Ethnographic Narrative Research Articles

Working with Absent Presences: Disappearances and Materiality in Post-War Sri Lanka

This paper is about affective potencies of materiality that aid grieving war-related disappearances in post-war Sri Lanka. Based on ethnographic narratives of those who have lost someone to disappearance during the 1983-2009 civil war, the paper questions the nonrepresentationality of traumatic grief and problems with established processes and practices of grieving in cases of disappearances. It also elucidates how survivor’s affective experiences of grief are ever-evolving, both subjective and objective, personal and political. The paper explores the polymorphous and potentiating nature of materiality as a means to address otherwise non-representational and ever-evolving grief, highlighting how materiality assists grieving the disappeared specifically by bringing the missing to the forefront.

In Ice and Skin: Inuit Kakiniit Birth, Death, and Revival in a Modern Post-Colonial and Politicized Arctic

This paper delves into the profound history of traditional Inuit tattooing practices known as kakiniit against the backdrop of a post-colonial and highly politicized Arctic landscape. The story of the birth, death, and revival of kakiniit is amidst many traces of Indigenous resilience and transformation following rapid socio-cultural changes within communities during assimilatory efforts. Highlighting the narrative perspectives surrounding the birth of kakiniit, this paper serves the history of the artistic storytelling model and form of cultural expression through Inuit cosmologies and ontologies and revisits sites of its cultural preservation and revitalization, interrogating lingering assimilatory perspectives within the Arctic wherein colonial impositions intersect with Indigenous agency. Through the study of ethnographic narratives across age groups and geographies and engagement with contemporary resurgence efforts, this essay illuminates the deep-rooted complexity and dynamic adaptation of kakiniit throughout the ages, navigating its creation, temporary expulsion from Inuit culture and its revival and repurposing as a widely used historical recognition and cultural reclamation practice across Indigenous cultures in the Arctic as an adaptive expression of cultural continuity and resistance in the face of ongoing colonialist ideals.

CLASS AT THE CROSSROADS: Reframing Disadvantage in Organizing Daily Wage Work in Western India

AbstractAcross Indian cities, daily wagers gather every morning at large intersections or crossroads (nakas) where they seek work for the day from small construction contractors. In the satellite city of Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai), some of these daily wagers are reconstituting themselves into a class of ‘disadvantaged, crossroad workers’. This article provides an ethnographic narration of how class is experienced, constituted and asserted at a street crossroad. Through the space of the naka, daily wagers combine their different experiences of caste, religious and regional disadvantage into a collective identity of crossroad workers. As a collective, they seek and gain recognition as workers by the state, even if their everyday terms of work continue to be largely unprotected by law. While such reframing of disadvantage has long been part of social movements in western India, their contemporary politics is conditioned by workers’ alienation from new town‐making projects, where they are seen as temporary labor migrants and must contend with landed, socio‐politically dominant groups vying for control over the city. This article contributes to growing scholarship on the resocialization of labour movements, as both work and class organizing change dramatically, particularly in contentious urban spaces like Navi Mumbai.

