Jane Seymour
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198530251
- eISBN:
- 9780191729980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198530251.003.0013
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Palliative Medicine Research, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making
This chapter discusses ethnography, which is a research method that requires the researchers to become involved in the daily lives of a small group of patients. Thanks to a rather small collection of ...
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This chapter discusses ethnography, which is a research method that requires the researchers to become involved in the daily lives of a small group of patients. Thanks to a rather small collection of ethnographic studies, medical practitioners gain knowledge about palliative care, especially in relation to the experience of pain and suffering, understandings of death and dying, and the processes and organization of clinical care. As such, the chapter also states how this research method may be used by researchers in palliative care.Less
This chapter discusses ethnography, which is a research method that requires the researchers to become involved in the daily lives of a small group of patients. Thanks to a rather small collection of ethnographic studies, medical practitioners gain knowledge about palliative care, especially in relation to the experience of pain and suffering, understandings of death and dying, and the processes and organization of clinical care. As such, the chapter also states how this research method may be used by researchers in palliative care.
Nicholas Garnham
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198742258
- eISBN:
- 9780191695001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742258.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter presents a discussion of the audience or consumers of symbolic forms. It argues the underlying current debate about the audience and the effects of the media are debates, stemming from ...
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This chapter presents a discussion of the audience or consumers of symbolic forms. It argues the underlying current debate about the audience and the effects of the media are debates, stemming from the Enlightenment, concerning the relationship between learning, identity formation, and action. What is at stake is the relation between individual autonomy, and thus freedom and rational action, on the one hand and the social construction of identity and behaviour on the other. In particular, the argument rises against the current vogue for ethnographic studies of everyday life and the extreme particularism that results, and for the centrality of statistics and measurements of probability for producing real knowledge of the audience. At the same time, the counter-posing of an active audience to a passive audience is not the issue, but rather what, given a general social constructive approach, are the emancipatory consequences of different instances of audience- media interaction.Less
This chapter presents a discussion of the audience or consumers of symbolic forms. It argues the underlying current debate about the audience and the effects of the media are debates, stemming from the Enlightenment, concerning the relationship between learning, identity formation, and action. What is at stake is the relation between individual autonomy, and thus freedom and rational action, on the one hand and the social construction of identity and behaviour on the other. In particular, the argument rises against the current vogue for ethnographic studies of everyday life and the extreme particularism that results, and for the centrality of statistics and measurements of probability for producing real knowledge of the audience. At the same time, the counter-posing of an active audience to a passive audience is not the issue, but rather what, given a general social constructive approach, are the emancipatory consequences of different instances of audience- media interaction.
Sarah Morelli
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042867
- eISBN:
- 9780252051722
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042867.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This book provides the first ethnographic examination into the life of and the community formed around Pandit Chitresh Das, one of India’s most dynamic, outspoken, and captivating dancers. Born in ...
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This book provides the first ethnographic examination into the life of and the community formed around Pandit Chitresh Das, one of India’s most dynamic, outspoken, and captivating dancers. Born in Calcutta in 1944, Pandit Das immigrated to the United States in 1970 and was instrumental in establishing kathak, an Indian classical dance form, in the States. This work examines issues that arose in teaching, learning, and performing kathak in the United States over forty-five years. As a teacher, how does one transmit cultural and dance knowledge to culturally diverse groups of students? Within an artistic diaspora, how does a culture bearer–teacher maintain, modify, and frame dance repertoire, cultural norms associated with being a dancer, and philosophies surrounding the dance? And how do dancers negotiate the challenges of cultural expression in multicultural contexts? This ethnographic study of one of the longest-running sites of kathak transmission in the United States examines such questions, concluding that even in this hierarchical pedagogical tradition, students and teacher mutually navigate issues of artistic style and cultural meaning to create and sustain a dance culture.Less
This book provides the first ethnographic examination into the life of and the community formed around Pandit Chitresh Das, one of India’s most dynamic, outspoken, and captivating dancers. Born in Calcutta in 1944, Pandit Das immigrated to the United States in 1970 and was instrumental in establishing kathak, an Indian classical dance form, in the States. This work examines issues that arose in teaching, learning, and performing kathak in the United States over forty-five years. As a teacher, how does one transmit cultural and dance knowledge to culturally diverse groups of students? Within an artistic diaspora, how does a culture bearer–teacher maintain, modify, and frame dance repertoire, cultural norms associated with being a dancer, and philosophies surrounding the dance? And how do dancers negotiate the challenges of cultural expression in multicultural contexts? This ethnographic study of one of the longest-running sites of kathak transmission in the United States examines such questions, concluding that even in this hierarchical pedagogical tradition, students and teacher mutually navigate issues of artistic style and cultural meaning to create and sustain a dance culture.
