Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Preference Conflict And Peace Studies: The Line Between Disagreement And Violence, Frederic R. Kellogg

Peace and Conflict Studies

Broadening the definition of conflict defines more comprehensively the condition of peace, focusing on how unresolved shared disagreements can lead to, or avoid, polarization and violence. The line between general disagreement and violent conflict lies in the adjustment of shared preferences. Matters like reproductive rights, medically assisted death, race and gender discrimination, while subject to political polarization, are open to peaceful redress through what John Dewey called the transformative continuum of inquiry, in which the crucial social response to shared problems includes dispute and conflict. Resolution of controversial social problems requires preference adjustment and habit change, often, if not always, …

A Path To Food Self-Provisioning And Experiences From Learning New Skills: An Autoethnographic Depiction, Toni Ruuska

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnographic depiction, I tell a story of change and renewal. In the narrative, I present a story of personal choices and epiphanies that have changed the course of my life. At the turning point, I portray the process of learning new skills regarding food self-provisioning. I come from a privileged, but de-skilled, middle-class suburban background, and the past four years has been a diverse journey of insecurity, alienation, and fatigue, but also of learning, empowerment, and self-realization. From a person with limited skills, to an at least somewhat skilled food neo-self-provisioner, I have partaken in a process of …

The Experience Of Faculty Strikers: Factors That Could Impact Higher Education Strikes, Giovanna Follo, Diane Huelskamp

The Qualitative Report

Higher education is being challenged as is the unionization of faculty. This combination could create a climate where faculty may need to strike. The purpose of this research is to describe the lived experiences of striking faculty to bring a greater understanding of what faculty may incur. This research utilized a phenomenological approach with a combination of composite narratives and in vivo coding to describe the lived experiences of striking. With the number of layoffs, strikes and threats of striking, this research is timely in understanding what striking entails and how it can best be navigated for the benefit of …

Balancing The Drinking Act: A Grounded Theory Of Youth Drinking, Policy And Covid-19 In Botswana, Tebogo Sebeelo

The Qualitative Report

Stakeholder and consumer participation is generally seen as a critical part of effective alcohol policy making as it has a direct impact on policy implementation. In the advent of COVID-19, the views and experiences of stakeholders and consumers were integral to how countries responded to the virus. The involvement of alcohol stakeholders and consumers raises critical questions about policy making practices. Using Grounded Theory (GT) methods amongst 20 drinkers and six alcohol stakeholders, I examined the views and experiences of stakeholders and alcohol consumers in Botswana during COVID-19. I identified two interrelated core categories of Balancing the Drinking Act and …

How Can You Call Her A Woman? Male Soldiers’ Views On Women In The Drc Armed Forces, Dostin Lakika, Ingrid Palmary

Peace and Conflict Studies

There has been a longstanding body of literature on women in the armed forces at least since the 1970s (Segal, 1999). This literature varies considerably in its approach, from feminist work that reflects on the forms of masculinity produced through military and militarization, to work that considers women’s role in the army and attitudes towards women in the army. Furthermore, policy efforts to increase women’s participation in the army (such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325) have explicitly called for the inclusion of women in peace and security efforts. In this paper, we contribute to this literature by assessing how …

Palestinian-Arabs Volunteering In State Institutions In Israel: Reconciliation And Peacebuilding Or Conflict And Suspicion?, Edith Blit Cohen, Mays Essa

Peace and Conflict Studies

Volunteering in government institutions by national minorities in conflict with the state raises fascinating issues. The identity of Palestinian-Arabs in Israel is divided, as they belong to the Palestinian people and Arab nation, as well as nominal citizens of Israel. This perception study explores the meaning of the volunteering experience for fifteen Palestinian-Arabs in various Israeli state institutions. Three themes arise from the interview analysis: motives for volunteering, challenges faced by the volunteers, and their coping strategies. The study contributes to the theory and practice of the meaning of volunteering in government institutions for minority members in conflict with the …

An Interactionist Approach To Btlg Pride, Lain A.B. Mathers, Jason E. Sumerau

The Qualitative Report

Within and beyond Symbolic Interactionism, sociological studies of bisexual, transgender, lesbian, and gay (BTLG) populations have expanded dramatically in the past two decades. Although such studies have invigorated our understanding of many aspects of BTLG life and experience, they have thus far left BTLG Pride relatively unexplored. How do BTLG populations experience Pride, and what insights might such efforts have for sociologically understanding such populations and events? We examine these questions through an interview study of bi+ people (i.e., sexually fluid people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise outside of gay/straight binaries; Eisner, 2013). Specifically, we analyze how bi+ …

Positioning Women's Inclusion In Peace Negotiations: The Landmark Case Of The Philippines, Josephine P. Perez, Mira Alexis P. Ofreneo