Social technology and people's mental health: informal work in an urban context

This article presents the experience of implementing the Health Promotion Extension Project through Social and Mental Health Education through Applied Technology, that is, Plant Biotechnology applied as a resource for Eco-Socio-Environmental Technology products. Aimed at members of indigenous peoples and ethnic groups in Rio de Janeiro, users of the Environmental Health, Parasitology and Bioethics Project (SAPB-LIPAT/FF/UFRJ), the project was carried out in an intersectoral partnership with the Laboratory for Studies on Aging Processes (PROVE/IPUB/UFRJ) and the Amazon Biobusiness Center (CBA), in a multi, inter and transdisciplinary approach. The article discusses the importance of social actors in the operationalization of public policy guidelines, with a focus on the promotion and defense of human rights, especially with regard to the right to work. The participation of the Sateré-Mawé and Tukano indigenous people was highlighted, demonstrating the leading role of these groups in solving local problems, which strengthened their cultures, worldviews and self-direction, demystifying attitudinal barriers. The present study was initiated through anamnesis in ethnopsychiatry (whose approach includes cultural anthropology). This study included the participation of these individuals from indigenous peoples and other peoples in an urban context in Rio de Janeiro, demonstrating how the anamnesis of unique ethnographic narratives favored investment in local study and work with elements of their cultures, reinforcing social ties and civic contribution. The project also explored procedures in plant biotechnology, specifically the ecophysiology of Euterpe oleraceae (Açaí) seeds, to analyze the desired biological effects of plant extracts of ethnic origin (Euphorbia tirucalli, Bixa orellana, Punica granatum and Tagetes erecta). Only E. tirucalli exerted antifungal action on the seeds used for informal work (crafts). In this way, equity of access and mental health were promoted through listening, but also through the resolution of concrete local problems, in a simple and viable way, maintaining the participation and autonomy of the participants through informal work. However, the expansion of this small and successful initiative depends on the engagement of a greater number of professionals, teachers and public managers committed to promoting dignity through work for these populations.

Antecedents, Characteristics, and Dynamics of IPV in the Israeli Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Community: A Cultural Exploration

Abstract Purpose This qualitative study explored Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in the Israeli Jewish Ultra-Orthodox (JUO) community to better understand the cultural and religious risk factors and features underlying IPV in this under-researched sector. Method Semi-structured interviews implementing the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interviews approach were conducted with 15 JUO women currently living with or separated/divorced from their abusive partners who were victims of IPV. The interviews were analyzed using the Interpretive Phenomenological approach. Results Two key themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme involves the normalization and exacerbation of violence due to specific religious and societal norms that perpetuate silence and stigma. Factors such as early marriage, religious beliefs about the sanctity of marriage, disadvantaged childhood experiences, and distorted religious justifications contributed to the victims’ vulnerability and hindered their ability to seek help. The second theme is related to the specific features of the abuse. It covers a range of tactics employed by husbands, including financial oppression, social isolation, physical violence, and manipulation during pregnancy, all based on and justified by distorted religious concepts. Conclusions Though aspects of intergenerational abuse and control tactics to aggravate violence are common universal strategies in IPV, the findings here underscore the interplay between religious practices and societal expectations within the JUO community that contribute to the perpetration and perpetuation of IPV. These findings contribute to a better understanding of IPV in religious and traditional contexts and highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to address the needs of specific collectivistic and religious-based societies.

"Being My Own Pillar of Support": How Palestinian-Arab Women Citizens of Israel Cope With IPV.

Studies on the ways in which women implement coping strategies to recover from intimate partner violence have primarily focused on Western, non-collectivistic societies. To contribute to the scant literature on coping strategies among women in traditional-collectivistic societies, the current study applied the principles of Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview to analyze the experiences of 15 Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel as these women confronted violence within marriage. This exploration is situated within the backdrop of entrenched collectivistic traditional norms and the broader context of the enduring Israeli-Arab conflict. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed three themes that translated into a transformative three-phase coping model. The first theme covers navigating violent relationships through avoidance, emotional encapsulation, and cognitive reframing. The second theme describes strategies to mitigate violence and its consequences, including escapist and immediate departure, sustained fulfillment of duties, and maintaining hope amid adversity. The third theme characterizes strategies aimed at achieving self-care and self-empowerment. The findings highlight the importance of acknowledging women's definition of coping and recovery within their cultural constraints as they chart their coping trajectories.

