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Psychosocial Analysis Of An Ethnography At The Cuyahoga County Public Defenders Office, Ernest M. Oleksy Dec 2018

Psychosocial Analysis Of An Ethnography At The Cuyahoga County Public Defenders Office, Ernest M. Oleksy

The Downtown Review

Too often, social science majors become jaded with their field of study due to a misperception of the nature of many potential jobs which they are qualified for. Such discord is prevalent amongst undergraduates who strive for work in the criminal justice system. Hollywood misrepresentations become the archetypes of the aforementioned field, leaving out the necessity and ubiquity of accompanying desk work. Still other social science majors struggle to identify theoretical interpretations in praxis.


Social Context: A Review Of Autobiography Of A Disease, Sean N. Halpin Dec 2018

Social Context: A Review Of Autobiography Of A Disease, Sean N. Halpin

The Qualitative Report

Autobiography of Disease by Patrick Anderson thoroughly examines the author’s life threatening experience with Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) osteomyelitis. Through notes kept by the author and caregiver/mother Anderson tells an evocative ethnography as told from the perspective of MRSA itself. This complex weaving of narratives highlights how multiple social and environmental considerations interact to impact Anderson's experience with illness. This book may be of interest to anyone seeking to learn more about the social context of illness.


Burning Community Integration And Disability, Christopher Shane Brace Dec 2018

Burning Community Integration And Disability, Christopher Shane Brace

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with anxiety and depression have always been marginalized and stigmatized. Individuals with “hidden” disabilities are encouraged by society to keep them hidden, or face ridicule and persecution. Society decreases their sense of self-worth, and self-efficacy by destroying any perception of normalcy. Social support resources are vital for individuals with anxiety and depression’s continued mental health. As time goes on the individuals experience a decrease in the amount of available resources, at the same time the need for them increases. These individuals need a way to quickly replenish their social resources and the Burning Man regional network creates a unique …


What About Students’ Experiences: (Re)Imagining Success Through Photovoice At A High-Achieving Urban “No-Excuses” Charter School, L. Trenton S. Marsh Nov 2018

What About Students’ Experiences: (Re)Imagining Success Through Photovoice At A High-Achieving Urban “No-Excuses” Charter School, L. Trenton S. Marsh

Intersections: Critical Issues in Education

The article highlights the use of photovoice, a method that gives power to creators of images to capture experiences that are central to their life. Students verbal considerations of success in the context of the “no-excuses” school is included, as is a sample of students’ visual data about what success is outside of the “no-excuses” context. The study reveals the “no-excuses” orientation fosters an oppressive definition of success in the context of classrooms. However, the photovoice component reveals students are able to resist the limited view as four emergent findings reveal how students make meaning of success: (1) human connection; …


Un-Naming Collaboration: An Unexpected Catalyst For Understanding Participation In Critical Ethnography, Allison Anders, Joshua Diem Oct 2018

Un-Naming Collaboration: An Unexpected Catalyst For Understanding Participation In Critical Ethnography, Allison Anders, Joshua Diem

The Qualitative Report

In this article, we trace interactions with participants in two different research projects. Although the research settings were different, we focus on what the projects had in common: a commitment to collaboration, methodological training from the same faculty, and our respective decisions to turn away from labeling our work collaborative deep into each project’s development. In a narrative as chronicle, we represent ways each project unfolded and then why each of us abandoned claims of collaboration. Specifically, we share the critical positions we staked early in our research designs and the communication with participants that taught us to un-name what …


An Alternative Narrative Of Integration In Germany Through An Ethnographic Exploration Of Cuban Immigration, Ana M. Rusch Oct 2018

An Alternative Narrative Of Integration In Germany Through An Ethnographic Exploration Of Cuban Immigration, Ana M. Rusch

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic study on Cuban immigrants conducted in Germany explored the dynamics of integration through an understudied immigrant population. Most of the research conducted on integration in Germany has overwhelmingly been on Turkish immigrants, which is Germany’s majority immigrant group. To contribute to Integration Studies, this research focused on a minority and lesser studied immigrant group, Cuban immigrants. Cuban immigrants in Germany not only have a different historical and geopolitical relationship with Germany than its majority group but they also subscribe to different cultural and ethnoreligious categories. Because of these varying circumstances, Cubans act as a counter example to the …


