Etnografia osobista. Antropolożka i antropolog w terenie

The article presents the idea of personal ethnography, i.e. the anthropologists’ individual experiences that include practical, existential, and emotional dimensions of ethnographic field research. Such experiences and their details are largely absent in scientific papers, due to their apparent irrelevance for research results. Nevertheless, they form an indispensable part of ethnographic research, influencing its scientific findings. This article not only emphasizes the need to include this aspect of ethnographic research in the methodological reflection, but also points out the differences and similarities between personal ethnography and autoethnography, following the main threads of personal experiences from fieldwork.

Music and philosophical naturalism

<p>The philosophical and scientific explication of music is a cutting-edge field in contemporary academia. This thesis develops a naturalistic framework for theorising about music. The following novel philosophical positions are motivated and defended: a polysemy analysis of “sound”, conceptual pluralism about music, a pluralistic framework for approaching the science of music, and a fictionalist account of Western musical artworks. The adaptation/ by-product framework for couching discussion about the evolution of music is critiqued. A novel, co-evolutionary, niche construction model of the foundations of musicality and the origins, expansion and stabilisation of music is developed, couched in the general context of hominin evolution and prehistory. Conceptual and methodological reflection accompanies the evolutionary scenario developed.</p>

Music and philosophical naturalism

<p>The philosophical and scientific explication of music is a cutting-edge field in contemporary academia. This thesis develops a naturalistic framework for theorising about music. The following novel philosophical positions are motivated and defended: a polysemy analysis of “sound”, conceptual pluralism about music, a pluralistic framework for approaching the science of music, and a fictionalist account of Western musical artworks. The adaptation/ by-product framework for couching discussion about the evolution of music is critiqued. A novel, co-evolutionary, niche construction model of the foundations of musicality and the origins, expansion and stabilisation of music is developed, couched in the general context of hominin evolution and prehistory. Conceptual and methodological reflection accompanies the evolutionary scenario developed.</p>

Aiming at a moving target: methodological reflections on the study of politics of citizen-centric governance in post-earthquake Nepal

PurposeThe growing prominence of disaster research has also prompted vibrant discussions about the motivation and ethical conduct of disaster researchers. Yet, the individual researchers' aspirations and aims, together with the challenging and changing circumstances under which one undertakes disaster research have received relatively scant attention. Drawing on the author’s personal experience of becoming a disaster researcher under the unexpected humanitarian crisis following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes, this paper seeks to contribute to the debates surrounding the role of reflexivity and ethical sensitivity in doing disaster research under the climate of uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the author’s reflections and vignettes to highlight the author’s experience of becoming a disaster researcher, and my trajectory of navigating the complex terrain of fieldwork.FindingsThe paper underscores how the process of becoming a disaster researcher was closely intertwined with and shaped by my concerns and care for the disaster-affected communities. The paper argues that doing contextually relevant and ethically sensitive research is not a static target. It demands constant reflexivity and improvisation, in response to the unpredictable real-world conditions of disasters. Instead of aiming to tame such uncertainty, disaster researchers may benefit from appreciating and embracing uncertainty as a major facet of its epistemological distinctiveness.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the ongoing efforts in advancing methodological reflection and innovation in disaster research. In so doing, the paper is expected to aid early-career researchers who are often faced with ethical and practical dilemmas of doing fieldwork.

Participatory Theater as Fieldwork in Chinese Prisons: A Research Note

This methodological reflection is based on the author's own experience taking part in participatory theater projects in mainland Chinese prisons over the past 5 years. This article demonstrates how the author's participation in prison theater projects secured otherwise unattainable research access by forming collaborations with various organizations. Participatory theater workshops also offered the space for sustaining long-term rapport. This research note discusses why trusting relationships are the most important guarantee to obtaining valid data in Chinese prison research. The findings contribute to understanding methodological challenges and innovations of conducting fieldwork in criminal justice systems with no formal research access channels.

