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The Parish Choir Movement And Generational Festivals In Romania’S Socialist Period: New Community Festivities In Transylvania’S Gheorgheni (Gyergyó) Region, Eszter Kovács

Journal of Global Catholicism

Among the post-1945 East European socialist regimes, Romania and Poland were the only countries where the Catholic Church—despite government interventions, controls, and bans—managed to play a significant social and political role in community life. This case study provides an ethnographic description of the parish choir movement and graduating class reunions, called “generational festivals” in Hungarian, in the Gheorgheni (Hu: Gyergyó) region in the 1970s and 1980s. The gatherings will be analyzed in the context of everyday life, the socialist system’s distinctive shortage economy, and official limits on religious activity that characterized the era. I will first describe the world of …

What Is Going On In Havana, Cuba? An Anthropological Reflection On The Current Socio-Political Context And The Biggest Challenges Cuba’S Population Faces, Victor Vázquez, Mariana Gutierrez

Departmental Papers (S&A)

The following article presents an anthropological reflection focused on the current contemporary sociopolitical context in the city of Havana, Cuba. Considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the political changes afterward the death of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro in 2016. Methodically, the article is based on a qualitative – ethnographic approach conducted in Cuba and discusses how the daily life of Cubans, overcomes the historical inequality conditions, the lack of opportunities, and others. Lastly, the article presents a reflection on the biggest changes faced by the population, the slow process of economic change, and …

Briquetage And Brine: Living And Working At The Classic Maya Salt Works Of Ek Way Nal, Belize, Heather Mckillop, Cory E. Sills

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Systematic flotation survey and spatial analysis of artifacts at the submerged salt work of Ek Way Nal reveal evidence of a residence, salt kitchens, and additional activities. Ek Way Nal is one of 110 salt works associated with a Late to Terminal Classic (A.D. 600-900) salt industry known as the Paynes Creek Salt Works. Wooden posts that form the walls of 10 buildings are remarkably preserved in a peat bog below the sea floor providing an opportunity to examine surface artifacts in relation to buildings. Numerous salt kitchens have been located at the Paynes Creek Salt Works by evidence of …

"It's Still Easy To Get": An Anthropological Analysis Of Nicotine Activist Efforts And User Perspectives In Central Florida, Saoulkie Bertin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The absence of federal government consensus on various nicotine policy matters, such as the legality of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, gives rise to distinct agendas, policy landscapes, and public attitudes at the state and local levels. As a result, nicotine activist groups and interested stakeholders are actively engaged in shaping the future of nicotine policy and use. This thesis explores the culture of local activist groups in Central Florida to understand how they influence nicotine-related policy change and set the tone for nicotine use in their communities. Drawing on data collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with activist …

Unconventional Wisdom In Resonating Echoes Of The Past: A Memoir On The Life And Music Of Royal Hartigan, Joseph Elias Boulos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Unconventional Wisdom in Resonating Echoes of the Past:

A Memoir on the Life and Music of royal hartigan

Joseph Elias Boulos

Detailed fieldwork achieved by people in the discipline of social/humanistic studies, specifically ethnomusicologists, in any form: book, biography, documentary, etc., have contributed to the strengthening the understanding of any group of people, community, or culture. This research project is a co-authored memoir grounded in oral history and collaborative ethnography on, and with, Dr. royal hartigan. The purpose of this ethnographic research is to fill in the lack of information readily available on royal, from his sole perspective, and to …

Attending To The Cultures Of Data Science Work, Lindsay Poirier

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications

This essay reflects on the shifting attention to the “social” and the “cultural” in data science communities. While recently the “social” and the “cultural” have been prioritized in data science discourse, social and cultural concerns that get raised in data science are almost always outwardly focused – applying to the communities that data scientists seek to support more so than more computationally-focused data science communities. I argue that data science communities have a responsibility to attend not only to the cultures that orient the work of domain communities, but also to the cultures that orient their own work. I describe …

