Digital Commons Network^™

Why Culture Matters In Business Research, Gene E. Fusch Ph.D., Christina J. Fusch, Janet M. Booker Dr., Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D.

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Organizations today are changing rapidly due to technology, globalization, and cutting-edge production, subsequently morphing into new structures and workflow processes. Organizations are becoming more diverse in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The business workplace is not the melting pot that many were taught about, but that of the ethnic salad, blended yet distinct. The core of organizational composition worldwide still remains within the human resource realm for a shared and cohesive culture is behind the success of every company. The study of workplace culture is important for business research to ascertain the construct of the successful …

Constructing A Postcolonial Feminist Ethnography, Jennifer Manning

Articles

Purpose – The paper details the construction of a postcolonial feminist approach to ethnography; providing insight into how the researcher developed her ethnographic approach based on her theoretical framework and demonstrating how she undertook this research. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to outline how the researcher identified positionality and representation as the primary challenges of undertaking a postcolonial feminist ethnography with marginalised Maya women in Guatemala, and how she addressed these complexities in the field.

Design/methodology/approach – This postcolonial feminist ethnography was conducted over a three-month period in the rural highlands of Sololá, Guatemala. This approach bridges the …

Developing Agritourism In The Caribbean: Critical Ethnography And Sustainable Landscape Design To Improve The Human Experience At Letan Bossier, Haiti, Kristen Maria Lonon

LSU Master's Theses

The Letan Bossier, Haiti community is in need of continued investment from international agencies, in an effort to improve conditions for locals, along with shaping the experience of the tourist, at and around an attractive natural basin, three miles north-west of Cayes-Jacmel, Haiti, at about 187 meters above sea level. In order to improve one’s journey through this mountainside community to the Grand Basin, capital investments must be made. The goal of the proposed design solutions is to solve for the locals first, in turn, attracting tourists to experience a space that’s supported by its own people. The goal of …

Winter 2015

Insights

Notes from the interim dean; Ethnographer uncovers America's hidden history; Beck Research Initiative for Women, Gender and Community empowers through community-based research; Program spotlight: Master of Social Work; Professor offers a glimpse into the World of Wine; North-South Dialogue explores key figures across hemispheres; Political Science, WRD take the lead on reframing traditional liberal arts education; Community engagement is at the core of community service studies; In brief; Faculty publications

The Relationship Between Social Networks, Exchange And Kids’ Food In Children’S Peer Culture, Stephanie Tillman Melton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates children’s peer culture, social networks and the role that kids’ food plays in peer exchanges during middle childhood. During this stage children develop social competencies as they join peer groups with other children and become socialized into children’s peer culture. In order to immerse myself within children’s culture, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork at two afterschool programs providing care for elementary school children. I investigated friendships, social networks and exchanges among third through fifth grade children at the programs. The study included participant observation and participatory group interviews with a sample of the children at both sites. The …

Ethnographic Collector, Gideon Singer

Purdue GIS Day

Ethnography can be enhanced by utilizing both ArcGIS Online and Arc Collector. Throughout 2015, I have designed and utilized the Ethnographic Collector web map to record qualitative observations, spatial records, and multi-media attachments. Data was recorded while conducting pilot research on the e-waste landscape of Tippecanoe County, Indiana and a class ethnography project on the neighborhood of New Chauncey. The Ethnographic Collector has augmented qualitative data collection via participant observation and go-along interviews and can likely be utilized in tandem with participatory GIS.

A Community Of Isolation: An Ethnographic Examination Of Mothering In Poverty And Its Impact On Food Security In Pinellas County, Florida, Amanda M. Terry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to document the lived experience of mothering in poverty and the unique challenges the role of mother presents to maintaining food security. Millions of households in the United States are struggling to put food on the table, a problem made worse by the current economic recession and high food prices. Among them, households with children and specifically, single mothers, report the highest prevalence of food insecurity. While Federal food assistance programs are available to help alleviate this issue, the continued problem of hunger is a very real and pervasive concern for millions of American …

Two Ethnographic Researchers Embark On A Narrative Journey, Randa Abbas, Deborah Court

The Qualitative Report

In this article two ethnographic researchers present a life story that emerged, almost against their will, as one of 120 in-depth interviews with Israeli Druze. The ethnographic study was designed to provide understanding of Israeli Druze society today through the discovery of thematic patterns. One interviewee, however, simply refused to follow the loosely structured interview format and told her story. Hana's story about the importance of her father in her professional success, and about her struggles to abide by the tenets of her religion, shed new light on the ethnographic data and taught these two researchers some new methodological sensibilities.

