empathy with students,” “vocation” and “faculty’s knowledge,” while they considered that the least relevant variables were “context” variables such as “the number of students in the classroom” and “the physical conditions of the classroom.” Practical implications These results provide relevant insights into the importance that students place on the theoretical resources that faculty members show as a foundation for establishing positive relationships. In the same way, the relevance that faculty members place on the elements “empathy,” “vocation” and “knowledge” as key variables needed to establish positive interactions. Originality/value Previous research had underlined the importance that positive faculty-students relationships have on achieving learning goals. However, the variables that would affect the establishment of these relationships were not clearly recognized.

Meaning in the Miscellany of a Cultural Domain

This article compares pile sort data from frequently occurring items in a cultural domain with pile sort data on infrequently occurring items in that same cultural domain. Common practice in free-list analysis has a researcher discard infrequently occurring list items. This article confirms this practice and suggests that there is an underlying structure to both frequently and infrequently occurring list items.