Ethnographic Case Research Articles

Inequalities in democratic worker-owned firms by gender, race and immigration status: evidence from the first national survey of the sector

PurposeWorker cooperative practitioners and developers often claim that democratic worker ownership advances egalitarianism within and beyond the workplace, but most of the empirical evidence in the USA is based on ethnographic case studies or small-scale surveys. This study aims to leverage the first national survey about individuals' experiences in these unique firms to test for the presence of inequalities by gender, race and immigration status in the broader sector.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a 2017 survey comprising a sample of 1,147 workers from 82 firms. This study focuses on measures of workplace benefits that capture material and psychological ownership, wealth accumulation, wages, workplace autonomy and participation in governance. This study uses ordinary least squares regression models with fixed effects alongside pooled models to determine the effects of gender, race, immigration status and the intersection of gender and race on these outcomes, both within and between firms.FindingsThis study finds no evidence of wage gaps by gender, race or immigration status within worker cooperatives, with job type, tenure and worker ownership status instead explaining within-firm variation in pay. Still, this study documents sector-wide disparities in material and non-material outcomes by gender, race and immigration status, reflecting differences in individual-level human capital and job characteristics as well as widespread occupational segregation and homophily.Originality/valueThe paper offers a novel contribution to the literature on workplace empowerment and inequality in participatory firms by analyzing race, gender and immigration status in the most robust dataset that has been collected on worker cooperatives in the USA.

A Critical Reflection on Chinese Masculinity: Are Chinese Men in Modern Hong Kong and Taiwan the Same?

Abstract This paper offers a critical review of the study of masculinity among overseas Chinese. Rather than turning to Confucianism which has been deployed as the “deep structure” for explaining Chinese masculinity, this paper argues that attention should be directed to the Chinese kinship ideology, which will prove to be a more helpful tool in conceptualizing Chinese masculinity. Through ethnographic cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong, I will show how Chinese masculinity has derived from the Chinese kinship system, on the one hand, and how men in Taiwan and Hong Kong ended up expressing Chinese masculinity differently because of the different geopolitics on the other. This paper concludes that the nature and character of Chinese masculinity overseas, after all, hinges upon another two contexts: geopolitics and its relationship with femininity. It follows that Chinese masculinity cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered in relation to contexts.

Locating agency at the urban grassroots: Resistance and reworking in the everyday politics of informal settlements

Agency of the urban poor living in informal settlements in Southern cities can manifest in numerous ways in their encounters and negotiations with the formal state and various other actors located in the hierarchy of power relations. A certain form of agency rooted in oppositional consciousness can emerge from their everyday experiences of various forms of structural violence and oppression. Drawing on ethnographic case studies carried out in two informal settlements in Dhaka city, this article examines a range of oppositional acts carried out by the settlements’ residents against various formal and informal actors to understand how grassroots agency is manifested and negotiated in such acts. It utilises Katz’s conceptualisation of resistance and reworking as expressions of agency in interrogating the strategies and practices informal settlement residents use in order to negotiate with and reformulate the conditions and possibilities of their everyday lives. Findings elucidate their capacities and modalities of collective resistance against acts of repression carried out by formal and informal actors as well as against the dominant, vilifying discourses of informal settlements. It further illustrates how they can rework the law to negotiate and claim space within structures of domination. The article concludes by arguing that these acts of resistance and reworking are not just a coping response to constant repression and domination, but a means of claiming a more secure citizenship in the city.

Equitable land-use policy? Indigenous peoples’ resistance to mining-induced deforestation

India's centralized mining of sub-soil minerals is rapidly changing the forested landscapes. This empirical research examines two interrelated questions: how do Indigenous Peoples perceive centralized mining affecting their traditional forest rights, and what are some of the community-led initiatives to address mining governance and forest policy? Two aspects of the rights-based approach on the extreme continuum – Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and social movements – are used for analyzing three ethnographic case studies each from India’s top three mining states, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Odisha. The forested landscapes are inhabited by a million ethnically diverse Indigenous Peoples also known as Scheduled Tribes or Adivasis, often devoid of formal recognition. The Oraon, Pando, Paudi Bhuniya, and Munda Indigenous communities face the consequences of mining-induced deforestation on their livelihoods and are excluded from land-use decisions before and after extractions. The findings compare diverse forms of social movements seeking decentralized mining and community-based forest governance. Key recommendations from the Indigenous communities for inclusive forest and land-use policy are illuminated in the conclusion.

