An ethnographic analysis of consumer information processing and decision-making at farmers’ markets

Purpose Farmers’ markets have grown rapidly in recent years and at the same time consumers increasingly desire to eat healthfully and sustainably. This research aims to analyze the way consumers process information regarding local food claims such as sustainability and organics when shopping for local foods at farmers’ markets. Design/methodology/approach This research uses ethnographic methods that included interviews with 36 participants, more than 100 hours of participant observation and prolonged engagement over a two and half-year period. Findings The findings indicate that there are two dominant types of consumers at the farmers’ market, hedonistic and utilitarian consumers. Hedonistic consumers rely on heuristic cues such as aesthetics, their relationship with the farmer and other peripheral sources of information when making purchase decisions. Utilitarian consumers, by contrast, carefully analyze marketing messages using central route cues and tend to be more conscious of their purchase choices. Practical implications This study will help farmers more effectively position their marketing messages and help consumers be aware how they process information in this space. Originality/value Unlike previous studies of consumer behavior at farmers’ markets that primarily use survey methods, this study uses observational and ethnographic methods to capture in situ interactions in this complex buying context. Further, while much work has been done on broad concepts of local food and organic preferences, this study provides a more in-depth look at consumer information processing in the farmers’ market space that reflects a mixture of organic and non-organic food.

The Interactionist Self and Grounded Research: Reflexivity in a Study of Emergency Department Clinicians

This paper shows how the theory of symbolic interactionism shaped a grounded investigation of the organizational labor of Australian Emergency Department (ED) clinicians. Further, it shows how symbolic interactionism supports reflexive criteria for validating grounded research. Using ethnographic methods across two metropolitan EDs, interactionism’s emphasis on roles applied equally to the relationship between researcher and participants as to the relationships among participants. Specifically, the researcher generated data by positioning interactionism as the mediator of the emergent relationship between researcher and participants. The results of this positioning were: a traceable path from understanding to interpretation and the search for consequentiality rather than truth. Interactionism facilitated the co-production by the researcher and participants of limits on the generalizability of the data. The paper is an argument for symbolic interactionism as a means not merely to generate sociological findings, but to conceptualize the impact of the researcher on the grounded research process.

Modern Epics

A new novel about the 2015 surge of migration to Europe raises questions about whether fiction that draws on ethnographic methods can bring a uniquely intimate perspective to the relations between asylum seekers and the volunteers who try to help them.

E-Filantropi Pembiayaan Pendidikan: Gerakan Altruisme dalam Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Perbatasan di Tengah Pandemi Covid-19

This article examines a new pattern of humanitarianism through digital technology, known as e-philanthropy. The utilization of digital space with social media has become an e-philanthropy concept amidst the covid-19 pandemic that happened to all levels of society. This study used a qualitative descriptive with virtual ethnographic methods. The object of this research is a program of #beasiswaArjuna, Pondok Pendawa, Bogor that implemented the altruism movement by collecting online donations to finance education for border communities. This article shows that philanthropy has shifted from conventional to digital forms, especially amidst the covid-19 pandemic. E-philanthropy manifests as an altruism movement in strengthening humanitarian solidarity by eliminating all selfishness and helping border communities to continue their education. The practice of philanthropy in the altruism movement amidst the covid-19 pandemic calls everyone to engage in altruistic actions to create happiness for everybody.

Cultural Communications of Islamic Boarding Schools in Indonesia

Pesantren communication culture is quite distinct from other cultures, as it has its own unique, unique, and distinct culture. The santri's obedience, sincerity, and respect for the Kyai exemplify its uniqueness. The author attempts to raise this unique communication culture as a research theme by researching a salaf (traditional) Islamic boarding school, An-Nidzam Sukabumi, and a modern Islamic boarding school, Pondok Pesantren Kholaf (modern) Assalam Sukabumi. The research focuses on the unique characteristics of each of the two Islamic boarding schools. This study employs a qualitative approach based on ethnographic methods because it is highly relevant to its focus on the language spoken, communication patterns observed, and communication culture of pesantren. The findings indicated that the communication cultures of the salaf and Khalaf pesantren were significantly different. The An Nizam salaf pesantren placed a premium on regional/Sundanese languages in daily interactions while simultaneously suppressing learning in religious sciences from the yellow books. The Kalaf/modern Assalam Islamic boarding schools placed a premium on Arabic and English instruction. The use of English in daily interactions and an understanding of the spiritual sciences are explored through classically taught contemporary books.