Nina Gren
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789774166952
- eISBN:
- 9781617976568
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
Media coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict does not necessarily enhance one’s knowledge or understanding of the Palestinians; on the contrary, they are often reduced to either victims or ...
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Media coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict does not necessarily enhance one’s knowledge or understanding of the Palestinians; on the contrary, they are often reduced to either victims or perpetrators. Similarly, while many academic studies devote considerable effort to analyzing the political situation in the occupied territories, there have been few sophisticated case studies of Palestinian refugees living under Israeli rule. An ethnographic study of Palestinian refugees in Dheisheh refugee camp, Occupied Lives looks closely at the attempts of the camp inhabitants to survive and bounce back from the profound effects of political violence and Israeli military occupation. Based on the author’s extensive fieldwork conducted inside the camp, this study examines the daily efforts of camp inhabitants to secure survival and meaning during the period of the al-Aqsa Intifada. It argues that the political developments and experiences of extensive violence at the time, which left most refugees outside of direct activism, caused many camp inhabitants to disengage from traditional forms of politics. Instead, they became involved in alternative practices aimed at maintaining their sense of social worth and integrity by focusing on processes to establish a ‘normal’ order, social continuity, and morality. Coming from Social Anthropology, Nina Gren explores these processes and the ambiguities and dilemmas that necessarily arose from them and the ways in which the political and the existential are often intertwined in Dheisheh.Less
Media coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict does not necessarily enhance one’s knowledge or understanding of the Palestinians; on the contrary, they are often reduced to either victims or perpetrators. Similarly, while many academic studies devote considerable effort to analyzing the political situation in the occupied territories, there have been few sophisticated case studies of Palestinian refugees living under Israeli rule. An ethnographic study of Palestinian refugees in Dheisheh refugee camp, Occupied Lives looks closely at the attempts of the camp inhabitants to survive and bounce back from the profound effects of political violence and Israeli military occupation. Based on the author’s extensive fieldwork conducted inside the camp, this study examines the daily efforts of camp inhabitants to secure survival and meaning during the period of the al-Aqsa Intifada. It argues that the political developments and experiences of extensive violence at the time, which left most refugees outside of direct activism, caused many camp inhabitants to disengage from traditional forms of politics. Instead, they became involved in alternative practices aimed at maintaining their sense of social worth and integrity by focusing on processes to establish a ‘normal’ order, social continuity, and morality. Coming from Social Anthropology, Nina Gren explores these processes and the ambiguities and dilemmas that necessarily arose from them and the ways in which the political and the existential are often intertwined in Dheisheh.
Edin Hajdarpasic
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801453717
- eISBN:
- 9781501701115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801453717.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter studies how folkloric pursuits in Bosnia and Herzegovina—often disregarded as a passing romantic stage of nationalism—were crucial to the self-fashioning of national activists. In ...
