scholarly journals Elite ethnography in an insecure place

Focaal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (82) ◽  
pp. 80-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosita Armytage
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Relationship

Based on ethnographic research conducted with the wealthiest and most powerful business owners and politicians in urban Pakistan from 2013 to 2015, this article examines the particular set of epistemological and interpersonal issues that arise when studying elite actors. In politically unstable contexts like Pakistan, the relationship between the researcher and the elite reveals shifting power dynamics of class, gender, and national background, which are further complicated by the prevalence of rumor and the exceptional ability of elite informants to obscure that which they would prefer remain hidden. Specifically, this article argues that the researcher’s positionality, and the inversion of traditional power dynamics between the researcher and the researched, can ameliorate, as well as exacerbate, the challenges of undertaking participant observation with society’s most powerful.

scholarly journals “First Week Is Editorial, Second Week Is Algorithmic”: Platform Gatekeepers and the Platformization of Music Curation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630511988000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiziano Bonini ◽  
Alessandro Gandini
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Digital Music ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Data Platform ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Music Streaming

This article investigates the logics that underpin music curation, and particularly the work of music curators, working at digital music streaming platforms. Based on ethnographic research that combines participant observation and a set of interviews with key informants, the article questions the relationship between algorithmic and human curation and the specific workings of music curation as a form of platform gatekeeping. We argue that music streaming platforms in combining proprietary algorithms and human curators constitute the “new gatekeepers” in an industry previously dominated by human intermediaries such as radio programmers, journalists, and other experts. The article suggests understanding this gatekeeping activity as a form of “algo-torial power” that has the ability to set the “listening agendas” of global music consumers. While the power of traditional gatekeepers was mainly of an editorial nature, albeit data had some relevance in orienting their choices, the power of platform gatekepeers is an editorial power “augmented” and enhanced by algorithms and big data. Platform gatekeepers have more data, more tools to manage and to make sense of these data, and thus more power than their predecessors. Platformization of music curation then consists of a data-intense gatekeeping activity, based on different mixes of algo-torial logics, that produces new regimes of visibility. This makes the platform capitalistic model potentially more efficient than industrial capitalism in transforming audience attention into data and data into commodities.

scholarly journals "Sister Akua, they say you should dance": negotiating roles in participant observation

1970 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Graveling
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Core ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Southern Ghana

Relationships, and specifically the relationship between the fieldworker and the research subjects, are at the core of the process of all anthropological and ethnographic research and to a very large extent determine the outcomes of the research. In addressing the question of how far a participant observer should attempt to "become" a member of the group she is studying, we must also recognise the complexity of individual and social identities assumed or attributed to her. When the distinction between aspects of "self" and "other" is blurred, the fieldworker can be simultaneously (but not fully) "insider" and "outsider" in different facets of her identity and in different relationships. Drawing on experiences of recent ethnographic fieldwork among members of churches in a village in southern Ghana, this paper explores aspects of identity that contribute to this ambivalent status of the fieldworker. It considers the extent to which the researcher has control over her research roles and the implications of this in terms of access, acceptance, data collection, and obligations and responsibilities of the researcher to her informants.

scholarly journals "First week is editorial, second week is algorithmic": platform gatekeepers and platformization of music curation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiziano Bonini ◽  
Alessandro Gandini
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Digital Music ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Music Streaming

This article investigates the logics that underpin music curation, and particularly the work of music curators, working at digital music streaming platforms. Based on ethnographic research that combines participant observation and a set of interviews with key informants, the article questions the relationship between algorithmic and human curation and the specific workings of music curation as a form of platform gatekeeping. We argue that music streaming platforms in combining proprietary algorithms and human curators constitute the “new gatekeepers” in an industry previously dominated by human intermediaries such as radio programmers, journalists, and other experts. The paper suggests understanding this gatekeeping activity as a form of “algo-torial power”, that has the ability to set the ‘listening agendas’ of global music consumers.

Transnational Religious Place-Making: Sri Lankan Migrants’ Physical and Virtual Buddhist Places in South Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-488
Author(s):  
Sanjeewani Habarakada ◽  
HaeRan Shin
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Specific Process ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article looks at the relationship between virtual Buddhist practices that keep Sri Lankan migrants’ engaged with Buddhist community and leadership both in South Korea and elsewhere. Based on mixed ethnographic research methods including participant observation and in-depth interviews, the research demonstrates the following findings. First, the key actors of the Buddhist place-making included Sri Lankan migrant workers, a Sri Lankan ambassador, Sri Lankan temples, Korean temples, and virtual temple participants from other countries. Migrant workers’ collaboration with them contributed to institutionalizing the physical temple. Second, the making of the virtual temple interacted with the making of physical Buddhist places, rather than replacing it. Hosting a virtual temple via Skype expanded into including Sri Lankan migrants who live in other countries. This study contributes to the mobilities discussion as well as place-making discussion by articulating the specific process of transnational religious place-making.

Embodying the Field

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hoel
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Relationships ◽  
Embodied Practice

This article focuses on the various ways in which research relationships evolve and are negotiated by paying particular attention to the embodied nature of ethnographic research. By drawing on my own research experience of interviewing South African Muslim women about sexual dynamics, I critically engage debates concerning power dynamics in research relationships as well as researcher positionality. I argue that researchers should pay increasing attention to the multiple ways in which doing research always is an embodied practice. I present three case studies that highlight the complex ways in which research encounters speak to notions of intimacy, vulnerability and affect. In this way I argue that research encounters forge primary human relationalities that are marked by moments of convergence, conflict and despondency.

