Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons^™

I’M Afraid Of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography Of A West Virginia Water Crisis, Luke E. Lassiter, Brian A. Hoey, Elizabeth Campbell

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

Food Justice Youth Development: Using Photovoice To Study Urban School Food Systems, Krista Harper, Catherine Sands, Diego Angarita, Molly Totman, Monica Maitin, Jonell Sostre Rosado, Jazmin Colon, Nick Alger

Catherine Sands

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.

Carving A Walled Village To Keep Friends In -- An Ethnographic Account In The Cyberspace Of Ingress, Leung-Sea, Lucia Siu

Prof. SIU Leung-sea, Lucia

This paper investigates how new forms of classical social cohesion, as illustrated by Emile Durkheim, can be found in the mobile gaming community of Ingress. Ingress was a global game developed by Google that ran on mobile phones using location-based technologies. Gamers from two factions had to travel, cooperate and combat across actual geographical space to play. The paper investigates how the gaming community simultaneously possessed global connectivity and cultures of local enclave communities. It contains ethnographic records of a group of gamers from the satellite town of Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. The group used to build a symbolic wall …

A Simple Introduction To The Practice Of Ethnography And Guide To Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

In this article, I will provide a simple introduction to the practice of ethnographic fieldwork. Ethnographic approaches, while born of the work conducted by anthropologists over one hundred years ago, are increasingly employed by researchers and others from a variety of backgrounds and for a multitude of purposes from the academic to the applied and even the commercial. In this article, I will provide an introduction intended for those new to this approach but who have already had some basic experience or training. I also provide a discussion of the centrality of fieldnotes to the conduct of this very personally …

Introduction: Obesity, Eating Disorders, And The Media, Karin Eli, Stanley Ulijaszek

Karin Eli

No abstract provided.

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

Richard Travisano

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Mike Niman discusses the future of journalism in a PR-dominated communication environment. In particular, he examines the migration of talent from journalism to the PR industry, the collapse of mainstream journalism and the role of an emergent alternative media as American journalism goes through metamorphosis from what it was to what it could become. Journalism is a social good that should equip people to understand and resist spin. Niman argues that mainstream American journalism, rather than rising to this challenge, has transparently succumbed to serving as an arm of the corporate PR industry, thus laying the groundwork for its own …

Participatory Visual & Digital Methods, Aline Gubrium, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Table of contents and introduction of Participatory Visual and Digital Methods by Aline Gubrium and Krista Harper. Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book editions from Left Coast Press .

Digital Leisure For Development: Rethinking New Media Practices From The Global South, Payal Arora, N. Rangaswamy

Payal Arora

No abstract provided.

Netnografia, Czyli Etnografia Wirtualna – Nowa Forma Badań Etnograficznych, Dariusz Jemielniak

Dariusz Jemielniak

Prezentowany artykuł ma na celu przybliżenie metody etnografii wirtualnej (netnografii) polskim naukowcom z dyscypliny nauk o organizacji i zarządzaniu. Opisuje podstawowe problemy, na jakie napotykają osoby zajmujące się antropologią organizacji, gdy przystępują do badań online. Dotyczą one kulturowej różnorodności społeczności wirtualnych, niefundamentalnych różnic między etnografią wirtualną a tradycyjną, specyfiki interakcji, „tubylczości”, kłopotów z przeprowadzaniem obserwacji, antropologiczną refleksyjnością, a także tematów zaufania i tożsamości społecznej.

Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This paper suggests a version of Marxism - a minor Marxism - derived from Deleuze & Guattari's political philosophy.

Typology Of Web 2.0 Spheres: Understanding The Cultural Dimensions Of Social Media Spaces, Payal Arora

Payal Arora

It has taken the past decade to commonly acknowledge that online space is tethered to real place. From euphoric conceptualizations of social media spaces as a novel, unprecedented and revolutionary entity, the dust has settled, allowing for talk of boundaries and ties to real-world settings. Metaphors have been instrumental in this pursuit, shaping perceptions and affecting actions within this extended structural realm. Specifically, they have been harnessed to architect Web 2.0 spaces, be it chatrooms, electronic frontiers, homepages, or information highways for policy and practice. While metaphors are pervasive in addressing and normalizing new media spaces, there is less effort …

Beyond Dogma: The Role Of "Evolutionary" Science And The "Embodiment" Of Archetypal Energies, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

At individual and collective levels (locally, nationally, and globally), humanity is currently entertaining many challenges and opportunities for growth. In my view, these challenges and opportunities are connected to Energy shifts that are taking place on the planet, and the inability of some to move beyond dogma in relating to these Energy shifts. By its pre- and proscriptive nature, dogma fosters limiting beliefs that often interfere with how best to relate to these Energy shifts as vibrational beings in an evolving, vibrational world. Here, I want to briefly identify some of the limiting effects of dogma, and the role of …

Ambivalence And The Decision Tree, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

We are insolubly ambivalent creatures. Traditionally cultures have managed ambivalence by focusing on character and morality in motives. Freudian psychology recognized that cognitive conflict is insoluble and stressed equilibrium and grace in adaptation. Today technology's binary structure is complicating and sometimes superseding the traditional trope of character by organizing cognition around the trope of the decision tree.