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This chapter studies how folkloric pursuits in Bosnia and Herzegovina—often disregarded as a passing romantic stage of nationalism—were crucial to the self-fashioning of national activists. In central and eastern Europe, the production of folkloric and ethnographic studies has long been recognized as a quintessential “national science.” These pursuits enabled the activists to develop new ethnographic-populist practices and to outline the subject of their activity: the narod or “the people.” Prominent South Slavic activists—from folklorist Vuk Karadzic to local collectors like Ivan Franjo Jukic—recognized Bosnia-Herzegovina as “the land of the people,” and in the process, helped establish new practices of national self-fashioning. Along with folklore, Serbian and Croatian activists discovered in Bosnia another concern: the suffering of the Bosnian Christians under Turkish rule.Less
This chapter studies how folkloric pursuits in Bosnia and Herzegovina—often disregarded as a passing romantic stage of nationalism—were crucial to the self-fashioning of national activists. In central and eastern Europe, the production of folkloric and ethnographic studies has long been recognized as a quintessential “national science.” These pursuits enabled the activists to develop new ethnographic-populist practices and to outline the subject of their activity: the narod or “the people.” Prominent South Slavic activists—from folklorist Vuk Karadzic to local collectors like Ivan Franjo Jukic—recognized Bosnia-Herzegovina as “the land of the people,” and in the process, helped establish new practices of national self-fashioning. Along with folklore, Serbian and Croatian activists discovered in Bosnia another concern: the suffering of the Bosnian Christians under Turkish rule.
Laurel Kendall
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520201989
- eISBN:
- 9780520916784
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520201989.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explains the author's motivation for conducting an ethnographic study of Korean weddings, relating her experience in attending a Korean wedding in 1970 that was the total opposite of the ...
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This chapter explains the author's motivation for conducting an ethnographic study of Korean weddings, relating her experience in attending a Korean wedding in 1970 that was the total opposite of the romantic image of the Korean past. This motivated her to investigate the changes in Korean wedding customs and rituals, including the selection of partners and wedding ceremonies. This book aims to show how changes in the performance of wedding rites, and perceptions and discourses about their performance, have been set in play in the shifting social milieu of recent and contemporary Korea.Less
This chapter explains the author's motivation for conducting an ethnographic study of Korean weddings, relating her experience in attending a Korean wedding in 1970 that was the total opposite of the romantic image of the Korean past. This motivated her to investigate the changes in Korean wedding customs and rituals, including the selection of partners and wedding ceremonies. This book aims to show how changes in the performance of wedding rites, and perceptions and discourses about their performance, have been set in play in the shifting social milieu of recent and contemporary Korea.
Celia Davies
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861348029
- eISBN:
- 9781447301851
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861348029.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Involving citizens in policy-decision-making processes – deliberative democracy – has been a central goal of the Labour government since it came to power in 1997. But what happens when members of the ...
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Involving citizens in policy-decision-making processes – deliberative democracy – has been a central goal of the Labour government since it came to power in 1997. But what happens when members of the public are drawn into unfamiliar debate, with unfamiliar others, in the unfamiliar world of policy making at national level? This book sets out to understand the contribution that citizens can realistically be expected to make. Drawing on the lessons from an ethnographic study of a public-involvement initiative in the health service – the Citizens Council of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) – it explores the practical realities behind the much-quoted faith in ‘deliberation’ that underpins so many models of public involvement and presents the analysis of 64 hours of video and audiotape capturing a warts-and-all picture of deliberation in action. The book sets deliberative participatory initiatives within a broad inter-disciplinary context and challenges politicians, policy makers, and academics to develop more realistic approaches to democratic innovation.Less
Involving citizens in policy-decision-making processes – deliberative democracy – has been a central goal of the Labour government since it came to power in 1997. But what happens when members of the public are drawn into unfamiliar debate, with unfamiliar others, in the unfamiliar world of policy making at national level? This book sets out to understand the contribution that citizens can realistically be expected to make. Drawing on the lessons from an ethnographic study of a public-involvement initiative in the health service – the Citizens Council of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) – it explores the practical realities behind the much-quoted faith in ‘deliberation’ that underpins so many models of public involvement and presents the analysis of 64 hours of video and audiotape capturing a warts-and-all picture of deliberation in action. The book sets deliberative participatory initiatives within a broad inter-disciplinary context and challenges politicians, policy makers, and academics to develop more realistic approaches to democratic innovation.