Peace and Conflict Studies

Women have historically been excluded in formal peace processes. While structural changes have pushed for women’s participation in peace negotiations, we locate the shift from women’s exclusion to women’s inclusion as enacted in the discursive patterns of talk. Using positioning theory as a discursive lens, we looked at how women’s inclusion was facilitated in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that reached the landmark Philippine peace accord of 2014. Positioning theory argues that every utterance is a speech act that ascribes rights and duties, in this case, the right …

Activists And Non-Activists: Differential Activist Identification In The Tea Party And Occupy Movements, Jesse Klein

The Qualitative Report

Semantically, “activist” and “activism” are convenient descriptors for participants in social movements and are commonly used by social movement scholars. This study demonstrates, however, that these labels obscure the complex decisions participants make in negotiating their involvement. Few researchers examine the importance of deconstructing traditional assumptions of activist identities and the nuances in activist negotiation and identification. Using qualitative research methods, this paper explores whether social movement participants engage in complex identity negotiations wherein they interactionally situate and critically assess their involvement. This research draws on in-depth interviews conducted with 58 social movement participants from two local-level, contemporary social movements: …

Avoiding The ‘Anthropocene’?: An Assessment Of The Extent And Nature Of Engagement With Environmental Issues In Peace Research, Rhys Kelly Dr

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article critically examines the extent and nature of engagement with environmental issues within the field of peace research, and specifically with the unfolding ecological crisis (‘the Anthropocene’). A representative sample of journals and book series associated with peace research were analysed in order to a. quantify the extent of engagement with climate change and other environmental issues in peace research, and b. assess the range of discursive positions vis-a-vis the environment represented in the sample. The article finds that, in comparison to other ‘thematic niches’, environmental issues have received limited attention. It also finds that the dominant orientation of …

Kiss Of Love Campaign: Contesting Public Morality To Counter Collective Violence, Sonia Krishna Kurup Miss

Peace and Conflict Studies

The paper studies the immense opposition to a nonviolent campaign against the practice of moral policing in Kerala to understand the dominant spaces, collective identities, and discourses that give shape to the outrage of public morality in India. The campaign through its politics specifically targeted rightwing and political groups as well as socially embedded familial and institutional structures that exercise control over individuals through patriarchal regimes. The adverse reaction to the campaign revealed that collective aggression or violence can be used to impose majoritarian values and exert social control through the authority of public morality and everyday acts of moral …

The Determinants Of The Development Of Russian Assistive Technologies Market: Analysis Of Experts’ Interviews, Aleksandra Goriainova, Alina Pishnyak, Elena Khabirova

The Qualitative Report

Not all people with disabilities are provided with assistive technologies and devices (ATD) they need. The Russian researchers appeal to the development of assistive technologies, however, focus only on one specific social objective of ATD provision or on engineering, economic and production aspects of the problem. This study identifies the key determinants of the development of the assistive technologies market in Russia and trends over the next 10–15 years. We conducted a qualitative study using a grounded theory based on open and axial coding procedure. We collected data using semi-structured interviews with 12 experts recruited through snowball sampling with multiple …

Loose Coupling In Curriculum Reforms: Rural Teachers´ Perceptions Of Peace Education In Post-Conflict Colombia, Pedro Pineda, Markus D. Meier

Peace and Conflict Studies

Previous research has shown how peace education (PE) mutates according to socio-political and curricular/didactic traditions, but we still need to know how PE disseminates at the school level. We surveyed teachers from 12 rural schools of the violent Amazon region of Colombia where a national Law made PE mandatory in schools and universities. Teachers working on schools affected by the armed conflict have high expectations about PE. Respondents identified PE with 21 didactic elements: (a) Approaches: values education, citizenship education, critical pedagogy; (b) Pedagogical principles: diversity and pluralism. (c) Learning processes: peaceful conflict resolution, promotion of a “life project”, political …

What Have We Learned From Critical Qualitative Inquiry About Race Equity And Social Justice? An Interview With Pioneering Scholar Yvonna Lincoln, Christine Stanley, Chayla Haynes

The Qualitative Report

In this article, two Black women scholars in higher education share a conversation with our distinguished senior colleague, Yvonna Lincoln, a pioneering scholar of qualitative research methodology about what we have learned from her, and more specifically, how this research paradigm has been used to advance racial equity and social justice in higher education. The readers will learn, through her lens, about issues that emerged over the years and what she envisions for the future of higher education and qualitative research. This article presents implications for higher education, including faculty, students, and administrators working in higher education institutions.