Tongzhi Today, Tomorrow, Jennifer Q. Zhang

Jenn Z

This is a multi-media project composed of a research paper and short film on an emerging new identity of affluent urban Chinese men. The research paper begins with a brief background on socially accepted cultural phenomenon of pederasty and same-sex relations in dynastic China. These practices are removed and medicalized in late pre-modern China. The high-culture role of family in relation to the individual and the nation is largely due to continued loyalty toward Confucian doctrines. The struggle of urban gay men against these socio-historical factors is offset with the availability of the internet, digital resources and a digital community …

Going Anti-Postal: What Kind Of Nation Won't Fund A Post Office, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Social Media In Community Colleges, Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Manuel Sacramento González Canché,, Regina Deil-Amen, Charles H.F. Davis Iii

Charles H.F. Davis III

Over the past decade, there has been a growing public fascination with the phenomenon of connectedness. One of the most important ways in which society is now connected is through social media –such as social networking sites. While both students and higher education institutions seem to be utilizing social media more and more, there still are enormous challenges in trying to understand the new dynamics generated by social media in higher education, particularly for the context of community colleges.

This research report has several purposes. The first is to document and to describe the various ways in which social media …

Ron Paul + Potheads = Racist Dopes, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Ron Paul’s popularity, given his history of racism, is troubling. More troubling, however, is the willingness of his supporters, an odd coalition of one-percenter corporatists and anti-war pothead libertarians, to ignore or excuse these views. Read more: http://artvoice.com/issues/v11n5/getting_a_grip

“Don't Call Me A Student-Athlete”: The Effect Of Identity Priming On Stereotype Threat For Academically Engaged African American College Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Academically engaged African American college athletes are most susceptible to stereotype threat in the classroom when the context links their unique status as both scholar and athlete. After completing a measure of academic engagement, African American and White college athletes completed a test of verbal reasoning. To vary stereotype threat, they first indicated their status as a scholar-athlete, an athlete, or as a research participant on the cover page. Compared to the other groups, academically engaged African American college athletes performed poorly on the difficult test items when primed for their athletic identity, but they performed worse on both the …

This'll Kill Ya: Pepper Spray And The Modern Lexicon Of "Less Than Lethal" Oppression., Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Social Media In Higher Education: A Literature Review And Research Directions., Charles H.F. Davis Iii, Regina Deil-Amen, Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Manuel Sacramento Gonzalez Canche

Charles H.F. Davis III

Social media [technology] has become a growing phenomenon with many and varied definitions in public and academic use. For our purposes, the term social media technology (SMT) refers to web-based and mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations to create, engage, and share new user-generated or existing content, in digital environments through multi-way communication. Despite the widespread use of SMT, little is known about the benefits of its use in postsecondary contexts and for specific purposes (e.g., marketing, recruitment, learning, and/or student engagement). It is critical to begin to examine if and how higher education institutions are incorporating the use …

They (Don’T) Care About Education: A Counternarrative On Black Male Students’ Responses To Inequitable Schooling, Shaun R. Harper, Charles H.F. Davis Iii

Charles H.F. Davis III

Presented in this article is a counternarrative concerning one particular message that is consistently reinforced in academic and public discourse about Black male students: they don’t care about education. Little is known about those who graduate from high school, enroll in college, and subsequently commit themselves to various career pathways in education fields (K-12 teaching and administration, the postsecondary professoriate, education policy, etc.). What compels these men to care so much about education, despite what is routinely reported in the literature regarding their gradual disinvestment in schooling? This question is explored in the article using data from 304 Black male …

I Didn’T Mourn Steve Jobs, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Apple is good at separating consumers from their money, but the price its workers pay is much greater, writes Michael I. Niman

The Shanti Sena “Peace Center” And The Non-Policing Of An Anarchist Temporary Autonomous Zone: Rainbow Family Peacekeeping Strategies, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

This article utilizes ethnographic methods and government documents to examine the self-policing and peacekeeping strategies of the Rainbow Family, a nonviolent acephalous intentional community that holds massive weeklong gatherings around the globe. It is a case study that examines the efficacy of these methods, comparing them to those traditional police agencies employ under similar conditions. It contextualizes these strategies by examining other utopian and anarchist communities and movements such as Critical Mass bike rides. This study demonstrates how smiling, chanting, listening, social pressure, and social capital all play into forming a more effective and less violent approach toward peacekeeping.

I Am The Enemy: A Unionized Public Employee Speaks Out, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

According to right wing commentators, university professor Michael I. Niman is one of those public employees responsible for the coming downfall of Western civilisation

I'M Okay, You're Criminally Insane: Life In A Neurotic Fear State, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Michael I. Niman finds a direct line between the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman and the creation of a neurotic fear state. Mixed in with all the logical, rational condemnation of violent rhetoric, however, is a bit of kneejerk lunacy

El Desarrollo De La Ciencia Política En México. Una Mirada A Través De Los Estudios Sobre El Estado De La Disiciplina, J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

Se presenta una revisión de los títulos publicados hasta 2009 que han analizado la situación de la ciencia política en México o algún aspecto de ésta. Destaca el crecimiento y la diversificación de autores e instituciones, de las revistas publicadas y de los enfoques y temas recurrentes. Hasta fines de los años noventa se ven autores recurrentes y momentos de auge en las publicaciones asociados a coyunturas como congresos, procesos de modificación a planes de estudio, etc., Después de estos años hay la emergencia de nuevos autores y enfoques de estudio, y que el desarrollo de estos trabajos en su …

Purposeful Engagement Of First-Year Division I Student-Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

This study examined the extent to which transitioning, first-year student-athletes engage in educationally sound activities in college. The sample included 147 revenue and nonrevenue first-year student-athletes who were surveyed at four large Division 1-A universities. Findings revealed that revenue and nonrevenue first-year student athletes differed regarding their academic and athletic identities. Transitioning revenue student-athletes rated themselves as having slightly higher athletic identities, yet lower academic identities compared to their nonrevenue counterparts. The findings from this study also indicated that the kinds of effective educational practices that first-year student-athletes engage in have a positive influence on their academic self-concept. These findings …

White College Students' Explanations Of White (And Black) Athletic Performance: A Qualitative Investigation Of White College Students, Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.