Kristyn Gorton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624171
- eISBN:
- 9780748670956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624171.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
The final chapter considers how the industry values the concept of emotion by drawing on interviews with those working within the UK/Irish television industry. It begins with a consideration of the ...
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The final chapter considers how the industry values the concept of emotion by drawing on interviews with those working within the UK/Irish television industry. It begins with a consideration of the role of ethnography within television studies and outlines the initial set-up of a small-scale case study. In asking questions about emotion and its value within television industry, this chapter reiterates many of the theoretical assertions made in the first half of the book. The value in conducting interviews of this kind is clear in that it allows one to pursue ideas further and to consider more carefully what are often abstract concepts. The chapter concludes with advice to students or first-time researchers on how to conduct a small-scale case study on emotion and television.Less
The final chapter considers how the industry values the concept of emotion by drawing on interviews with those working within the UK/Irish television industry. It begins with a consideration of the role of ethnography within television studies and outlines the initial set-up of a small-scale case study. In asking questions about emotion and its value within television industry, this chapter reiterates many of the theoretical assertions made in the first half of the book. The value in conducting interviews of this kind is clear in that it allows one to pursue ideas further and to consider more carefully what are often abstract concepts. The chapter concludes with advice to students or first-time researchers on how to conduct a small-scale case study on emotion and television.
Michal Pagis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199938629
- eISBN:
- 9780199980758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199938629.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter promotes an understanding of religious self-constitution as a relational and embodied process. The aim is to de-center the emphasis on belief in the commonly used category of the ...
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This chapter promotes an understanding of religious self-constitution as a relational and embodied process. The aim is to de-center the emphasis on belief in the commonly used category of the religious self and re-center it on an approach that studies the self as an embodied process contextualized in ongoing social relations. The chapter explores three dimensions of the embodied space in which religious selves develop: the importance of collective practice, the relation to the body, and the engagement with the material environment. Examples are provided from ethnographic research on the practice of Vipassana meditation, a Theravada Buddhist meditation of mindfulness. These examples are further supported by references to ethnographic studies that explore other religious practices such as Muslim fasting or Christian prayer.Less
This chapter promotes an understanding of religious self-constitution as a relational and embodied process. The aim is to de-center the emphasis on belief in the commonly used category of the religious self and re-center it on an approach that studies the self as an embodied process contextualized in ongoing social relations. The chapter explores three dimensions of the embodied space in which religious selves develop: the importance of collective practice, the relation to the body, and the engagement with the material environment. Examples are provided from ethnographic research on the practice of Vipassana meditation, a Theravada Buddhist meditation of mindfulness. These examples are further supported by references to ethnographic studies that explore other religious practices such as Muslim fasting or Christian prayer.
Eve Monique Zucker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836115
- eISBN:
- 9780824871079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836115.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This book examines the impacts of the Khmer Rouge revolution and civil war on O'Thmaa and its surrounding communities, which served as “base areas” that provided the group with the human and material ...