Graduate Conversations: Assessing The Space Needs Of Graduate Students, Melissa M. Burel, Abby Scheel, Rachel Besara, Jessica Evans Bradey, Kirsten Kinsley, Gloria Colvin

Library and Information Services Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This article discusses the preferences, habits, and needs of graduate students as they relate to spaces for research and study. The findings are based on a large-scale ethnographic study of graduate students at Florida State University conducted between 2010 and 2013. Using a variety of ethnographic methods, researchers found that graduate students have diverse needs and unequal access to appropriate spaces and resources to meet those needs. Libraries can help fill the gaps left by home and academic departments by providing a range of spaces offering different noise levels, resources, and other amenities.

Blending World History And Literature: An Ethnographic And Phenomenological Exposition Of Disciplinary Integration, William Lee Wood

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to analyze the relationship that exists between student perceptions of learning and the role of instructors in an integrated World History I and World Literature I course. The primary outcomes were to determine: (1) the normative elements between instructors that were involved in the creation and delivery of an integrated course; (2) how the integration of content and the role of the instructors changed classroom interaction, specifically with respect to the norms of communication between students and faculty; and (3) how the phenomenon of learning and student perception in an integrated setting changed. To gain an …

Ethnographic Inquiry Of The Cultural Context: Academic Nurse Educators, Karen D. Cotter

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Ethnography Of Taste: Craft Beer Culture In Hattiesburg, Yingkun Hou

Master's Theses

This thesis studies the craft beer culture in Hattiesburg in order to answer the research question: Is taste what draws people to this culture? Beyond conducting classic participant-observation, I deployed the method of sensory activated participant-observation in my fieldwork. In so doing, this research centers the perspective and the data collected on the senses, especially the taste of craft beer. The purpose of this research is to add to our knowledge of the anthropology of the senses and contribute to the literature on the anthropology of taste.

Unveiling The Mysteries Of Aceh, Indonesia: Local And Global Intersections Of Women's Agency, Siti Kusujiarti, Elizabeth W. Miano, Annie L. Pryor, Breanna R. Ryan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Forces of globalization, local culture, and Islam continuously inform one another and dynamically manifest in cultures across the world. Scholars often assume that these influences may have distinct and independent effects. However, we argue that these global forces occur simultaneously and they may contradict or complement each other along a spectrum within Aceh, Indonesia. The manifestations and responses vary depending on the nature of the interactions of global and local factors. This spectrum represents various ways in which women negotiate identity and agency, specifically within the context of the implementation of Shari’ah Law. This research investigates the specific ways in …

Intersubjective Sensibilities: Memory, Experience, And Meaning In Natural History Interpretation, Joshua E. Hunter

The Qualitative Report

This ethnographic account examines the perceptions of a group of outdoor educators or naturalists in a mid-western state park in regards to memory construction and how early memories impact their practice of interpretation. Findings show that early personal memories are not only fundamental to their eventual life as a naturalist but further; these memories motivate their work within the park. Of primary focus is highlighting the intersubjective continuity between the memories of naturalists and what they hope for others and the eventual goal of meaning making by way of affective memories. By describing and interpreting their perceptions of experience and …

Challenging Global Advocacy Of Biomedical Institution-Based Birth In Nepal: A Review With Reference To Nepal And South Asia, Thea Vidnes

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Based on findings from public health, demographic, and anthropological research, this review discusses biomedical institution-based birth in Nepal, in the process asserting that better understanding of maternal health determinants requires biomedical strategies be balanced with greater attention to local social realities and approaches. The paper begins with a summary of evolving international maternal health policies and their manifestations in Nepal, then discusses how recent public health research there indicates existing community support structures, including women’s groups, to have had demonstrably positive impacts on maternal health. The subject of women’s reproductive agency is subsequently considered. While public health and development-based research …

