scholarly journals Wading the Field with My Key Informant: Exploring Field Relations

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-104
Author(s):  
Anne Ryen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Joint Effort ◽  
Field Interaction ◽  
Emergent Phenomenon ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Entering and staying on in the field or rather avoiding being kicked out are the two classic ethnographic challenges. The rather positivist nature of textbook guidance on dos and don’ts in fieldwork in general and in delicate issues in particular (for researchers` dilemmas in the field see Ryen 2002), tend to recommend a gentle, middle-class (rather female) interactional style. This gaze suffers from being both researcher-focused (cf.Fine 1994 on “Othering”) and based on problematic pre-fixed identities nailing us to the role pair as researcher and key informant. As the introductory extract illustrates, it takes patience also to have an ethnographer “hanging around”. This article deals with the credibility of qualitative research when accounting for or exploring how we do staying in the cross-cultural field and it asks how can we credibly explore the stamina that takes us further? If we accept fieldwork as social interaction, we need to bring the social (or the “inter”) of it into the exploration of our puzzle. Membership categorisation device (MCD) offers to take us closer to understanding and piecing together our puzzle, but to better get at the events taking place in field interaction there is a need also to introduce the wider cultural context and the images available (or not) to members. In this way I recognise the ethnomethodological differentiation between topic and resource, but argue that when understandings and images are not necessarily culturally shared and collective, we also need to make problematic how members deal with the unavailability of shared images. In the conclusion I argue that the artful side of the local interpretive work in the field is closely entangled with whatever meanings or images are available for construction (in line with Gubrium and Holstein 1997:121). In cross-cultural contexts more than in others, this is particularly delicate because in such contexts images and experiences often do not connect and may lead to complications or even breakdown in communication (Ryen 2002). Mending or repair thus becomes another crucial phenomenon, itself complex, in the evolving field relations. The analysis thus pinpoints the artistry of members` local collaborative efforts accentuated when constrained by images or descriptions that do not connect across cultures. This makes stamina a joint effort, though itself an intricate, emergent phenomenon. Next I will briefly introduce a couple of classic works on working with key informants followed by a brief presentation of the analytic approaches to be applied to my data from East- Africa. Before concluding, I will comment on “wading the field” as reflected in the close exploration of the cross-cultural extracts.

The Problems of Religious Modernity

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 506-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levent Tezcan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Specific Culture ◽  
Said Nursi

AbstractThis paper discusses the problems of the Islamization of modernity that are mostly ignored in the social sciences on the topic of Islam. The case study deals with a transnationalized Turkish-Islamic group of the followers of the populist theologian Said Nursi in Germany. The author presents an outline of the community character and interprets also the reactions of the community in the cross-cultural field in the aftermath of September 11, with regard to this specific culture of the group. In conclusion, he draws attention to the question of how the Islamic reformists imagine the host societies in Europe and of which symbolic repertoire has been used to connect on the current integration discourse.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural adaptation and content validation into Portuguese of the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment for pediatric patients hospitalized with cancer

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-320
Author(s):  
Danúbia da Cunha Antunes SARAIVA ◽  
Wanélia Vieira AFONSO ◽  
Nivaldo Barroso de PINHO ◽  
Wilza Arantes Ferreira PERES ◽  
Patricia de Carvalho PADILHA
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Nutritional Assessment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Expert Committee ◽  
Content Validation ◽  
Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽  
The Cross

ABSTRACT Objective Cross-cultural adaptation and content validation of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment questionnaire (originally in English) for use in hospitalized children and adolescents being treated in a reference institute of oncology. Methods The cross-cultural adaptation process consisted of the following stages: conceptual, item, semantic, and operational equivalence. The conceptual equivalence and item was carried out through discussion with members of an expert committee. Semantic equivalence was evaluated through initial translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, discussions with experts, and pretest with 32 patients. During operational equivalence, the experts discussed about the format of questions and instructions, setting, target populations, and mode of administration to later propose a final version. Content validation was performed by the expert committee. Results Minor modifications were made in the instrument to facilitate its use in the Brazilian socio-cultural context. Pretest results showed that the instrument is easily understood by health care professionals and the target population. Conclusion The cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment allowed obtaining a Brazilian version equivalent to the original. The adapted instrument will be an important tool for the subjective assessment of the nutritional status of pediatric patients hospitalized with cancer.