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This book examines the impacts of the Khmer Rouge revolution and civil war on O'Thmaa and its surrounding communities, which served as “base areas” that provided the group with the human and material support crucial to their success in seizing control of the nation in 1975. Drawing on fieldwork conducted by the author in September 2001–August 2002 and in September 2002–October 2003, the book investigates how communities negotiate the memories associated with difficult pasts and come together again to rebuild their lives. Using morality and “social memory” as framing devices, it considers the ways that the people of O'Thmaa try to recover from the destruction wrought by nearly thirty years of war and genocide during the Pol Pot era. This introductory chapter provides an overview of ethnographic studies that were mostly undertaken in Cambodia beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It also discusses the preparation, fieldwork, and research methodology employed for this book.Less
This book examines the impacts of the Khmer Rouge revolution and civil war on O'Thmaa and its surrounding communities, which served as “base areas” that provided the group with the human and material support crucial to their success in seizing control of the nation in 1975. Drawing on fieldwork conducted by the author in September 2001–August 2002 and in September 2002–October 2003, the book investigates how communities negotiate the memories associated with difficult pasts and come together again to rebuild their lives. Using morality and “social memory” as framing devices, it considers the ways that the people of O'Thmaa try to recover from the destruction wrought by nearly thirty years of war and genocide during the Pol Pot era. This introductory chapter provides an overview of ethnographic studies that were mostly undertaken in Cambodia beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It also discusses the preparation, fieldwork, and research methodology employed for this book.
Jennifer L. Pierce
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520201071
- eISBN:
- 9780520916401
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520201071.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter sums up the key findings of this ethnographic study of litigation paralegals and trial attorneys at work, which has argued that gender shapes legal workers' practices at the same time ...
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This chapter sums up the key findings of this ethnographic study of litigation paralegals and trial attorneys at work, which has argued that gender shapes legal workers' practices at the same time that their practices constitute and reproduce hierarchical gendered relations. It also discusses the implications of the findings for sociological theorizing about sex segregation, the labor process, and the construction of gender identity in the workplace. The chapter furthermore proposes possible solutions to the problems that sex segregation creates for women legal workers in both feminized and non-traditional occupations.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this ethnographic study of litigation paralegals and trial attorneys at work, which has argued that gender shapes legal workers' practices at the same time that their practices constitute and reproduce hierarchical gendered relations. It also discusses the implications of the findings for sociological theorizing about sex segregation, the labor process, and the construction of gender identity in the workplace. The chapter furthermore proposes possible solutions to the problems that sex segregation creates for women legal workers in both feminized and non-traditional occupations.
Laurel Kendall
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520201989
- eISBN:
- 9780520916784
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520201989.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter summarizees the key findings of this ethnographic study on Korean weddings. It suggests that weddings provide an excellent lens through which to see the changing present, ...
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This concluding chapter summarizees the key findings of this ethnographic study on Korean weddings. It suggests that weddings provide an excellent lens through which to see the changing present, because they will not submit to any fixed ethnographic description of a Korean wedding. The chapter also highlights the prominence of the dichotomies of time and space within the Korean intellectual tradition that influence how Koreans think about weddings and the experience of social change.Less
This concluding chapter summarizees the key findings of this ethnographic study on Korean weddings. It suggests that weddings provide an excellent lens through which to see the changing present, because they will not submit to any fixed ethnographic description of a Korean wedding. The chapter also highlights the prominence of the dichotomies of time and space within the Korean intellectual tradition that influence how Koreans think about weddings and the experience of social change.
Phil Brown
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520270206
- eISBN:
- 9780520950429
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520270206.003.0003
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter examines qualitative methods used by various environmental health scholars. Qualitative methods are important in enabling community narratives to be constructed and shared. They also ...
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This chapter examines qualitative methods used by various environmental health scholars. Qualitative methods are important in enabling community narratives to be constructed and shared. They also provide social scientists with an opportunity to contribute to community activism and advocacy. Not all environmental social-science researchers practice this form of advocacy, but many do. Their work helps create, modify, and present to the world the community narratives of grassroots environmental health research and advocacy that might otherwise remain unknown. While this chapter focuses on in-depth ethnographic studies of contaminated communities, other forms of qualitative methods are also used in environmental health research. These include structured interviewing, focus groups, policy analysis, media analysis, content analysis of documents, and cultural critique.Less
This chapter examines qualitative methods used by various environmental health scholars. Qualitative methods are important in enabling community narratives to be constructed and shared. They also provide social scientists with an opportunity to contribute to community activism and advocacy. Not all environmental social-science researchers practice this form of advocacy, but many do. Their work helps create, modify, and present to the world the community narratives of grassroots environmental health research and advocacy that might otherwise remain unknown. While this chapter focuses on in-depth ethnographic studies of contaminated communities, other forms of qualitative methods are also used in environmental health research. These include structured interviewing, focus groups, policy analysis, media analysis, content analysis of documents, and cultural critique.