Middle Savannah River: An A/R/Tographic Ecopedagogical Ethnography Experimenting With Rhizomatic Perspectives, Lisa Augustine-Chizmar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research is an experiment in perspective. Using the four commonplaces (Schwab, 1978), I practiced letting the Savannah River teach me what there is to know about the water, the land, the people, and the other entities that depend on ki through artistic, ethnographic, and ecopedagogical lenses. The ethnographic findings describe the social actors that depend on ki and give a voice to the River. The a/r/tographic findings display the River on a canvas map through two hundred years using paint, clay, photography, video, abstract acrylics, and fabric. Together, these methods contribute to a unique ecopedagogical journey. This word cloud …

Backyard Orange Groves: Archaeology And Oral History Of An Ethnic Mexican Community In Downtown Redlands, Marlen Hinojosa

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Seeking a better life, generations of Mexican immigrant families established a thriving community in the landscape surrounded by citrus orchards flanking a stretch of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad tracks in Redlands, CA. As a series of revitalization projects and developments, Statistical Research Inc. (SRI) conducted archival research from the Smiley library, ethnographic and archaeological investigations to understand better the history of this unstudied ethnic Mexican barrio community near downtown Redlands. The data acquired from the oral history interviews conducted with individuals who lived or had family living in the area provided a more explicit depiction of the artifacts …

An Ethnography Of Voodoo Tourism And Heritage Sites In New Orleans, Lousiana, Bryant Long

Master of Arts in Art and Design Theses

This thesis considers how Voodoo is presented and experienced in various tourism and heritage sites within New Orleans in the present moment. A variety of visual representations, verbal narratives and multimedia performances were documented and analyzed through participant observation. Current tourism relies on the city’s ghost stories, mythology, as well as Voodoo practices and lore, raising questions about the melding of fact and fiction in the potential perpetuation of sensational ideas about the city and its African heritage. Cultural sites discussed in this thesis include Congo Square, the New Orleans Voodoo Museum, Voodoo Authentica, the New Orleans Museum of Art, …

The Right Pathway To Becoming A Successful Qualitative Researcher: A Book Review Of Char Ullman, Kate Mangelsdorf, And Jair Muñoz’ Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Ethnographic Study, Elih Sutisna Yanto

The Qualitative Report

Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Ethnographic Study is a book written by Char Ullman, Kate Mangelsdorf, and their student, Jair Munoz, of the University of Texas. The book addresses questions such as, "What problems do inexperienced qualitative researchers face?" and “How can an individual become a qualitative researcher?” This book examines the academic and identity processes of disadvantaged students who become qualitative researchers. An in-depth ethnographic study was conducted by the authors to demonstrate how these elements fit into Communities of Practice. As ethnographers and researchers, students engage with and learn from communities, drawing from their prior experiences and …

Food For Local Benefit: Civic Agriculture At The Wea Creek Orchard, Reese Curtis

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Th is project is a case study on Wea Creek Orchard, an intergenerational farm in the greater Lafayette area. Because this was an ethnographic project based on grounded theory, I did not have a set research question upon entering the field. After spending a few months volunteering on the Wea Creek Orchard, however, I noticed that this farm operates in a community-oriented way, prioritizing community engagement over the pursuit of profit. With these observations as a base, this project reviews the ways in which Wea Creek Orchard runs its business as a civic agriculture operation. Civic agriculture refers to locally …

A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Socio-Economic Implications Of Land Grabs Among The Nuer People In The Gambella Region Of Ethiopia, Mehari Fisseha, Godswill Makombe, Vusilizwe Thebe

The Qualitative Report

The paper analyses the socio-economic implications of land grabbing among the Nuer people in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. To achieve its goals, the study is underpinned by two interrelated questions. The first question is: what are the socio-economic implications of land grabs in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia? The second question reads: what are the contestations and perceptions of the Nuer peoples in terms of gains and losses from the land grabs? The study was carried out among a Nilo-Saharan group known as the Nuer which traces its roots from Sudan within the qualitative research methodology. Findings from the …