Ethnographic Refusal As Research Method: Example From A Study Of A Family Court Child Custody Mediation Program, Alexandra Crampton

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Mediation is a dispute resolution process in which a third party neutral facilitates discussion towards amicable agreement. Parents in Wisconsin filing disputed claims in family court over child custody or physical residence must attend mediation before going back to court. I began research on the Milwaukee Family Court Child Custody Mediation program three years ago with anticipation of data collection challenges due to sensitivity of the topic and need for multiple research permissions. Multiple and ongoing permission is necessary given an ethnographic extended case study research design. This approach was chosen to analyze the meanings of mediation within larger social …

Comprehensive Field Work Instructions: A Review Of Applied Ethnography. Guidelines For Field Research, Elizaveta Polukhina

The Qualitative Report

This book provides extended information and concrete guidelines for applied ethnographic research. It is rich in methodological advice, applicable empirical instruments and tools. The work will be helpful for advanced researchers, academic and non- academic people involved in complex international programs, lectures and graduate students planning to conduct ethnographic research for their dissertation. It includes research examples in education, marketing, community health, nursing, geography and more. The empirical fields of Pelto are slightly removed from the focus on Euro-American academic research and include reflections of working in the developing countries such as South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and more.

Paradoxes, Dyads, And Tensions In Business: A Book Review Of Advancing Ethnography In Corporate Environments: Challenges And Emerging Opportunities, Bruce Lilyea

The Qualitative Report

By using a dyad approach of having two authors write about a topic from differing perspectives, the book presents a real world perspective of the innate challenges of corporate ethnography and is authentic as a result. These dyads address the issues of the balance of technology and traditional ethnographic tools; past and future; speed and depth; theory and practicality; insider and outsider; and, big data and human evolution. I intentionally use the word “with” to separate the dyad topics instead of “versus” because the book presents a “with not versus” approach to the dyads in the writing.

Blood From Blood And Earth From Earth: Examining Cultural Identity In Second And Third Generation Hispanic Americans, Caroline E. Culbreth

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To what extent does a Mexican American identify with Mexico? With the U.S.? How are these identities formed? Through a series of semi-structured interviews with second- and third-generation descendants of migrants emigrating from seven Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, I explore what it means to be Hispanic American. I begin by examining the informants’ perceptions of boundaries between the broad Hispanic and American ethnic groups and their self-defined positions relative to those boundaries. Having established this position, I then analyze the impact of external conceptions of authenticity and access to “ethnic raw materials” in their construction of this ethnic identity. Findings …

The Fifty-Year Ethnographer: A Review Of Harry Wolcott's Ethnography Lessons: A Primer, Denise Mifsud

The Qualitative Report

“Harry Wolcott uses fifty years of experience to take the reader inside the process of constructing an ethnographic study, offering a wealth of lessons from one of the masters of the genre”. This is indeed a concise description by the publisher. The text is constructed around the author’s five major studies. Wolcott thus gives a unique contribution to the field of ethnography as he presents some critical components of ethnography in his desire to share with us readers the results of his career-long search for the essence of ethnography. The book is divided into eight chapters. I give a critical …

A Wind From Below: The Zapatista Movement And Its Assertion Of Pluri-Ethnic Mexican Citizenship, Noah Jacob Huyette

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Liberation Through Domination: Bdsm Culture And Submissive-Role Women, Lisa R. Rivoli

Student Publications

The alternative sexual practices of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) are practiced by people all over the world. In this paper, I will examine the experiences of five submissive-role women in the Netherlands and five in south-central Pennsylvania, focusing specifically on how their involvement with the BDSM community and BDSM culture influences their self-perspective.I will begin my analysis by exploring anthropological perspectives of BDSM and their usefulness in studying sexual counterculture, followed by a consideration of feminist critiques of BDSM and societal barriers faced by women in the community. I will then address the …

Leaning Into Autoethnography: A Review Of Heewon Chang’S Autoethnography As Method, Martha M. Snyder