Mda As A Research Method Of Generic Musical Analysis For The Social Sciences: Sifting Through Grime (Music) As An Sft Case Study, Monique Charles Oct 2018

Mda As A Research Method Of Generic Musical Analysis For The Social Sciences: Sifting Through Grime (Music) As An Sft Case Study, Monique Charles

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Using Grime as a case study, I employ the analytical framework I created, that is, Musicological Discourse Analysis (MDA) as a holistic mode of analysis to contextualize Grime sociologically and musicologically. This method retheorizes genre, providing a more specific, useful, and detailed musical classification system; the sonic footprint timestamp (SFT). The MDA framework provides a generic mode of musical analysis for research projects in sociology, cultural studies, and the social sciences fields. This article evaluates key musical influences in the evolution of Grime as both (i) a musical form and (ii) an analysis of influences in relation to its social …


Ethnographic Research In The U.S. Intelligence Community: Opportunities And Challenges, Bridget Nolan Sep 2018

Ethnographic Research In The U.S. Intelligence Community: Opportunities And Challenges, Bridget Nolan

Secrecy and Society

This article considers lessons learned from conducting research inside the intelligence community. Drawing on a year of ethnographic field work and interviews at the National Counterterrorism Center, I show that “boundary personnel”- people who navigate between the worlds of academia and national security - provide value added in the form of tacit knowledge that outside researchers would not be able to deliver. At the same time, these people face delays, challenges to freedom of information, and ethical considerations that are unique to their positions. Despite setbacks, social scientists must continue their engagement with national security organizations to further our understanding …


The Social Construction Of Understanding & Neoliberal Multiculturalism: Analysis And Critique Of The Peruvian Moratorium Gmos, T. W. Dondanville Aug 2018

The Social Construction Of Understanding & Neoliberal Multiculturalism: Analysis And Critique Of The Peruvian Moratorium Gmos, T. W. Dondanville

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

No abstract provided.


We Have Seen It All. At The Mall, Carla Corroto Jul 2018

We Have Seen It All. At The Mall, Carla Corroto

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

Many of us have conflicted attitudes toward suburban shopping malls in the United States. Malls are environmentally irresponsible, reinforce a dependence on cars, fortify economic and social stratification, generate private-property, emphasize consumption, and are architecturally disappointing. Malls are also the places where we bought school shoes, where we garnered our first jobs, where we may see a diversity of products and people and tastes, and, remarkably, malls can still surprise us. This article is an overview of mall criticism and a narrative from reluctant mall enthusiasts. We sit at an equivocal place—in between the complexity and contradiction of the suburban …


Inside And Outside Perspectives: A Review Of Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences And Racial Exceptionalism, Jinsu Byun Jul 2018

Inside And Outside Perspectives: A Review Of Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences And Racial Exceptionalism, Jinsu Byun

The Qualitative Report

The following is a review of the book Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences and Racial Exceptionalism, written by Kim Park Nelson. In the book, the author used ethnography and collected oral histories, and critical race theory and a post-colonial approach were employed as theoretical frameworks. In particular, as not only an insider (an adoptee) but an outsider (a researcher), she maintained a well-balanced view in describing vivid lived experiences of Korean adoptees and diverse sociocultural environments that impacted them. This book would be a great guide for novice qualitative researchers who want to be ethnographers and …


A Day In The Life Of Evil, Matthew Boedy Jun 2018

A Day In The Life Of Evil, Matthew Boedy

The Qualitative Report

Evil is a well-traveled word. It is a word that finds itself in many a discussion about many a subject. And it is not just an American trend; it is used in English-language countries in various ways, some mirroring its use in the States. And because evil is such a broadly used word, its rhetorical power can best be seen in part by its rhetorical scope. This is why this ethnographic study aims to analyze the uses of evil on the English language internet over the course of a day. The day chosen was October 24, 2016, situating the analysis …


Forgive, Forget Or Feign: Everyday Diplomacy In Local Communities Of Polish Subcarpathia, Iuliia Buyskykh Jun 2018

Forgive, Forget Or Feign: Everyday Diplomacy In Local Communities Of Polish Subcarpathia, Iuliia Buyskykh