Between Two Rivers: Environmental Justice And The Politics Of Ecological Improvement In Puget Sound, Grant M. Gutierrez

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Environmental justice (EJ) has become a central framework for historically marginalized communities in the United States to identify unequal exposure to environmental harm. Yet, what once began as a radical social movement challenge to different forms of environmental racism has been taken-up by a wide swathe of civil society across diverse political, cultural, and ecological landscapes. In particular, river restoration efforts – and the many communities they implicate – are emerging as key sites of political-ecological interventions that are central to EJ. However, not all river restoration efforts employ EJ as a guiding framework. Through this dissertation, I ask: how …

Nethnography, Complementing Netnography: A Defensible Praxis For The Online Researcher, Martin Maccarthy

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article issues a challenge for interpretive tourism researchers to consider the trove of online data currently disavowed by aficionados of Netnography. Non-dyadic social media data is used by researchers but has been devalued as lacking legitimacy. However, by combining ‘lifeless’ non-dyadic social media with lesser-engaged ethnographic methods a lived proxy can be achieved. Nethnography is a two-part qualitative praxis of spending enough time with the phenomenon to discern meanings with confidence, which is then used to interpret non-dyadic textual discourse. Lesser-engaged ethnographic methods include participants as observers, observers as participants and complete observers. A fourth legitimizer of online interpretation …

La Voz De Los Sures: Etnografía Glotopolítica Del Activismo Comunitario, Lara Maria Alonso Pinero

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The relevance of the strategic use of language and communication in the consolidation and action of a political subject has not yet been sufficiently analyzed. Drawing on a glottopolitical perspective, this research project aims to incorporate the object of study of the political dimension of voice and point out the importance of mastering linguistic and discursive practices in community activism. Based on the case of the Latino community of Los Sures in Brooklyn, NY, in this dissertation I embark on a journey through the communicative practices through which a group of people begins to conceive of itself as a community, …

Access To Power: Electricity And The Infrastructural State In Pakistan, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Pakistan would desperately like to produce enough electricity, but it usually doesn’t. This is the rare issue on which government and private sector can unite, and it is the cause of suffering for rich and poor alike across the entirety of the country. Despite prioritization by successive governments, targeted reforms shaped by international development actors, and featuring prominently in Chinese Belt and Road Investments, the Pakistani power sector still stifles economic and social life across the country. This book explores state capacity in Pakistan by following the material infrastructure of electricity across the provinces and down into cities and homes. …

Positionality: The Interplay Of Space, Context And Identity, Rebecca Y. Bayeck

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This article considers the way in which positionality shifts and is formed during a cross-cultural study to reveal the complexity of the insider-outsider status. As a researcher in a male-dominated game setting, I reflect on the research process and my interactions with participants to show the interplay of space, context, and identity in shaping a researcher’s status. I discuss the process of gaining access to the research site and participants, and data collection in relation to space, context, and identity. The interaction of my identities with space, and context informed my status at various moments. This interplay constructs a complex …

Celebrating Hmong: A Minute Ethnography Of Hmong Americans In Minneapolis, Madison Baczuk

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

The Hmong people are a culture that originated in Southern China. However, many Hmong people fled to the U.S (among other nations) with the conclusion of the Vietnam war. Like other Asian cultures, the Hmong people are collectivist and give priority to family members of greater age and of the male gender. The Hmong celebrate birth, marriage, and death through sacred rituals and traditions that honor their ancestors. The Hmong language is in danger of extinction due to globalization. Yet, globalization also brings the general public greater knowledge and exposure to the wonderful culture of the Hmong people.