The role of social networks for combating COVID-19 pandemic: a study with reference to the Chinese new immigrants in Germany

Social network theories are used extensively to analyze the international migration of Chinese to overseas regions in the era of Market Economy Reform since 1978. Attention is paid especially on the role of social networks among overseas Chinese on disaster relief in China. Focusing on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates how social networks work as a crucial mechanism through which Chinese immigrants in Germany initiated and delivered monetary and material donations to China in early 2020 and then organized self-help in their everyday lives in Germany in late 2020. Different from previous studies, this paper scrutinizes social networks for disaster relief on the macro, meso, and micro levels. Multi-site ethnographic fieldwork in China and Germany combined with online and offline data collected from focus group sessions, interviews with individuals, participant observations, surveys, analysis of news reports on the pandemic, and analysis on relevant policies are utilized comprehensively to collect data on the three levels. This research discovers that internet tools – represented by WeChat – have integrated tightly into the traditional social networks of Chinese immigrants and consolidated the cultural cohesion from overseas Chinese to their connections in China. This paper aims at contributing to present studies on Chinese new immigrants, social network, and disaster management theories with an updated ethnographic case on the COVID-19 pandemic from Germany.

Toward decolonizingSTEM: Centering place and sense of place forcommunity‐based problem‐solving

AbstractGiven the growing global environmental threats, shifts to increasingly binary thinking that isolate and polarize discourse, and the erosion of caring for each other and our places, the authors believe it is imperative that we change the way science and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education connect with communities and are taught in school. As part of the larger study, this paper explores how the integration of STEMS2Pedagogy with community based problem solving (re)shapes two case‐study teachers' learning environments and serves as a tool to facilitate decolonizing STEM education by addressing the research question. Research question: How does the integration of community‐based problem‐solving and STEMS2Pedagogy impact how the case study teachers think about STEM education and the design of STEM curriculum? Drawing from longitudinal critical ethnographic case studies and Hawaiian hermeneutics frameworks, two public school educators (co‐authors), we collected data between Fall 2017 to Fall 2021. The inductive analysis process described above resulted in two key claims: (1) Grounding STEM instruction in place strengthens sense of place and kuleana, and (2) Strengthening one's sense ofkuleanachanges the measure of success.

Enthusiasm and Alienation: How Implementing Automated Journalism Affects the Work Meaningfulness of Three Newsroom Groups

ABSTRACT Automated journalism is currently being implemented in newsrooms all over the world. This ethnographic case study of two Norwegian newsrooms explores how different newsroom groups relate to the innovation. Finding that editors and developers tend to applaud the possibilities of machine-written news while reporters are more critical, this study applies the concept of work meaningfulness to better understand the divergent reactions. The results show that key aspects making work meaningful—such as skill variety, self-development, autonomy, and sense of purpose—are influenced in severely different ways among the groups. As the investment in automated journalism has led to fewer editorial resources, reporters have experienced less room for in-depth reporting, few opportunities for extending skills, and little self-government. They also state that classical journalistic knowledge is no longer celebrated, while technical competence is perceived as essential. In contrast, the work meaningfulness of most editors and developers has increased. The paper concludes that all three newsroom groups hold a strong secular calling toward their work. It is therefore crucial that editors and media leaders acknowledge different groups’ work-related beliefs and purposes when implementing new technology. If not, the result can be a dramatic loss of work meaningfulness.