AN OTTOMAN ARAB MAN OF LETTERS AND THE MEANINGS OF EMPIRE, c. 1860

This paper returns to one of the germinal texts of nineteenth-century Arab political thought, Butrus al-Bustani's Nafir Suriyya (‘The Clarion of Syria’). A series of broadsides published between September 1860 and April 1861, these reflected on the confessional violence that had rent apart Mount Lebanon and Damascus in mid-1860. As scholars have suggested, Bustani – now regarded as one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the nineteenth-century Arab nahda, or ‘awakening’ – here offered a new vision of Syrian patriotism, which formed part of a longer reflection on political subjectivity, faith, and civilisation. But, this paper argues, these texts can also be read as reflections on the changing workings of empire: on the imperial ruler's duties and attributes and his subjects’ obligations and rights; on the relationship between state and population and capital and province; on imperial administrative reform; and on the dangers foreign intervention posed to Ottoman sovereignty. Drawing on the languages of Ottoman reform and ethical statecraft, as well as on imperial comparisons, Bustani argued against the autonomy some counselled for Mount Lebanon and for wholesale integration with the Ottoman state. These texts offer grounds for methodological reflection and for writing Ottoman Arab thought into broader histories of imperial political thought.

Transdisciplinary Status of the Ecological Modernization Theory and Its Role in the Development of Environmental Paradigm

The article examines the specificity of transdisciplinary orientations in modern scientific knowledge and reveals the multidimensionality of transdisciplinarity as a phenomenon of post-nonclassical science. Since transdisciplinarity is largely formed as a response to the challenge of increasing complexity and uncertainty of the future transformations in the “nature – man – society” system, the most appropriate area of transdisciplinary research today is environmental knowledge. In the example of the Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT), we investigate the interdisciplinary structure and transdisciplinary status of contemporary social ecology. The aim of the article is to analyze the various modes of transdisciplinarity in the structure of the ecological modernization theory and to identify its role in the dynamics of modern environmentalism. The epistemological status of EMT is explicated through philosophical and methodological reflection on the alternative discourses of sustainability as well as by using the principles of a systematic approach, methods of comparative analysis and semantic interpretation. The idea of sustainable development and the values of environmentalism are considered important factors in the formation of concepts and categories of this theory, its initial postulates and principles. The article substantiates the synthetic character of this theory, which meets the requirements of the post-non-classical type of scientific rationality. A conclusion is substantiated that EMT can be classified as a post-normal science. As a result of the analysis, it is argued that environmental philosophy has a special understanding of the goals of social development, principles of justice, social harmony, and human well-being. The reinterpretation of these concepts is a basis for adoption of novel theoretical schemes and methodological orientations in the system of modern socio-environmental studies.

Human Being in History vs History in Human Being – Part 3: Noospheric Transformation, Empathy and Phenomenon of Cognitive History

The article is a continuation of the author’s previous attempts to investigate profound ties between history and psychology. The perspectives to enrich cognitive potential of modern historiography as well as possibilities to apply cognitive science achievements and, in particular, cognitive psychology, are being analysed in this study. Special attention is paid to so called “cognitive history”, peculiarity of its interpretation and scientific functioning in the paradigm of Information society. The concept of cognitive history, put forward by O. Medushevska is studied; the estimation of its informational goals and cognitive priorities is proposed. Steady growth of cognitive competition on global and national levels in the period of transition from biosphere to noosphere as well as epistemological topicality of classic approach of V. Vernadsky and P.T. de Chardin are stated here. The necessity to reconsider basic approaches of harmonizing biospheric processes with consideration of steady development requirements is accentuated and cognitive aspects of interaction between world and national history are outlined. The need to significantly strengthen the cognitive dimension of the general process of updating the theoretical and methodological tools of modern historiography as a key area of accumulation of historical experience is emphasized. The urgent need for a new historical and methodological reflection on the concept of empathy is emphasized both in the interests of productive research perception of historical reality and in order to adequately adapt to the challenges of noosphere civilization

LAW ART

This article explores the international law narratives ‘depicted’ in Italian colonial propaganda illustrations and cartoons. The aim is to identify (international) legal arguments crafted to ‘counter-resist’ objections against the Italian colonial enterprise. These arguments provided legitimacy and neutrality to the Italian colonial endeavour and normalized a certain understanding of the colonial space and its subjects. After setting out the historical background, the article engages in a brief methodological reflection on the analytical function of illustrations and cartoons. Thereafter, it applies the methodological framework to analyse ‘counter-resistance’ international law narratives in a selection of XIX and XX century images. The article concludes by reflecting on the performative role of law, its palatability to mass-consumption and the legacy of the legal construction of the colonial mission civilisatrice.