Creating Connections: Social Research Of, For, And With Design, Arlene Oak, Claire Nicholas

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This editorial for the theme track 'Creating connections: Social research of, for, and with design' outlines the underpinning concepts that contributed to a call for papers that would explore social research into the activities and/or outcomes of design practice. This editorial also briefly locates each of the six papers in relation to the track’s interests in how design and the social sciences may be effectively engaged with each other. By exploring some of the empirical details and modes of analysis through which research projects into design practice are undertaken, this set of papers will usefully inform design practitioners and social …

Crafting In The Backstage: Materiality And The Changing Work Of Designers, Natalja Laurey, Marleen Huysman, Maura Soekijad

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Drawing on Goffman’s metaphor of frontstage and backstage, this article analyses the role of materiality in day-to-day work practices of craftspersons. The study is based on an ethnographic study of 17 months at a design firm which was amid a shift from product to service design. This means that instead of tangible products, the designers at the firm created intangible services. This shift in work practices reduced crafting to making visualizations for reports and presentations. As a response, the designers sought ways to spend more time on manually crafting in their work. In the backstage, when among trusted peers and …

Augmented: Design And Ethnography In/Of An Architecture, Computer Science, And Textile Research-Creative Collective, Claire Nicholas, James Forren, Derek Reilly

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper introduces a multi-disciplinary research-creation project that examines the embodied and social nature of textile design and making at different structural scales – from beaded accessories to architectural components. Bringing together anthropology, architecture, computer science, and textile craft, “Gesture and Form” seeks to develop effective and ethical pedagogies for teaching design and handcraft with new materials and technologies. Specifically, the project explores the potentialities and limitations of a head-worn augmented reality (AR) system that documents, encodes, and later guides making practices. The discussion first introduces different disciplinary frameworks for understanding and researching embodied knowledge, before sketching the multi-disciplinary research …

After Practice: Messy Relations In The Ethnographic Study Of Design, Arlene Oak, Claire Nicholas

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The Thinking While Doing (TWD) project was an ambitious “research-creation” project that involved the designing and building of several full scale, “real” structures by architecture students and professors in “design-build” education. The grant also included two ethnographers (as well as scholars from the humanities). Together the participants in TWD were engaged in intersecting and distinct modes of research, ranging from architecture practice to philosophical reflections. While there were intentions for the insights of the ethnographers to ex-tend and inform knowledge of practice, as the TWD structures were created, it became evident that undertaking ethnography coincident with designing and building was …

Speechless: Understanding The Manufacture Of Omission In An Effort Toward A More Responsible Ethnography, Sophie Goldstein

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Narratives are versions of reality that are often fragile and always contingent. As such, the potential for anthropological knowledge production hinges on the gaps in narrative that result from omissions, exclusions, and silences on the part of both researcher and research subject. In this thesis, I draw attention to the ways anthropological knowledge is narrative knowledge, and, as such, can be productively engaged with the tools of narrative study. I contend with the excesses and omissions that shape the production of ethnographic narratives, and offer correctives born of this work that might allow for the production of more salient and …

Anthropology In 3d: The Use Of Photogrammetry In The Preservation And Dissemination Of Ethnographic Art, Alexander Spindler

Honors Projects

Photogrammetry is an effective tool used by archaeologists in museums and organizations by creating a 3D model from overlapping photos. This project involved a collection of ethnographic artifacts from Papua New Guinea that are currently housed in the Grand Valley State University Anthropology Department. This essay reviews the process and results of this project. Artifacts were photographed and 3D models were created using the Agisoft Metashape program. Models are disseminated via the Sketchfab website with proper cultural information. Artifacts originate from Sepik River tribes and were designed originally for the tourist industry. This project shows the utility of photogrammetry in …

Writing For Research In Brazilian Schools: The Landless Workers Movement's Education Of The Countryside, Ana Maria Doll Ghelere Portas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis, “Writing for Research in Brazilian Schools: The Landless Workers Movement’s Education of the Countryside,” examines pedagogical practices of rural areas in Brazil. More specifically, I analyze writing practices of high school students in public schools co-governed by the state and the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), a grassroots social movement that has fought for agrarian reform in Brazil for over 40 years. I analyze research papers developed in the social movement's research program: autobiographies written by students in their first year of high school and research papers written in the two final years. My analysis looks for connections between …