Restorative validity and healing through inquiry: A visual ethnographic case study in Guatemala

AbstractThis case study is an exploration of the potential restorative and healing qualities of inquiry. The co‐authors—a university‐affiliated researcher, a Kaqchikel Maya community leader, and forensic anthropologists—document their stories navigating a participatory action research project as co‐researchers. Using visual ethnography, we illustrate how we approached inquiry from a place of restorative validity, which challenges inquirers to reclaim and restore the humanity of researcher, researched, and the research process itself. Through a culturally sustaining frame, we grounded our interpretations in the Maya cultural elements of land, community, and attachment to place. We demonstrate how we intertwined our various ways of knowing and methods, from Indigenous oral tradition to interactive techniques such as ripples of change, to co‐create a form of inquiry rooted in relationships, justice, and liberation. As peace, conflict, and justice researchers and practitioners work with those who have been subjected to and witnessed atrocities, we problematize whether our methodological practices are in line with our values as a community of care. In moving toward restorative validity, we ask: If the outside world robs people of their humanity, identities, and memories, do we simply observe and document these injustices; or can our inquiry work toward reclamation and restoration?

Speculative spaces: Children exploring socio-ecological worlds with mythical nature spirits

Drawing on Donna Haraway's notion of speculative fabulation, in this study the authors investigate how a pedagogy grounded in mythical nature spirits, children's imaginative explorations and storying activities created spaces for children to explore socio-ecological worlds. Their inquiry draws on an ethnographic case study of three children (aged seven to eight) in a Finnish primary school who participated in a cross-curricular unit framed by a set of pedagogical materials called ‘The Riddle of the Spirit’. Their inquiry shows how speculative fabulations emerged into performing spaces, in which imaginary fabulations of humans, spirits and places created alternative narratives about more-than-human relations. Such fabulations emerged when the children became spirits, when the spirits were transformed from kings to queens, and when trees that humans had cut down could be revived and returned to the forest. Thus, the authors’ inquiry suggests that myths embedded in storying activities can offer unexplored educational opportunities to invite children to attend to and imagine socio-ecological worlds.

Being disliked and bullied: A case revealing interplay between peer status and bullying

AbstractTo better understand chronic bullying, this school ethnographical case study mapped peer rejection processes that fuel bullying. The study focused on a case of a victimized 13‐year‐old girl and analysed observations of the classroom social interactions, interviews with teachers and students' essays. Thematic analysis elucidated how students, together with the class teacher, constructed the girl as having annoying personal characteristics, being a misfit to the group, and as being on the bottom of the classroom hierarchy. Next, it suggested how these processes made her more vulnerable to being bullied and not defended by teachers or classmates. The study showed that interventions in chronic bullying need to not only stop bullying, but also target the social processes underlying peer rejection.

Gastfreundschaft durch «gastfreundschaftlichen» Stil?

This paper analyses interactions between a host of a Swiss mountain destination and her guests. The conversations take place in a scenic gondola. The analysis is conducted in the format of an ethnographic case study and focuses on the interactants’ speech style. The case study constitutes a part of a larger, applied and interdisciplinary project of the Business School of the University of Applied Sciences of Lucerne. The aim of the main project is to specify what could be defined as “hospitality” in a touristic context and to develop tools to enhance hospitality at touristic destinations in Central Switzerland.
 The aim of the present ethnographic case study is to analyse interactions between hosts and their guests. It seeks to find communicative elements which let the guests perceive an inter-action as hospitable and to discuss if generic features of a “hospitable speech style” may be identified.

Very sneaky crimes

Milan is an increasingly safe city. Despite this, the insecurity perceived by citizens is growing. Particularly in social housing districts, squatting is considered by institutions, public opinion, but also by most regular residents, as one of the principle causes of urban insecurity. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Milan between 2015 and 2017, this article proposes an anthropological analysis of policies, norms, practices, and narratives related to the governance of housing illegality, showing how these representations contribute to producing a stigmatized, morally connoted, and criminalized image of squatters. In broader terms, starting with the ethnographic case of squatting, the article explores the anthropopoietic dynamics of social class construction and the centrality of moral categories in the production of urban inequality.