The Squirrel, Omelette, and the Truths: An Ethnographic Narrative Exploration of Philosophical Dialogue and Literacy with Young Learners

Abstract: This paper explores the innovative approach of engaging young learners in philosophical dialogue through creative storytelling. Employing an ethnographic narrative methodology, it examines storytelling sessions between the first author and her eight-year-old son, focusing on the emergent discussions about multifaceted truths inspired by the whimsical tale of “Omelette”, a fish that, according to the young storyteller, lays pre-cooked omelettes. By integrating narrative theory and elements of folklore and mythology, this paper reveals how such narratives can significantly enhance literacy and philosophical understanding in children. This research highlights the potential of storytelling as a dynamic educational tool, offering insights into the development of critical thinking and literacy skills.

Understanding learners’ relationships with music

Relationships with music are at the core of music education. However, they are rarely studied from learners viewpoints—especially those of exceptionally motivated, advanced students—as they are incorporated into the theoretical underpinning or methodological stance of research in instrumental education. In this research project we follow the musical lives of ten advanced, mastery-oriented adolescent instrumentalists. The focus of this first report of our narrative ethnography is on how their relationships with music manifest in written narratives on the role of music and instrument learning in their life. While corroborating findings of previous research, the results demonstrate many idiosyncracies in the trajectories of our participants, including critical events. The results show that studying relationships with music and their development may reveal complex ecological systems in instrument learning and interconnected theoretical concepts, such as self-regulation, self-efficacy, agency, autonomy, identity, and metacognition. These phenomena—which can be challenging to differentiate, adapt, and apply in terms of learning practices—may seem far-removed from everyday musical practices, but can be consolidated when looking at relationships with music as gateways to the learning of musical instruments.

Black Professional Ethos: Exploring Black Mentorship Through Narrative Ethnography in Technical Communication

ABSTRACT Black mentorship is key to the professional development of Black scholars in technical and professional communication (TPC) and writing studies. Blending narrative ethnography and grounded theory, this article extends existing investigations into mentorship among Black professionals, by exploring how mentorship and rhetorical kinship among Black TPC and writing professors enrich their professional development. With implications for both academia and industry, this article highlights how Black TPC scholars develop, negotiate, and sustain Black professional ethos.

Migrant Fishers’ Cultural Funds of Knowledge and Translanguaging Praxis for the Development of Contextualized Instructional Material: A Narrative Ethnography

Fishing is a flourishing industry in Antique, Philippines, which led to the mushrooming settlement of Cebuano-speaking migrant fishers in the coastal villages. With the implementation of the K to 12, pressing concerns about the lack of contextualized instructional materials (IM) in these trans-local spaces emerged. This study aimed to generate the cultural funds of knowledge and translanguaging praxis of migrant fishers as bases for developing contextualized instructional material. Under the lens of narrative ethnography and cultural memory banking as a mediational tool, various “seeds” about the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of migrant fishers were documented in memory bank charts. Translingual narratives were analyzed. Participants were purposively chosen and all qualitative data were analyzed qualitatively using manual coding and QDA Lite Miner software processing. Cultural beliefs and practices in fishing were presented in memory bank charts and analyzed adapting Polkinghorne’s analysis of narratives. Contextualized storybooks accompanied by a teacher’s guide were developed, validated, evaluated, and pilot-tested. It resulted in a “very acceptable” for the storybook and an “excellent” rating for the teacher’s guide. The study recommends that school heads create opportunities to involve teachers, parents, and other people in the coastal community to interact beyond the classroom setting. Contextualizing community resources and indigenous knowledge as inputs in the lessons and the IM across other subject areas may be explored.

Collaborative and meaningful engagement in hybrid learning: Post-pandemic narrative ethnography

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions have to adapt to a new approach to enable students to engage in remote learning. To ensure a seamless learning experience for students, educational institutions have been adopting a blended or hybrid learning approach. This narrative ethnography explores the dynamics of student engagement within the context of hybrid learning, unveiling a post-pandemic educational landscape. By synthesizing qualitative data in the form of personal stories, this study aims to provide educators, administrators, and policymakers with valuable insights to enhance the quality and inclusivity of hybrid learning experiences in the aftermath of the global pandemic, shedding light on the strategies that foster effective student engagement in a hybrid learning environment. The findings demonstrate that cognitive, social, and emotional engagement in hybrid learning involves collaborative teaching and learning processes necessitating active cooperation between students and teachers to acquire knowledge. In light of the emerging sociocultural dynamics associated with hybrid learning, teachers should be present and embody the desired behavioural patterns for their students. This current study recommends teachers actively collaborate and establish meaningful connections between the subject matter and real-world contexts, issues, and scenarios serving as a model for students’ behaviour.

