scholarly journals Autoethnography and participant-observation in a cross-cultural artistic research

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Adilia Yip
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Artistic Research

Living With Ambiguity: Toward Culture Exploration in Adult Second-Language Classrooms

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roumiana Ilieva
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Community Culture ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Second Language Education ◽  
Culture Teaching ◽  
Language Classrooms

On the basis of personal experiences with immigration and current conceptualizations of culture in anthropological and culture teaching literature, this article outlines an approach to cultural instruction in adult second-language education, named "culture exploration," which calls for the recognition of ambiguity embedded in cross-cultural encounters. Culture exploration consists of employing techniques of ethnographic participant observation in and outside the classroom and holding reflective, interpretive, and critical classroom discussions on students' ethnographies. It is argued that through culture exploration students can develop an understanding of humans as cultural beings, of the relationship between language and culture, and of the necessity of living with the uncertainty inherent in cross-cultural interactions. Through this process of naming their experience of the target community culture and reflecting on it, it is hoped that students will be in a position to develop their own voice and will be empowered to act to fulfill their own goals in their new environment.

Cross-cultural Encounters in Urban Festivals: Between Liberation and Domination

2020 ◽  
pp. 120633121989703
Author(s):  
Lasse Koefoed ◽  
Maja de Neergaard ◽  
Kirsten Simonsen
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Body ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Negotiation Of Identity ◽  
Aesthetic Politics

This paper is part of a wider research project on Paradoxical Spaces: Encountering the Other in Public Space that explores how cultural difference is practiced and negotiated in different public spaces in Copenhagen. The present case focus on encounters at two urban festivals: Kulturhavn (Cultural Harbur) and Smag Verden (Taste the World)—both multicultural and both initiated by the Municipality of Copenhagen. The festivals are seen as sites for ongoing dialogue and negotiation of identity and belonging. The celebration, performances, and pleasure of festivals can empower the body, break down social and cultural distance, and for a moment suspend everyday life. They are related to laughter and freedom, but can also be exclusive, alienating, and a vehicle of the inserting of the hegemonic order. The aim of the paper is to discover how the festivals work as social and material mediators of cross-cultural encounters—how they give rise to different modes of encounters and how they balance between liberation and similarities. They are both organized by the municipality of Copenhagen, who invite voluntary organizations and cultural associations every year to participate in organizing the two festivals. They both cover a broad range of cultural activities such as dance, music, food, sport, and theatre, and they share the vision of celebrating the cultural diversity of the city. We chose these two festivals in order to explore variations in the way the festivals are experienced and encountered; the focus of the analysis is on how festivals with many similarities in location and formal conditions can give rise to rather different modes of encounters. The aim of the paper is to explore how the festivals work as social and material mediators of cross-cultural encounters. How do the two festivals give rise to different modes of encounters? How do they balance between liberation and domination in a differential way? Drawing on empirical material obtained through participant observation and framed by theoretical conceptualization of cross-cultural encounters, multicultural festivals, and aesthetic politics, the paper explores embodied encounters at the two festivals. It focuses on the role of the festivals as social and material mediators of encounters and negotiation of identities. The paper concludes on the paradoxical character of the festivals, involving antagonistic embodiments of performance, pleasure, and politics.

scholarly journals Tourism, Representation and Compensation among the Dukha Reindeer Herders of Mongolia

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 608-615
Author(s):  
Jean Hatcherson
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Interpretive Study ◽  
Pile Sort ◽  
Northern Mongolia

AbstractIncreasingly, tourists come to northern Mongolia to visit the camps of the Dukha reindeer herders, a small group often characterized as primitive and disappearing. The year-round entry of tourists to Dukha camps is unregulated; the timing and context of these encounters, including compensation and accommodation, unpredictable. Some herders leverage dominant cultural and social capital, gaining more visitors and more opportunities to earn cash. However, while visits bolster the local economy, these cross-cultural contacts may disrupt traditional socio-cultural identities, migration patterns and egalitarian norms. This qualitative, interpretive study used guided, open-ended interviews (N=30), a modified pile sort and participant observation to examine reindeer herders’ perceptions of tourist visits and gift giving. Results show Dukha most involved with tourists have a positive attitude toward their visits. As tourists generally stay only two to four days, negative outcomes vis-a-vis gifts, cultural misrepresentations and economic compensation currently appear minimized. However, as visits increase, taiga tourism would further benefit from Dukha owned and controlled economic and ethnographic initiatives.