Purpose, Power, Politics, Privilege, And Promise: A Review Of International Perspectives On Autoethnographic Research And Practice, Kay Aranda Dr

The Qualitative Report

This collection of international critical scholarship seeks to question, provoke, unsettle and reengage with changing understandings of autoethnography, its research and practices. In this review I share my reading of these contributions by highlighting important themes running throughout the book. These involve the shared but differently positioned vulnerabilities present in knowledge making, alongside desires for recognition, visibility or belonging. However, equally present are processes of misrecognition, silencing and othering resulting from unequal distributions of power and privilege. This book reaffirms how autoethnographic research may recognise vulnerabilities, but these are always more than individual suffering. Vulnerability becomes political. The scope and …

Different Choices: A Public School Community’S Responses To School Choice Reforms, Amanda U. Potterton

The Qualitative Report

In the United States, state and federal reforms increasingly encourage the expansion of school choice policies. Debates about school choice contrast various concepts of freedom and equality with concerns about equity, justice, achievement, democratic accountability, profiting management organizations, and racial and class segregation. Arizona’s “market”-based school choice programs include over 600 charter schools, and the state’s open enrollment practices, public and private school tax credit allowances, and Empowerment Scholarships, (closely related to vouchers), flourish. This qualitative analysis explores one district-run public school and its surrounding community, and I discuss socio-political and cultural tensions related to school choice reforms that exist …

Living, Doing, And Learning From Politics In A Youth Wing Of A Political Party, Carla Malafaia, Isabel Menezes, Tiago Neves

The Qualitative Report

The field of civic and political participation has been studied mostly from individual, psychological approaches rather than collective, relational perspectives. Here we address this gap through a political ethnography in the youth wing of a major Portuguese political party, conducted during the fervent months right before and after the Portuguese parliamentary elections of October 2015. Investigating the meaning-making of doing politics in real-life contexts, we assess the collective learning processes involved in political participation. This paper shows that youth wings can provide quality participation experiences. Indeed, collectively envisioning and constructing a more democratic society and working for the public good …

Mystory: Scary Head…, Gonca Soyer, Mehmet Soyer

The Qualitative Report

This work is an example of critical autoethnographic study of the writer’s personal experiences. In this particular study, I share my experiences while wearing a headscarf in Turkey, and my desire to settle down in United States in order to pursue my academic career. Due to the political changes in Turkey and United States, my experiences while wearing a headscarf in academia and social environments triggered me to write a reflection about them. In this article, my goal is to deconstruct the symbolic meanings of the Muslim headscarf in social spaces. In addition, the piece will show my “double consciousness" …

Subject Formation, Fundamentalism And Instrumentalist Nationalism In Zimbabwean Politics, Joram Tarusarira Dr.

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article argues that despite presiding over a failed economy, the Zimbabwe African Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) led by Robert Mugabe, has willing and enthusiastic supporters. There are claims that the large crowds witnessed singing and dancing at ZANU PF rallies are mobilized by force because the attendees do not benefit anything from supporting the regime. In a divergence from the consensus of the literature, this article surfaces other explanations than coercion for the huge turnout at rallies, rented crowds, handouts, and well-articulated election manifestos. The psychological dimension, especially the fundamentalist mindset created by instrumentalist nationalism, is one such …

How To Conduct A Mini-Ethnographic Case Study: A Guide For Novice Researchers, Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D., Gene E. Fusch, Lawrence R. Ness

The Qualitative Report

The authors present how to construct a mini-ethnographic case study design with the benefit of an ethnographic approach bounded within a case study protocol that is more feasible for a student researcher with limited time and finances. The novice researcher should choose a design that enables one to best answer the research question. Secondly, one should choose the design that assists the researcher in reaching data saturation. Finally, the novice researcher must choose the design in which one can complete the study within a reasonable time frame with minimal cost. This is particularly important for student researchers. One can blend …

Hostage At The Table By George Kohlrieser: A Critical Book Review, Bimal Dahal, Muhammad Ilyas, Erika Krajcovicova, Myriam Marcuello-Lopez, Abdulah Saleh, Shadi Sheikh Saraf

Journal of Interdisciplinary Conflict Science

Being a hostage impedes. One must strive to get out of the hostage mindset and situation to realize peace. This review analyzes George Kohlrieser's approaches from peacebuilding perspective.

George Kohlrieser is a professor of leadership and organizational behavior, psychologist, and veteran hostage negotiator. In his book Hostage at the Table, he contends that conflict resolution is not difficult if we understand how human self-esteem operates. He believes that deep within humans reside slumbering powers that most of us do not even activate. These latent powers can revolutionize our lives if aroused and put into action.

In the following pages, …

Re-Imagining Home: Operation Pedro Pan In The Cuban-American Imaginary, Yvette Fuentes

Quadrivium: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship

An exploration of the traumatic events of Operation Pedro Pan, where over 14,000 Cuban children traveled alone to the United States between December 1960 and October 1962. The program was organized by the Catholic Welfare Bureau of Miami and the U.S. State Department due to requests from Cuban parents who feared their children would be indoctrinated in Marxism by the new revolutionary government.