Peter J. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072161
- eISBN:
- 9781781701492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072161.003.0010
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter considers the uses of music in everyday situations. Some recent ethnographic studies have examined the ways in which people use music as part of their everyday lives, and suggested how ...
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This chapter considers the uses of music in everyday situations. Some recent ethnographic studies have examined the ways in which people use music as part of their everyday lives, and suggested how it is effective for them irrespective of its style or quality as judged by others. This chapter argues that Alfred Schütz's ideas concerning mutual ‘tuning-in’ and the synchronization of individuals' experience offer a strong theoretical foundation for further studies of how music ‘works’ for people. It is also clear, however, that such sociological investigations move a long way from the discipline of musicology and its established concerns.Less
This chapter considers the uses of music in everyday situations. Some recent ethnographic studies have examined the ways in which people use music as part of their everyday lives, and suggested how it is effective for them irrespective of its style or quality as judged by others. This chapter argues that Alfred Schütz's ideas concerning mutual ‘tuning-in’ and the synchronization of individuals' experience offer a strong theoretical foundation for further studies of how music ‘works’ for people. It is also clear, however, that such sociological investigations move a long way from the discipline of musicology and its established concerns.
Carrie M. Lane
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449642
- eISBN:
- 9780801460791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449642.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book sets out to document, in empirical detail, how individualist, pro-market ideologies shape actual people's lives and ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book sets out to document, in empirical detail, how individualist, pro-market ideologies shape actual people's lives and worldviews through an ethnographic study of white-collar U.S. high-tech workers who lost their jobs in the first years of the twenty-first century. It is about people who espouse a doggedly resilient faith in their ability to improve their own circumstances by doing what they have to do. It is about a neoliberal faith in individual agency, the logic and efficiency of the free market, and the naturalness of the status quo system of insecure employment. The book argues that these workers were neither passive victims nor empowered free agents. How they saw the world, and the choices they made as they navigated through it, were the product of the historical and cultural context in which they lived.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book sets out to document, in empirical detail, how individualist, pro-market ideologies shape actual people's lives and worldviews through an ethnographic study of white-collar U.S. high-tech workers who lost their jobs in the first years of the twenty-first century. It is about people who espouse a doggedly resilient faith in their ability to improve their own circumstances by doing what they have to do. It is about a neoliberal faith in individual agency, the logic and efficiency of the free market, and the naturalness of the status quo system of insecure employment. The book argues that these workers were neither passive victims nor empowered free agents. How they saw the world, and the choices they made as they navigated through it, were the product of the historical and cultural context in which they lived.
Wiebe E. Bijker, Roland Bal, and Ruud Hendriks
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262026581
- eISBN:
- 9780262258609
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026581.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Today, scientific advice is asked for (and given) on questions ranging from stem-cell research to genetically modified food, and yet it often seems that the more urgently scientific advice is ...