Journal of Global Catholicism

The paper is based on my ethnographic fieldwork in Przemyśl, Poland and several surrounding villages in 2015-2017. While conducting my research on a set of religious practices and pilgrimages in confessionally and ethnically mixed localities, I faced many challenges that changed the main course of my initial research plan. During my interaction with people here themes came to light that seemed little related to religiousness. My status as a researcher from Ukraine and even more so, my being a young single woman from Ukraine, gave rise to a number of other topics that my interlocutors, both of Polish and Ukrainian …


Authors' Introduction, Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska, Magdalena Lubanska Jun 2018

Authors' Introduction, Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska, Magdalena Lubanska

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.


Going Beyond The "T" In "Ctc": Social Practices As Care In Community Technology Centers, David Nemer Jun 2018

Going Beyond The "T" In "Ctc": Social Practices As Care In Community Technology Centers, David Nemer

Information Science Faculty Publications

Community technology center (CTC) is a term usually associated with facilities that provide free or affordable computer and internet access, and sometimes training, to people in underserved communities. Despite the large number of studies done on CTCs, the literature has focused primarily on the use of ICTs as the main, if not the only, activity in these centers. When it comes to addressing social concerns, the literature has often seen them as an outcome of ICT use. It does not highlight CTCs as an inherent and important social space that helps to tackle social issues. Thus, in this study, I …


Doing And Interpreting Lyrical Sociology: Living In Detroit, Gregory Joseph Wurm Jun 2018

Doing And Interpreting Lyrical Sociology: Living In Detroit, Gregory Joseph Wurm

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines, experiments with, and theorizes the value of lyrical sociology as an approach to social scientific research. A lyrical sociology, as proposed by Andrew Abbott, seeks to describe an author's emotional response to a phenomenon rather than explain it. This allows for a researcher's own experience to play a role in the research process in a way that helps the reader to connect emotionally and ethically to both the world they read about and the world they themselves are a part of. It has valuable implications for the way researchers relate to their research, their research subjects, their …


Identity, Discourse, And Rehabilitation In Parole Hearings In The United States, Danielle Lavin-Loucks, Kristine M. Levan May 2018

Identity, Discourse, And Rehabilitation In Parole Hearings In The United States, Danielle Lavin-Loucks, Kristine M. Levan

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Research on parole in the United States has primarily followed a deterministic approach, favoring an examination of variables contributing to release. However, a great deal of prior research neglects a central aspect of the parole process: mainly the hearing. Adopting an ethnographically informed conversation analytic approach, this article addresses one tactic offenders utilize to appeal to a state parole board for release– claiming rehabilitated status. Offenders appealing for parole attempt to establish, in a performative space, their identity as rehabilitated. More globally, this article addresses how individual manage, assert, and negotiate identity in the course of interaction. The achievement of …


Among Wolves, Ethnography And The Immersive Study Of Power — Book Review Of A Play, Ameya Sawadkar May 2018

Among Wolves, Ethnography And The Immersive Study Of Power — Book Review Of A Play, Ameya Sawadkar

The Qualitative Report

Timothy Pachirat’s (2018) Among Wolves: Ethnography and the Immersive Study of Power is an atypical book about doing and thinking about ethnography, presented in play format. I reviewed the book as a doctoral student and novice qualitative researcher as a part of a process to explore a developing interest in ethnography. The book’s conversational format intertwined with perspective from acclaimed contemporary ethnographers’ work helps both the novice ethnographer with a worldview of what doing ethnography entails and the seasoned ethnographer in thinking about reflexivity. The academic rigor and extensive coverage of issues about power, subjectivity and fieldwork, makes it an …


A 3-Level Model Of Insider Ethnography, Andreas Giazitzoglu, Geoff Payne May 2018

A 3-Level Model Of Insider Ethnography, Andreas Giazitzoglu, Geoff Payne

The Qualitative Report

This article discusses ethnographic insiderness. After juxtaposing insider and outsider ethnography, we suggest insider-ethnography requires a more nuanced and complete discussion for it to be better understood, theoretically and practically. Accordingly, we propose a model of insider-ethnography that suggests three relative levels of ethnographic insiderness exist. We use examples from extant ethnography to substantiate our model theoretically and empirically. Our analysis occurs at a time when calls for a more reflexive understanding of ethnography exist, but reflexive analysis of insider ethnography is sparse.