Institutional influences on academic writing feedback practices: A case study from an EFL context

A growing body of recent research has explored feedback in relation to the context where it takes place; however, up to now, little is known about how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) institutional contexts influence feedback on academic writing. This paper reports an ethnographic case study on how the institutional context of a major foreign studies university in Mainland China impacted feedback practices. Based on data collected over three semesters through interviews, process logs, documents, and emails, this research found that teachers’ and students’ perspectives on and experiences with feedback were shaped by the EFL institutional context mainly through curriculum structure, institutional regulations, and power relations. Informed by the situated understanding of feedback on academic writing, we call for more efforts to develop productive feedback practices by fostering supportive pedagogical contexts.This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.

Returning Children to the ’Āina and Fanua: Indigenous Survivance in Pacifica Early Childhood

Researchers of child learning and development continue to hone understandings of cultural and social impacts on cognition, development, and education. Concurrently, Indigenous educators call for decolonizing schooling at all levels. Land-based education (LBE), as an instructional approach, responds to calls to decolonize education. The authors use LBE to understand the cultural and social nuances and complexities of Indigenous learning in preschool and primary school age Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children. Through ethnographic case studies in Hawai’i and Sāmoa, we expand conceptions of culture in learning to attune to the diversity and specificity of Indigenous contexts, argue that LBE must be place-based, and recognize land is an active and necessary coparticipant in the learning process.

Extraction strategies and technological tradition at late pre-Hispanic quarries, southern Peru (ca. 1000–1532 CE)

Studies of Inka quarry operations have focused on large-scale quarries in the Inka imperial heartland, with emphasis on finishing techniques and geochemical sourcing. To assess diachronic variation in the technological organization of late pre-Hispanic building stone extraction, we compare survey data from the Chuquibamba District (Arequipa Region) – an Inka provincial context – and the Sacred Valley, a vital part of the Inka imperial heartland. Our sample (n = 41) includes small- and large-scale quarries that supplied material for Inka state and elite projects as well as local vernacular construction during the Late Intermediate Period and Late Horizon (ca. 1000–1532 CE). To chronologically contextualize quarry sites, we assess use periods based on scale, diagnostic technology, and building stone provenance. We deploy a multilinear approach using archaeological data, colonial chronicles and dictionaries, and analogies to ethnographic and modern cases to analyze the knowledge, decision-making process, and mechanics that facilitated material extraction. The results demonstrate that Inka building stone quarrying techniques developed out of widely shared vernacular knowledge and practice. This study articulates a new approach to late pre-Hispanic Andean architecture while providing a case study to evaluate the relationship between political organization and technological systems.

Encountering the world with voice search: A young immigrant and emergent bilingual child’s digital literacies

This article explores a 4-year-old recent immigrant and emergent bilingual child’s encounter with voice search technology to understand how assemblages among a young immigrant child, his voice, his family, digital technology, and materials create new possibilities for the understanding of ethnolinguistically marginalized children and families' literacies and digital literacies practices. Data in this article is taken from a larger ethnographic case study and drawn from the child’s home and the preschool classroom. Situated in critical posthumanist scholarship and vital materialism, I show that a child’s unbounded digital and media access and unpredictable encounters through his voice and crossing over languages take part in redistributing the hierarchy of bodies, performances, and productions. Finally, I suggest that understanding children’s use of voice search as one of their key ways of doing literacies and making meaning and noticing the unpredictable, intimate, and playful literacies can help us disrupt the traditional, assimilatory conceptualization of digital literacies.