Public Transport in the Disabling City: A Narrative Ethnography of Dilemmas and Strategies of People with Mobility Disabilities

Access to transport is key to people’s movement in cities, their social participation, and personal development. People with mobility disabilities (PMDs) face additional barriers when using public transport. The objective of this study is to identify the dilemmas that PMDs face in their daily mobility practices and their coping strategies, in particular the ways in which these dilemmas and strategies are influenced by both personal and environmental characteristics. We conducted ethnographic research, utilizing narrative interviews, life stories, focus groups, and participant observations. Our aim was to analyse multiple experiences of mobility in situations of disability in Quebec City, Canada. This study engages the following research question: how do PMDs navigate their social environment, considering the impact of personal, social, and physical landscape factors on their mobility strategies? Depending on the accessibility of fixed-route public buses and the availability of public paratransit services, what are the dilemmas that PMDs face and how do they shape their mobility strategies? Using the three-dimensional model of narrative analysis, we present a narrative ethnography of participants’ dilemmas and strategies about their experiences on public transport. Five dilemmas are examined. Through this methodology, we propose to extend the study of “constellations of mobility” by including the notion of strategies as an experiential outcome between personal and physical landscape factors, practices, and meanings of mobility. This offers new research perspectives both in disability and mobility studies and in the understanding of urban accessibility experiences in situations of disability.

Virtual Learning Communication Behaviors In Natural Birth Support Communities

Cesarean delivery rates are rising globally, presenting a growing concern, particularly in countries like Indonesia. Amidst this trend, the Cerita VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesar) on Telegram emerges as a crucial platform for pregnant women seeking insights and preparations for expected deliveries following Cesarean sections. This study, grounded in the constructivism paradigm, delves into the experiences of active speakers within the Cerita VBAC Community, aiming to understand the dynamics and impact of this virtual support network. Employing narrative ethnography methods, this research focuses on four prominent contributors within the Cerita VBAC Community. The constructivist paradigm guides the exploration of their experiences, emphasizing the role of narrative ethnography in unravelling the intricacies of this unique social context. Data analysis involves a manual modification process complemented by NVIVO 12 Plus, a comprehensive data processing application. The findings highlight that the learning delivery mechanism through Telegram aligns with Kolb's Experiential Learning model. Community members actively share concrete experiences, engage in reflective processes, formulate abstract concepts, and participate in experiential learning. Telegram serves as an information exchange medium and creates a positive and supportive environment, empowering pregnant women to navigate labor challenges.

Health equity and gendered border blindness: an exploration of healthcare services at the international border in Rajasthan