The Qualitative Report

To lean in means to press forward or to move toward something. Leaning in is a deliberate way to approach something whether it is a strong wind or a new skill. Leaning in describes my stance toward autoethnography. I am making a step forward to understand what autoethnography is and how I might be able to use it in my personal research agenda. In reviewing the various approaches to autoethnography, I have found that Autoethnography as Method by Heewon Chang offers a comfortable entry point. Her methodical approach and practical guidelines for doing autoethnography are appealing and useful in creating …

Volume 6: Contemporary Islamic Law In Indonesia : Sharia And Legal Pluralism, Arskal Salim

Exploring Muslim Contexts

Indonesia has probably the fastest changing legal system in the Muslim world. This book represents the first ethnographic account of legal pluralism in the post-conflict and disaster situation in Aceh. It addresses changes in both the national legal system and the regional legal structure in the province.

Focusing on the encounter between diverse patterns of legal reasoning advocated by multiple actors and by different institutions (local, national and international; official and unofficial; judicial, political and social cultural) it considers the vast array of issues arising in the wake of the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh.

It investigates disputes …

Lost In Institution: Learning To Write In Midwestern Urban Mainstream Classrooms, Yanan Fan

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

How do recent immigrant students learn to write in mainstream content area classrooms? This article considers this question in the under-investigated American Midwest contexts where schooling is being reframed by rapid changing demographics. Data for this paper come from an ethnographic case study of second language learning of a Vietnamese 9th grader in an urban school setting. Grounded in a sociocultural view of learning, the author examines (1) how the student negotiated the nature and purpose of writing among inconsistent expectations, objectives and responsibilities in mainstream, and (2) how she was lost in a lack of vision in literacy and …

An Ethnographic Study Of Ebook Use: A Library-Anthropology Collaboration, Lisa Rose-Wiles, Sulekha Kalyan

Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Encouragement Through Community: An Ethnographic Study Of Team B, Lexi Nicole Reeves

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

As the desire to achieve a healthier lifestyle is on the rise, many fitness organizations strategize to lure customers in through specific communicative tactics. Team B (name has been modified for confidentiality purposes) has become a leader in the fitness realm over the past two decades. This thesis explores the culture of Team B through an ethnographic study to reveal how the company functions differently from other similar organizations. The research conducted relies on a variety of methods including naturalistic inquiry, participant observation, surveying and interviewing. Additionally, the cultural approach to organizations as presented by Geertz and Pacanowsky (2012) helps …

Cultural Norms Of Clinical Simulation In Undergraduate Nursing Education, Susan G. Mcniesh

Faculty Publications

Simulated practice of clinical skills has occurred in skills laboratories for generations, and there is strong evidence to support high-fidelity clinical simulation as an effective tool for learning performance-based skills. What are less known are the processes within clinical simulation environments that facilitate the learning of socially bound and integrated components of nursing practice. Our purpose in this study was to ethnographically describe the situated learning within a simulation laboratory for baccalaureate nursing students within the western United States. We gathered and analyzed data from observations of simulation sessions as well as interviews with students and faculty to produce a …

Friendship As Method, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

“Friendship as Method,” appendix of the book In Solidarity: Friendship, Family, and Activism Beyond Gay and Straight (Routledge 2015), overviews the author's approach to and philosophy of research. She defines friendship, posits it as a kind of fieldwork, and lays the methodological foundations of friendship as method. After arguing that friendship as method involves researching with the practices, at the pace, and in the natural contexts of friendship, the author describes this approach’s strengths and considerations for both researcher and participants. To learn more, visit the book's website: http://www.insolidaritybook.com.

Culture In A Cup: An Ethnographic Study Of Elixir Tea House In Sarasota, Florida, Nova Jones

Theses & ETDs

This ethnographic study of Elixir Tea House in Sarasota, Florida, is based on four months of participant observation. I conducted interviews with customers and the staff to examine the language and ideas people used to relate to different kinds of teas. I learned about different plants that are used to make teas, as well as their physical effects on the consumer. I also explored themes of tea, health, gender, and hospitality in the context of my findings at Elixir to understand the tea house owner’s relation to the rest of Sarasota, and Elixir’s relation to other kinds of historic tea …