Cross-cultural nuances of the sources and consequences of subjective feelings of unsafety: A qualitative analysis in four cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 324-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Valente ◽  
Lucrezia Crescenzi Lanna
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Social Involvement ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Depth Interviews

The research aims at analyzing the fear of crime and its consequences on social cohesion and informal social control. The study is based on data collected through a triangulation of qualitative techniques (in-depth interviews, participant observation, and semi-structured focus groups) throughout eight neighborhoods of four European cities. Challenging the initial expectations, the results obtained show that, under certain circumstances, the fear of crime might foster genuine forms of social involvement and problem-solving participation. Nevertheless, the general trend indicates that crime-related anxieties are fueling the emergence of nostalgic, passive-aggressive, and violent forms of identity, which might promote potentially dangerous types of collective action.

scholarly journals Zakotwiczanie się. Migrantki z Polski w norweskim przedszkolu

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Izabela Czerniejewska
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Meaningful Connections ◽  
Adaptation Processes

Based on participant observation and ethnographic interviews with Polish women working in kin-dergartens in Norway, this article studies the migrant women’s employment trajectories, including adaptation processes in the workplace and integration into the wider Norwegian society. In this paper, I aim at answering the following questions: How do Polish migrant women go about seek-ing employment in Norwegian kindergartens? How do they adapt to the new work environment? How do they deal with cross-cultural differences in childcare? How did they learn new norms and values within the institutional context of kindergartens? The research indicates that employment in kindergartens was not merely a way to provide for one’s livelihood, but was also a mechanism to establish and develop a closer relationship with members of the Norwegian society, a tool facilitating meaningful connections with the new country.

scholarly journals PhD supervision strategies in a cross-cultural setting: Enriching learning opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
pp. 18-36
Author(s):  
Rikke Brandt Broegaard
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Supervision Process ◽  
Double Degree ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Supervision Strategies

Recent research findings highlight the importance of supervisors’ feedback aimed at helping students how to learn by themselves to develop their thinking. Responding to the current focus on internationalization of universities, this article explores how PhD supervisors can help fostering critical thinking. Based on qualitative interviews with four African double degree doctoral students, as well as participant observation, the article highlights reflections regarding different supervisory strategies a PhD supervisor faces in a cross-cultural academic setting, and the importance of meta-communication in addressing them. Results showed that most of the students appreciated the more informal student-supervisor relationship, highlighted through collaborative fieldwork experiences, as well as the use of visual tools for stimulating creative and critical thinking. However, results also showed that a coaching supervision style was experienced as unclear and scary by one student, highlighting that the supervision process is a mutual learning process in need of recurrent adaptation.

To be ‘skilled’ or not to be ‘skilled’? A case study exploring the interaction of two crafts in anthropological fieldwork in Madagascar

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Sarah Emily Brown
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Skilled Practitioner ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork ◽  
Modes Of Interaction

This article reflects on the use of, and interactions between, embroidery and reed weaving as methods in anthropological fieldwork with Malagasy craftswomen. The research explores changes in craft methodologies as weavers faced with declining natural resources have shifted to practising embroidery instead. Engagement with the making process was central to the research design, through an apprenticeship in reed weaving and participant observation using both crafts. Reflection on this approach suggests that the researcher’s pre-existing skills affected the role that each craft took in the research, shaping distinct modes of interaction and generating different types of knowledge. Research activities using weaving, in which the researcher was seen as ‘unskilled’, tended to generate technical, practical and logistical knowledge. Activities using embroidery, in which the researcher was already experienced and seen as a ‘skilled’ practitioner, shaped more exploratory research spaces in which more personal conversations emerged. This article discusses ways that the two processes were used to complement each other and suggests that combining both ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ positions could help to overcome some of the challenges of cross-cultural craft research.

scholarly journals Supporting Identity Development in Cross-Cultural Children and Young People: Resources, Vulnerability, Creativity

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hildegunn Schuff
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Identity Complexity ◽  
Cultural Identity Development

Children and young people with cross-cultural backgrounds are significantly influenced by multiple cultures during their upbringing. They face the ambivalence and challenges of regularly dealing with multiple cultural frames of reference, norms and expectations, and often experience particular identity challenges. One might say that much of the ambivalence of modern intercultural societies may show up as internalized ambivalence in these “children of migration”. This article explores cross-cultural identity development. The aim is to further our understanding of how the identities of cross-cultural children and young people can be supported and their resources activated. This can both strengthen their resilience and well- being, and be of great value to society at large. Psychosocial/cultural interventions and creative projects in cross-cultural settings are potential arenas for this type of cultural health promotion. One example is the multicultural music project Fargespill (‘Kaleidoscope’). In a case study of Kaleidoscope, I describe and discuss how these participatory creative activities work, and ask how they may foster the development of constructive cross-cultural identities. Participant observation was conducted in Kaleidoscope throughout a year. In the light of theoretical perspectives from social and cultural psychology, the article analyzes identity issues and possibilities within this empirical context. Supporting cross-cultural identity development in a constructive manner is here operationalized as allowing, increasing and acknowledging identity complexity. The findings are categorized under the headings of resources, vulnerability and creativity. The project leaders make an effort to establish trust and a safe, supportive space. They apply a participatory method, in which the participants are seen as resources and their strengths and contributions are emphasized. In some situations, the vulnerability that may be caused by potentially being stereotyped is apparent, and identity definitions and complexities need to be negotiated. There are explicit expectations concerning creativity in the Kaleidoscope process, and the crossing of different cultural expressions, old and sometimes new, leads to the final creative product of the performance. To summarize, identity complexity is given space to play out, relating to both origins and current participation in culture in construction here in Norwegian society. Thus, at its best, Kaleidoscope sets the stage for a flexible and playful performance of identity. This may be one path towards appreciated and integrated intercultural identities. 

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