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Today, scientific advice is asked for (and given) on questions ranging from stem-cell research to genetically modified food, and yet it often seems that the more urgently scientific advice is solicited, the more vigorously scientific authority is questioned by policy makers, stakeholders, and citizens. This book examines a paradox: how scientific advice can be influential in society even when the status of science and scientists seems to be at a low ebb. The authors do this by means of an ethnographic study of the creation of scientific authority at one of the key sites for the interaction of science, policy, and society: the scientific advisory committee. The book offers a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the influential Health Council of the Netherlands (the equivalent of the National Academy of Science in the United States), examining its societal role as well as its internal functioning, and using the findings to build a theory of scientific advising. The question of scientific authority has political as well as scholarly relevance. Democratic political institutions, largely developed in the nineteenth century, lack the institutional means to address the twenty-first century’s pervasively scientific and technological culture; and science and technology studies (STS) grapples with the central question of how to understand the authority of science while recognizing its socially constructed nature.Less
Today, scientific advice is asked for (and given) on questions ranging from stem-cell research to genetically modified food, and yet it often seems that the more urgently scientific advice is solicited, the more vigorously scientific authority is questioned by policy makers, stakeholders, and citizens. This book examines a paradox: how scientific advice can be influential in society even when the status of science and scientists seems to be at a low ebb. The authors do this by means of an ethnographic study of the creation of scientific authority at one of the key sites for the interaction of science, policy, and society: the scientific advisory committee. The book offers a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the influential Health Council of the Netherlands (the equivalent of the National Academy of Science in the United States), examining its societal role as well as its internal functioning, and using the findings to build a theory of scientific advising. The question of scientific authority has political as well as scholarly relevance. Democratic political institutions, largely developed in the nineteenth century, lack the institutional means to address the twenty-first century’s pervasively scientific and technological culture; and science and technology studies (STS) grapples with the central question of how to understand the authority of science while recognizing its socially constructed nature.
Karen G. Ruffle
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834756
- eISBN:
- 9781469602981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877975_ruffle.5
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian ...
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This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian Shi'i community. Devotional texts and ritual performances are integrally entwined, producing the desired effects of grief. More important, these performances also dynamically embody the social, ethical, and religious powers of the heroes of Karbala, transforming them into imitable exemplars. The hagiographical texts and ritual performance of the mourning assembly are forms of moral communication in which the imagination of Karbala and the family of Imam Husain generates shared sensibilities and an ethical worldview that orders the life of South Asian Shi'a. Both poetry and prose commemorating the sacrifice of Imam Husain and his family at the Battle of Karbala hold central places in the spiritual and everyday lives of the Shi'a in India and throughout the Islamic world.Less
This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian Shi'i community. Devotional texts and ritual performances are integrally entwined, producing the desired effects of grief. More important, these performances also dynamically embody the social, ethical, and religious powers of the heroes of Karbala, transforming them into imitable exemplars. The hagiographical texts and ritual performance of the mourning assembly are forms of moral communication in which the imagination of Karbala and the family of Imam Husain generates shared sensibilities and an ethical worldview that orders the life of South Asian Shi'a. Both poetry and prose commemorating the sacrifice of Imam Husain and his family at the Battle of Karbala hold central places in the spiritual and everyday lives of the Shi'a in India and throughout the Islamic world.
Gail Fox Adams
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199927005
- eISBN:
- 9780199369737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199927005.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter describes ethnographic studies of childcare practices by the Oriya in India, Beng in the Ivory Coast, Gusii in Kenya, and Chillihuani in Peru and examines the cross-cultural ...
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This chapter describes ethnographic studies of childcare practices by the Oriya in India, Beng in the Ivory Coast, Gusii in Kenya, and Chillihuani in Peru and examines the cross-cultural applicability of the interactional instinct theory (Lee et al., 2009). The theory argues that typically developing infants have an instinct to interact with conspecifics, especially primary caregivers, and that primary caregivers may have an instinct to respond. It also positions attachment as a neurobiological outcome of these interactions and a prerequisite for language learning. Because of cultural variation in caretaking practices, however, one must ask if the studies that support the theory rely too heavily on dyadic childcare models and if it is relevant in societies that practice polyadic childcare. Thus, the chapter examines infants in the polyadic care societies of the Beng, Chillihuani, Gusii and Oriya and reveals that the emotional involvement and interaction infants have with multiple caregivers are commensurate with what they need to become competent language users in their communities, thus broadening the applicability of the interactional instinct theory.Less
This chapter describes ethnographic studies of childcare practices by the Oriya in India, Beng in the Ivory Coast, Gusii in Kenya, and Chillihuani in Peru and examines the cross-cultural applicability of the interactional instinct theory (Lee et al., 2009). The theory argues that typically developing infants have an instinct to interact with conspecifics, especially primary caregivers, and that primary caregivers may have an instinct to respond. It also positions attachment as a neurobiological outcome of these interactions and a prerequisite for language learning. Because of cultural variation in caretaking practices, however, one must ask if the studies that support the theory rely too heavily on dyadic childcare models and if it is relevant in societies that practice polyadic childcare. Thus, the chapter examines infants in the polyadic care societies of the Beng, Chillihuani, Gusii and Oriya and reveals that the emotional involvement and interaction infants have with multiple caregivers are commensurate with what they need to become competent language users in their communities, thus broadening the applicability of the interactional instinct theory.