The Structurally Adjusted School: School Restructuring And Youth Political Incorporation In Suburban America, Erin Michaels May 2018

The Structurally Adjusted School: School Restructuring And Youth Political Incorporation In Suburban America, Erin Michaels

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation argues that key 21st century education reforms intended to improve education for Latinx and Black students are actually new mechanisms of educational inequality. I examine this trend in the suburbs where Latinx and Black populations are growing due to new immigration and gentrification. I show how state-mandated education reforms use conditional financing and coercive restructuring policies to undermine the school’s local control by tying major reforms to vital school aid and threatening it with closure. I relate this model to the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) the IMF and World Bank use globally in order to coerce countries to …


The What, Where, How And Why: A Review Of Being Ethnographic: A Guide To The Theory And Practice Of Ethnography, Jetlexis Carlos Apr 2018

The What, Where, How And Why: A Review Of Being Ethnographic: A Guide To The Theory And Practice Of Ethnography, Jetlexis Carlos

The Qualitative Report

In Being Ethnographic: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography, Raymond Madden presents ethnography in a way that is easily understood by describing real life experiences from both his own work and others working in the field. This book is a great resource to guide those who wish to conduct ethnographic research or need a learning tool to understand the underlying nature of ethnographic research. Madden links the way ethnographic research is done to how ethnographic research is thought about. It is a great introduction to the “what,” “where,” “how,” and “why” of practicing of ethnography.


Ethnolinguistic Convergence And Divergence Within Dyadic Communication, Anna E. Pitman Apr 2018

Ethnolinguistic Convergence And Divergence Within Dyadic Communication, Anna E. Pitman

Honors College Research

This study investigated just one dependent variable within communication: ethnicity. Ethnicity often influences language. The study examined interethnic communication behaviors through the lens of the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), as influenced by one of its offshoots, Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory (ELIT). Communication within CAT is given one of three labels—convergence, divergence, and maintenance. The study included four students at Harding University: two African American females, one Hispanic American female, and one Caucasian American female. The primary participant, an African American woman, had a recorded 20 minute conversation with each of the other three participants. Discussion questions provided were formulated to create …


Social Banishment And The Us “Criminal Alien”: Norms Of Violence And Repression In The Deportation Regime, David C. Brotherton Apr 2018

Social Banishment And The Us “Criminal Alien”: Norms Of Violence And Repression In The Deportation Regime, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

I interpret data from an ongoing participant observation study of deportation hearings in the North-East United States using two analytical themes: (i) the emergence of the deportation regime and its mechanisms of structural violence, and (ii) the norms of violence in the spaces of the deportation regime. By deportation regime I am referring to the institutional systems and practices created under the emergence of an exceptional security state and the discrete and not so discrete apparatuses and rituals employed to discipline the minds and bodies of documented and undocumented immigrant labor and the collateral consequences that result. Whereas structural violence …


Being And Naughtiness: An Account Of Being An Ethnographic-Insider Studying White, Working Class Gym-Users, Andreas Giazitzoglu Mar 2018

Being And Naughtiness: An Account Of Being An Ethnographic-Insider Studying White, Working Class Gym-Users, Andreas Giazitzoglu

The Qualitative Report

In this work, I reflexively outline my experiences of researching white, working class British male gym-users as an ethnographer. During my research process, I adhered to the definition of a level three ethnographic insider, articulated by Giazitzoglu and Payne (2018, forthcoming). Two broad questions guide this article. First, how did I managed to create a third-level insider position in the field, especially through my own embodiment and gym practices? Second, what can others learn from my experiences; particularly in relation to the practicalities of research ethics, data analysis and the emotional consequences of leaving a research-field where one has belonged?