Home, Sweet Home: Negotiating Intimacy in Brazilian Elitist Closed Condominiums

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 374-395
Author(s):  
Rafael Ignacio Estrada Mejia ◽  
Carla Guerrón Guerron Montero
Keyword(s):  
Collective Mode ◽  
Living Arrangement ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Social Distinction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Collective Production ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

This article aims to decrease the cultural invisibility of the wealthy by exploring the Brazilian emergent elites and their preferred living arrangement: elitist closed condominiums (BECCs) from a micropolitical perspective.  We answer the question: What is the relationship between intimacy and subjectivity that is produced in the collective mode of existence of BECCs? To do so, we trace the history of the elite home, from the master’s house (casa grande) to contemporary closed condominiums. Following, we discuss the features of closed condominiums as spaces of segregation, fragmentation and social distinction, characterized by minimal public life and an internalized sociability. Finally, based on ethnographic research conducted in the mid-size city of Londrina (state of Paraná) between 2015 and 2017, we concentrate on four members of the emergent elite who live in BECCs, addressing their collective production of subjectivity. 

KEUNTUNGAN DAN RISIKO USAHA MINI PURSE SEINE DI DESA SATHEAN

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Frischilla Pentury ◽  
Eygner Gerald Talakua ◽  
Tati Ngangun
Keyword(s):  
Business Owners ◽  
Purse Seine ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Business Risk ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Risk Calculation ◽  
Business Sustainability ◽  
Profit Analysis ◽  
Business Profit ◽  
The Relationship

The low profits of mini purse seine in Sathean Village will have an impact on the business risks being carried out. The new paradigm states that the relationship between risk and profit levels is quadratic; too much risk can lead to the loss and even destruction of a business. Thus, the fisherman of mini purse seine business owners in Sathean Village needs to manage their business risk well to achieve optimum profit for business sustainability. This study aims to assess business profits and business risks. Primary data was collected on 6 fisherman owners of mini purse seine business owners in Sathean Village as respondents, conducted business profit analysis and business risk calculation based on probability density. The results showed that the business profit was Rp 241,608,203/year or Rp 196,551,994 in the peak season, Rp 41.828.721 in the medium season and Rp 3.2227.488 in the less season.In peak and less seasons, these businesses are at risk or have the opportunity to lose, while in the medium season is not risky.

TOURISM MOBILITY AT THE SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Cabral ◽  
Carolin Lusby ◽  
Ricardo Uvinha
Keyword(s):  
Olympic Games ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Bus Rapid Transit ◽  
Rapid Transit ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Tourist Attractions ◽  
Official Sources ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Sports Tourism as a segment is growing exponentially in Brazil. The sports mega-events that occurred in the period from 2007 to 2016 helped strengthen this sector significantly. This article examined tourism mobility during the Summer Olympic Games Rio 2016, hosted by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This study expands the understanding of the relationship between tourism and city infrastructure, therefore being relevant to academics, professionals of the area and to the whole society due to its multidisciplinary field. The existence of a relationship between means of transportation and the Olympic regions as well as tourist attractions for a possible legacy was observed. Data were collected from official sources, field research and through participant-observation and semi structured interviews. Data were coded and analyzed. The results indicate that the city was overall successful in its execution of sufficient mobility. New means of transportation were added and others updated. BRT's (Bus Rapid Transit) were the main use of mass transport to Olympic sites. However, a lack of public transport access was observed for the touristic sites.

Spaces of Consumption in American Literary Realism

2019 ◽  
pp. 391-410
Author(s):  
Gary Totten
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Literary Realism ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
New Strategies

This chapter discusses how consumer culture affects the depiction and meaning of the natural world in the work of American realist writers. These writers illuminate the relationship between natural environments and the social expectations of consumer culture and reveal how such expectations transform natural space into what Henri Lefebvre terms “social space” implicated in the processes and power dynamics of production and consumption. The representation of nature as social space in realist works demonstrates the range of consequences such space holds for characters. Such space can both empower and oppress individuals, and rejecting or embracing it can deepen moral resolve, prompt a crisis of self, or result in one’s death. Characters’ attempts to escape social space and consumer culture also provide readers with new strategies for coping with their effects.

scholarly journals Intersection of the Religious and the Secular: The Cemetery Festival in Latvia

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Anita Stasulane
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Ritual Practices ◽  
Research Tools

This article addresses the commemoration of the deceased by examining a peculiar Latvian religious tradition—the cemetery festival. Latvian society is moving down the path to secularization. Participation in religious ritual practices could be expected to decrease in a predominately secular society. Nevertheless, the tradition of the cemetery festival practiced in Latvia shows that the relationship between the religious and the secular is much more complex than simply being in opposition to each other. The analysis is based on data obtained by undertaking fieldwork at cemeteries in Latvia. Participant observation and qualitative in-depth interviews were the main research tools used in the fieldwork. Through an analysis of the fieldwork data, this article explains, first, how honoring of the deceased currently takes place in Latvia; second, the factors which have determined the preservation of the cemetery festival tradition despite the forced secularization of the Soviet period and the general secularization encountered today; third, the relationship between religious and secular activities and their transformation at the cemetery festival.

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