An Ethnographic Case Study of Secondary School’s Moral Education in a Mainland City of the Greater Bay Area

Chinese moral education is a much broader concept and is heavily criticized for being overly politicized and indoctrinated. The Greater Bay Area (GBA) initiative upholds the people-centered development philosophy in education. This study aims to investigate the school-level implementation in Shenzhen, one of the GBA cities, and teachers' perspectives to determine the facilitating and inhibiting factors across different layers in the student-centered ecological systems of students’ moral development. A two-year-long ethnographic case study was conducted in the case school based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The study participants consisted of 18 teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the participants' perceptions. The study findings revealed that the facilitating factors include clear guidelines on the national level, cooperative teachers, and ambitious principals with a consciousness of visions and responsibilities for moral education. Meanwhile, Shenzhen has the potential to be the pioneer of moral education reformation. However, the rigid content in the textbooks and the stuffy school culture hinder the success of moral education at the school level. The lack of communication and mutual understanding contributes to the splintered and emotionally exhaustive experience of moral education teachers. More efficient and measurable strategies should be used to uphold a tight alliance across different layers. Future research should examine alternative moral education models, decision-making processes, Chinese school management style, and the specific appliance of the ecological systems theory in the unique Chinese educational context.

Situating machine learning – On the calibration of problems in practice

ABSTRACT In this paper, we employ John Dewey’s notion of the situation as an analytic lens for observing and theorizing machine learning. Based on two ethnographic case studies in art and science, we account for machine learning as practice and examine the dynamics of the situations it gives rise to. Following Dewey, our observations focus on the transformation of situations from an initial state of indeterminacy through to problematizations and their resolution. Rethinking machine learning through the situation, we analyze how cooperating machine learners, both human and non-human, resolve situations and thereby refine their mutual attunement. With Dewey, we first explain how machine learners train through disruption and adaptation as they identify and solve problems. Second, we show that these problems concern issues of latency and addressability in efforts of cooperation between heterogeneous machine learners. Third, we discuss how machine learning practices cultivate situations that feature careful calibrations of problems that allow for their productive transformation. Our empirically grounded approach offers a pragmatist account of machine learning as a continually indeterminate and dynamic situated practice. As a contribution to ongoing discussions in social theory, we reframe existing characterizations of machine learning as issues of latency and addressability in cooperation.

Sensing weather: scientific and experiential modes of knowledge production for small-scale farming in western Kenya

Abstract. Agriculture depends in large part on relations with weather phenomena, such as rain and temperature. Anticipatory knowledge about the atmosphere therefore is vital in agricultural livelihoods. Based on an ethnographic case study of weather forecasting for small-scale farming in western Kenya, in this paper I discuss different ways in which knowledge about the future weather is produced. While development organizations promote expert forecasts that draw on meteorological sensing technologies as a solution to dealing with climate change, I show how knowing the weather is an entangled affair in a sensory assemblage that simultaneously draws on scientific instruments and on other entities such as animals, plants, clouds and embodied sensoria associated with experiential knowledge. Building on concepts related to science and technology studies that address the relations between humans and nonhumans, I suggest to treat scientific and experiential devices symmetrically by looking at their more-than-human sensoria, proxies and imaginations to understand how farmers attune to the weather. In practice, then, navigating the uncertainties of the weather is not enabled by scientific meteorology alone, but by combining different sensory devices and practices of interpretation that together mediate the weather as something to be known and acted upon.

Qualitative research in crisis: A narrative-practice methodology to delve into the discourse and action of the unheard in the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper develops and applies a methodology of qualitative inquiry that equips researchers to capture how social actors produce and contest accepted forms of knowledge at the margins of mainstream globalizing discourses in times of crisis. Standing at the intersection between conceptual and empirical research, our methodology builds on the common epistemological premises of ‘narrative’, as stories constructed and enacted in social life, and ‘practice’, as tasks and projects composed by ‘doings’ and ‘sayings’. Overcoming the dualism between ‘action’ and ‘discourse’ in traditional social theory, this methodology integrates narrative theory and practice theory into a joint framework for fieldwork and interviews. The use of the narrative-practice methodology in ethnographic case studies – such as interpreters’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar – allows researchers to gain analytical granularity on participants’ storied practice and practiced stories of the crisis, to harness ‘peripheral’ knowledge and refashion public discourse.