"We're Like Ghosts, But We Have To Be." Invisibility & Liminality Among Kentuckiana's Undocumented Population, Sophie Amaya

Undergraduate Theses

The controversial topic of illegal immigration has repeatedly and deeply divided the United States. There has been, in recent years, a spotlight on immigrants from Latin America, and impersonal claims are being spread in news articles everywhere. For this research, survey questionnaires and ethnographic interviews were used to facilitate a sample of undocumented immigrants from the Louisville, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana (An area known as “Kentuckiana”) to provide insight on their experiences. This thesis aims to examine the effects of this uncertain status on the well-being of Latin American immigrants in this region, where not much research is done on …

Mining For Progress: Copper, Conflict, And Corporate Social Responsibility, Fritz Culp

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation examines how transnational mega-mines efface non-Western ways of knowing and being from the Andes. A growing branch of research is questioning the socio-environmental impacts of mining and the influence of regulatory institutions. Despite remarkable scholarship on the ongoing environmentalism of modern-mining, little critical attention has been given to the industry’s pivot to ‘sustainable’ development and its objectives that remain epistemologically centered on the West. My project addresses these gaps by examining Las Bambas—a large-scale copper mine located in South-Central Peru—and its contrasting objectives that emphasize both environmental ‘conservation’ and the ‘modernization’ of non-Western spaces. Building upon the critical …

Geothermal Development In Kenya: Gender Based Socio-Cultural And Socio-Economic Implications, Faye N. Ricker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic case study that analyzes the gendered socio-cultural and socio-economic implications for a community that was displaced in order to develop a geothermal energy system in Kenya. The implications are rendered particularly interesting because the displaced community is also one of the communities served by the geothermal power grid. The analysis employs a composite framework of Feminist Political Ecology and the Political Ecology of Climate Change Mitigation. This work explores gendered perceptions and control of energy, livelihood activities, place attachment, and the cultural/spiritual significance of geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy is a potentially promising source of low-carbon …

Teaching Ethnographic Methods For Cultural Anthropology: Current Practices And Needed Innovation, Alissa Ruth, Katherine Mayfour, Thurka Sangaramoorthy, Bryan Mckinley Jones Brayboy, Melissa Beresford, Alexandra Brewis, H. Russell Bernard, Meskeren Z. Glegziabher, Jessica Hardin, Krista Harper, Pardis Mahdavi, Jeffrey G. Snodgrass, Cindi Sturtzsreetharan, Amber Wutich

Articles

Historically, ethnographic methods were learned by cultural anthropology students in individual research projects. This approach creates challenges for teaching in ways that respond to the next generation’s calls to decenter anthropology’s White, heteropatriarchal voices and engage in collaborative community-based research. Analyzing syllabi from 107 ethnographic methods training courses from the United States, we find the tradition of the “lone researcher” persists and is the basis of ethnographic training for the next generation. There is little evidence of either active reflection or team-based pedagogy, both identified as necessary to meet career opportunities and diversification goals for the wider field of cultural …

Education, Aspiration, And Everyday Diplomacy:An Ethnographic Study Of Female Malaysian Muslim Students In Theuk, Ireena Nasiha Ibnu

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This paper seeks to explore the aspects related to education and aspiration through the on-going experiences of Female Malay Muslim students in UK higher institutions. Building on an ethnographic approach, an in-depth interview with 30 female Malay students, I focus on the various aspects of the students’ lives as scholarship holders, addressing in particular how they handle diplomatic practices in their everyday lives as Malaysian mini ambassadors overseas. The notions of aspiration, well-balanced citizenship and ‘everyday diplomacy’ are deployed in this research to understand the everyday experiences of these students. Hence, it is argued that the privileges in education policy …