An Aesthetic Visualization of Ritual Ordering among the Yoruba Drummer: A Medium of Life Celebration

The gatherings among Yoruba people depicting religion, social or political values are usually staged with drumming. At the center of this art are the professional drummers with the cult identity of àyàn. The display, ordering and aesthetic of drumming are usually often come with some rituals during passages of life which are frequently unknown to the non-initiates. The study underscores the significant of ritual that are connected to birth, puberty, middle stage and death which are very important to life stages among the Yoruba people. It highlights the role of ritual rites in the profession of drumming in a selected town in Yoruba land. The paper use in-depth interview, participant observation, archival materials and ethnographic methods to generate data needed for its analysis. Tis paper through phenomenological analysis will process the data collected.

“East-West, West-East”: Cultural Transmission and Exchange of Yorùbá Religious Wood-Carvings between Ọ̀yó̩, Sábẹ and Ifè̩-Ana

In the early part of the 18th century, and at the height of its political power, the old Òyọ́ ̩ Empire established its hegemony over Sábẹ, Benin Republic, and new Yorùbá communities were founded in Sábẹ. Yorùbá communities also exist at Ifè̩-Ana in the Atakpame region of Togo. The Ifè̩-Ana Yorùbá were migrants from Ilé-Ifè between the 16 ̩ th and 18th centuries. In these new Yorùbá communities, the people continued with the worship of traditional Yorùbá religion and the use of wood-carvings for this worship. This study employs historical and ethnographic methods to establish the presence of traditional Yorùbá religion in Òyọ́ ̩, Sábẹ and Ifè̩-Ana. It then identifies and classifies extant Yorùbá wood-carving paraphernalia in the worship of Ifá, Ṣàngó, Egúngún, Gẹlẹdẹ, and Ìbejì that were transferred from Ò ́ yọ́ ̩ to Sábẹ and Ifè̩-Ana. The study observes a cultural interrelationship moving from east to west and west to east among the communities.

Refunctioning and Extending Ethnographic Methods of Data Collection and Analysis in Educational Action Research

W artykule podejmuję próbę zarysowania konsekwencji metodycznych głównych przesunięć konceptualnych, które jako efekt zwrotów epistemologiczno-metodologicznym odnotowywanych w naukach społecznych, występują (już czy występować mogą) których spodziewać się można w przestrzeni edukacyjnych badań w działaniu. Przyjmując, że opis etnograficzny stanowi punkt wyjścia większości podejmowanych w edukacji projektów zaliczanych do tego typu badań interwencyjnych określanych jako action research, skupiam się na pytaniu o odzwierciedlanie się w ich metodyce rozszerzenia związanego z konstytuowaniem (się) zróżnicowanych formuł poszukiwań w związku z przeformułowywaniem etnografii po „kryzysie reprezentacji”.@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Epistemic Activism in the United States: Examining Meetings Across the Silos of Civil Society

The realm of civic action is far from unified; studies of civil society have often been likewise divided by discipline, organizational form, and orientation to dominant institutions. In this article, I suggest the critical concept of epistemic activism, which involves both making truth(s) and making them matter, as a way to think across these divides. I argue that researchers may be able to engage with a much broader range of civic projects by using ethnographic methods to examine the knowledge practices of these projects, specifically through attention to the meetings where project actors come together in time and space. In this article, I demonstrate this approach through ethnographic attention to the meeting practices of two quite different projects: a large civic reform coalition whose meetings reveal a politics of epistemic unity, and a place-based immigrant-led justice movement whose meetings enact a politics of listening.

Politics, Policy, and Crime Ethnography

This chapter encourages social scientists, policy planners, and public administrators to reflect critically on the methods used to define crime problems and policy responses to them. It argues for the increased use of ethnographic methods in formulating policy by seeking points of connection with quantitative approaches. Quantitative methods are better suited for crime policy given their methodological rigor, instrumental and programmatic orientation, and relatively low costs per datum unit. However, qualitative methods have a complementary role to play, being better attuned to the subjective experiences of crime and crime control and better able to illustrate factors correlated with these phenomena. Ethnographic methods permit reflexivity regarding the broader settings and specific contexts of crime and criminological research. Two cases of ethnographic techniques within criminal justice practice are shared to demonstrate their viability—one from the US Department of Justice and another from Court Watch Poland. The chapter finishes with lessons for researchers and policy planners, including the importance of engaging in collaborative research, triangulating methods, embracing uncomfortable findings, and reconsidering research ethics.