Denis Walsh
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248632
- eISBN:
- 9780520943339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248632.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter summarizes the findings from an ethnographic study conducted at the Lichfield Maternity Unit, a freestanding birth center in the United Kingdom. This technique specifically engages with ...
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This chapter summarizes the findings from an ethnographic study conducted at the Lichfield Maternity Unit, a freestanding birth center in the United Kingdom. This technique specifically engages with the culture of an environment and reveals the inner workings of the birth center, from its organizations to the relationships and care offered by the staff. This approach reflects on and engages with the values, underlying structures, and nuances of this model of birth, augmenting what is already known about the clinical outcomes of birth centers and shedding light on the noninterventionist childbirth care typical of these settings. It shows how most women who had previous negative experience of hospital birth internalized the active birth values of the birth center and went on to have empowering birth experiences there. The chapter reveals conflicts between the birth center and the host hospital, with the latter imposing strict criteria for referral, which the birth center midwives tried to subvert.Less
This chapter summarizes the findings from an ethnographic study conducted at the Lichfield Maternity Unit, a freestanding birth center in the United Kingdom. This technique specifically engages with the culture of an environment and reveals the inner workings of the birth center, from its organizations to the relationships and care offered by the staff. This approach reflects on and engages with the values, underlying structures, and nuances of this model of birth, augmenting what is already known about the clinical outcomes of birth centers and shedding light on the noninterventionist childbirth care typical of these settings. It shows how most women who had previous negative experience of hospital birth internalized the active birth values of the birth center and went on to have empowering birth experiences there. The chapter reveals conflicts between the birth center and the host hospital, with the latter imposing strict criteria for referral, which the birth center midwives tried to subvert.
Timothy J. Cooley (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042362
- eISBN:
- 9780252051203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042362.003.0019
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter considers the funeral lament as an integral part of larger adaptive process regulating emotions. Sustainability of the lament is understood here in the spirit of Jeff Titon's pioneering ...
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This chapter considers the funeral lament as an integral part of larger adaptive process regulating emotions. Sustainability of the lament is understood here in the spirit of Jeff Titon's pioneering approach to sustainability of music cultures. For centuries, the lament retained its capacity to change not only in response to extremely emotional situations and life transformations, but also as a direct channel of their productive management. Ethnographic studies of the lament demonstrate its role both in expressing emotions of grief and in mobilizing social support. By juxtaposing earlier ethnographic studies with new empirical research on the affective heart responses to lament, this chapter offers insight into the lament's role in preventing the physical and cognitive breakdown of the grief-stricken body and thus in sustaining human life.Less
This chapter considers the funeral lament as an integral part of larger adaptive process regulating emotions. Sustainability of the lament is understood here in the spirit of Jeff Titon's pioneering approach to sustainability of music cultures. For centuries, the lament retained its capacity to change not only in response to extremely emotional situations and life transformations, but also as a direct channel of their productive management. Ethnographic studies of the lament demonstrate its role both in expressing emotions of grief and in mobilizing social support. By juxtaposing earlier ethnographic studies with new empirical research on the affective heart responses to lament, this chapter offers insight into the lament's role in preventing the physical and cognitive breakdown of the grief-stricken body and thus in sustaining human life.