The impact of culture on millennials' attitudes towards luxury brands: evidence from Tokyo and Shanghai

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Lu ◽  
Zhencong Sang ◽  
Kun Song ◽  
Kazuo Kikuchi ◽  
Ippei Machida
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Peer Influence ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Luxury Brands ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Impact

PurposeBased on the theory of social identity mechanism, this study aimed to investigate the associations with millennial consumers' need for uniqueness (NFU), susceptibility to peer influence (SPI) and attitudes towards luxury brands (ALB) under the cross-cultural context. The mediating effect of fashion innovativeness (FI) and the moderating effect of culture were examined.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected through a survey from 217 millennials in Shanghai and 268 millennials in Tokyo. Moderation analysis and mediation analysis using Hayes PROCESS macro were applied to test proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults show that NFU and SPI have a significantly positive effect on millennials' ALB, and fashion innovativeness plays a mediating role in this process. Furthermore, the positive impact of NFU on millennials' ALB for relatively individualistic cities (Shanghai) is stronger than for relatively collectivist cities (Tokyo). The positive impact of susceptibility to informative influence (SII) on millennials' ALB for Tokyo is stronger than for Shanghai.Practical implicationsThe research results suggest how different cultures can support marketers in effectively carrying out their business strategy.Originality/valueUnder the cross-cultural background, the social identity mechanism behind the attitudes of millennials towards luxury brands has been widely recognised. However, little is known about how culture could moderate the social identity mechanism behind millennials' ALB. By analysing these mechanisms, this study compares the cultures of Shanghai and Tokyo and expands the previous research achievements.

The social functions of shamanism

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Watson-Jones ◽  
Cristine H. Legare
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Group Cohesion ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

AbstractCultural evolutionary accounts of shamanism must explain the cross-cultural recurrence and variation in associated practices. We suggest that Singh's account of shamanism would be strengthened by considering the social functions of shamanism in groups. Shamanism increases social group cohesion, making it distinct from other magico-religious practices.

The Goddess Kāmākhyā: Religio-political Implications in the Tribalisation Process

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Eugenio Rosati
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Oriental Studies ◽  
University Of Rome ◽  
Sexual Symbolism

This article examines the cross-cultural influence that worked on the absorption process of the goddess Kāmākhyā (Assam) within the Brahmanic pantheon, through a correlation of textual and historical-religious pieces of evidence. 2 2  This article is an enlarged and revised version of a paper that I presented on 18 September 2015 during the sixth Coffee Break Conference (17–19 September) held at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies of ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome. In Assam, the cross-cultural interaction, between local tribes and Indo-Aryan speakers, began around 200 BCE–100 CE—when the Vedic culture had already changed from its earlier theological pattern. Therefore, after had been influenced by a long cross-cultural negotiation, the early medieval north-eastern purāṇas transformed the dakṣayajña myth, legitimising the temple of Kāmākhyā on Nīlācala as the greatest śākta pīṭha (seat of power), where the yoni (vulva) of Sat ī was preserved. In this way, the Purāṇas reconnected Nīlācala–Kāmākhyā not only to the sexual symbolism, but also to an ancient cremation ground and its death imaginary–a fact that the systematisation of the yoginī cult (ninth–eleventh century) into the Yoginī Kaula school corroborated. In this cross-cultural context, the early medieval Assamese dynasties emerged tied to the danger of liminal powers—linked to both the heterodox śākta-tantra sects and tribal traditions that were harnessed by the kings through the exoteric and esoteric rituals practised at Kāmākhyā.

scholarly journals Epistolary genre: «Holy letter» in cross-cultural context

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Plotnikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
First World War ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
World War ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Cross ◽  
First World ◽  
Corre Spondence

Published letters of Burgenland’s Croats living in Chunovo on the border of Slovakia and Hungary are under consideration from the point of view of the features of the epistolary genre of the early XXth century. The cross-cultural context dictates the use of such lexemes and turns, which were possible only in this particular Slavic region. Against this background, the so-called “heavenly letter” stands out, which is a letter-amulet written on the eve of the First World War by a soldier and sent to his loved ones. The genre features of this letter are very different from the entire corre-spondence, which allows us to consider this text in a num-ber of so-called “Holy letters”.

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