Breaking The “Fourth Wall” In Qualitative Research: Participant-Led Digital Data Construction, Nettie Boivin, Anna Cohenmiller Mar 2018

Breaking The “Fourth Wall” In Qualitative Research: Participant-Led Digital Data Construction, Nettie Boivin, Anna Cohenmiller

The Qualitative Report

This article reconstructs the typical researcher-participant focus - where the participants are doing for us - instead we followed the participants’ lead in the construction of research. Using a qualitative literacy event case study as an example, we describe how participants unexpectedly co-constructed knowledge through a participant-led digital data collection. In this theoretical article, we provide an explanation of the original study, which used observations, semi-structured interviews, and home visits as a collective qualitative case study on parental participation in social literacy practices. The original investigation led to the important shift that occurred in participant-researcher roles. In this article, using …


Contemporary Methodological Approaches To Qualitative Research: A Review Of The Oxford Handbook Of Qualitative Methods, Dian Jordan Mar 2018

Contemporary Methodological Approaches To Qualitative Research: A Review Of The Oxford Handbook Of Qualitative Methods, Dian Jordan

The Qualitative Report

Researchers can discover the dynamism of new methods of qualitative inquiry and discover new applications for the established methods. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Methods (2014), edited by Patricia Leavy examines topics ranging from the politics of knowledge to researcher prejudice and bias extant in qualitative research. History, ethics, philosophy, and theoretical approaches of qualitative research are presented in a cogent manner. Topics include grounded theory, feminist research, indigenous methodologies, narrative inquiry, ethnography, case studies, oral history, content analysis, Internet research, photography and arts-based research, community-based research, qualitative disaster research, and mixed-methods. Chapters are devoted to skill-building techniques for …


A Book Review Journey Through Doing Ethnography, Katie L. Laux Feb 2018

A Book Review Journey Through Doing Ethnography, Katie L. Laux

The Qualitative Report

Giampietro Gobo and Andrea Molle describe their book, Doing Ethnography, as a recipe for cooking ethnography. In this book review, I will take you on a journey through this culinary delight. I provide an overview of the points of interest, a short description of what can be found at each location, and the benefits of the various stops on the tours. Overall, this book is an appropriate choice for novice researchers or anyone who is interested in the practice of ethnography.


Race, Sexuality, And Masculinity On The Down Low, Stephen Kochenash Feb 2018

Race, Sexuality, And Masculinity On The Down Low, Stephen Kochenash

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In a so-called post-racial America, a new gay identity has flourished and come into the limelight. However, in recent years, researchers have concluded that not all men who have sex with other men (MSM) self-identify as gay, most noticeably a large population of Black men. It is possible that a tainted history of Black enslavement in this country that is inextricably linked with ideas of space, surveillance, subversion, and survival inform a Black male’s self-identification as being “on the down low” (DL). This begs the question: What does mainstream society view as gay-ness and how is the DL constructed …


H.E.L.L.A.: A Bay Area Critical Racial Affinity Group Committed To Healing, Empowerment, Love, Liberation, And Action, Farima Pour-Khorshid Jan 2018

H.E.L.L.A.: A Bay Area Critical Racial Affinity Group Committed To Healing, Empowerment, Love, Liberation, And Action, Farima Pour-Khorshid

School of Education Faculty Research

Despite repeated pleas for diversifying a predominantly White U.S. teacher workforce, a significant teacher diversity gap persists in almost every state of the country (Boser, 2014). Teachers of Color who enter the profession with commitments to social justice, in particular, face an array of racist structural and interpersonal challenges often leading to their burnout and in some cases push out from the field (Kohli & Pizarro, 2016). In response to neoliberal, color evasive, and apolitical approaches to teacher support, educators and organizers have reclaimed and reframed their pedagogies through critical professional development (Kohli, Picower, Martinez, & Ortiz, 2015) to center …


Renouncing Citizenship As Protest: Reflections By A Jewish Israeli Ethnographer, Irus Braverman Jan 2018

Renouncing Citizenship As Protest: Reflections By A Jewish Israeli Ethnographer, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

The events of summer 2014 and the painful realizations that they invoked have led me to consider renouncing my Israeli citizenship. Contemplating what may seem like a straightforward stance of resistance, I have come to realize how complex it actually is. This short essay considers renunciation as an act of protest from the standpoint of a Jewish Israeli legal ethnographer and geographer... [The essay] foregrounds the following questions: aren’t all modern states founded upon bloodshed? And, if so, shouldn’t all citizens be renouncing their citizenship? Or from the opposite angle: why bother replacing one flawed citizenship with another? In my …