ObjectivesCitizens' access to health care and the delivery of the healthcare services is significantly affected by the spatiality of the regions and the connectedness of the elements of the healthcare system. This network of healthcare system, region and delivery of services faces myriad challenges in the borderland geography, which is characterised by accentuated military presence, poor physical infrastructure, disinterest of habitation near the border, lack of adequate, necessary and allied services such as schools and industry, social seclusion, migration etc. All these factors amalgamate to create an effect of gender-blind phenomenon as well as border-blind phenomenon. This is particularly acute for women and children. Study designA phenomenology research design has been used for the study. It encapsulates qualitative aspects of the views of those who experience marginalisation inclusive of gender-blind experiences. Marginalised women and frontline healthcare workers at the borderland were considered for the inquiry in this study. The study is a composite description of the phenomenon. MethodsThe border districts of Rajasthan from the Radcliffe line of Rajasthan have been identified for the purpose of the study. Using narrative ethnography along with interviews, an examination was executed from health professionals and marginalised women to comprehend health care access and equity from the service provider's perspective as well as the beneficiary's perspective. ResultsThe study provides a range of attributions based on which it could be established that health inequities exist in bordering rural areas. ConclusionsThe study realises the geopolitical influence of the Radcliffe line, where borderlands are commonly vital to the continuum struggle between the centre and state. Yet, there remains a gap towards implementing various schemes and services due to varied reasons for access from main to far-off border areas, making the situation vulnerable from a resource deficiency point of view. The Health Equity Framework cannot meet Social Determinants of Health in borderland areas of Rajasthan.

Agglomeration in Tourism Governance and Community Based Tourism in Nepal: An Ethnographic Reflection from Panauti Historical Area

Etymologically, tourism is an industry and part of recreation and the way for sustainable resource management at the local level through community participation. Community-based tourism in Nepal is famously known as homestay tourism. It is an agglomeration of much authentic cultural and ecological richness within diversity to the tourist’s experience at the exact moment to the local’s participation and empowerment. Homestay is a very potential rural and historical site-based tourism enterprise. Tourism governance is not isolated discourse; it has many tangible and intangible transactions. It has been a positive backbone for the growth of environmental tourism around the globe by utilizing and empowering the local community. The primary data was collected for my research work for my MPhil thesis. The article aims to assess the socioeconomic, cultural, and participation contribution of community-based tourism in Nepal, based on the ethnographic narration analysis design. Moreover, community-based tourism is not an isolated subject so tourism is highly accountable to income elasticity and local empowerment with local resource marketing and distribution. Findings show that homestays should have an eco-friendly infrastructure for sustainable resource mobilization and homestay as community-based tourism is community lead activities for the sake of empowerment of the local, especially women.

Anthropology and complicated people

AbstractRevealing complexity in the world—but also creating it—is at the heart of anthropology. It shapes our engagement with theory and ethics, writing and visual style, and choice of research subjects. But does it create blind spots? I respond to this question by discussing studies of violence, and my ethnographic material in progress on British ex‐soldiers. Owing to the ethical norm of suspending moral judgment of our research participants, we tend to avoid portraying their unlikable traits, internal contradictions, or troubling actions that do not advance our arguments. Ethnography often reveals florid complexity in structures or systems, but it creates simpler depictions of the people who inhabit these forms. Yet, since anthropology has long aimed to holistically capture the truth of social life, it should allow more space in ethnographic narrative for complicated protagonists.

Narratives of participation in diverse classrooms: behind the best intentions

ABSTRACT This study adopts the methodological lens of narrative ethnography and the concept of key incidents as condensed narratives to examine how narratives of education and cultural normativity emerge in diverse classrooms with migrant adolescents. In focus is how migrant students’ experiences and participation in classrooms are framed and assessed by teachers. Through classroom observations and interviews with the adolescents, the study gives profound insights into classroom practices, as the multitude of stories reveals the complexity of participation and educational outcomes. It is revealed how schools mediate and control narrative production and narrative normativity, even in situations in which teachers have the best intentions to include diverse experiences. Key incidents in the classrooms stood out as acute events that made evident the enforcement of cultural normativity and the exclusion of the adolescents’ experiences and participation.

Social Media and the Commodification of Attention/Inattention in the Changing Egyptian Belly Dance Industry

Abstract In 2018, Russian belly dancer Gohara catapulted to stardom after being charged with ‘inciting debauchery’ and nearly deported when a video of her Cairo disco performance went viral. Based on participant-observation of the belly dance industry in Egypt, this article employs ethnographic narratives to demonstrate that although attention is commodified across Egyptian belly dance venues, so is inattention and discretion. While foreign dancers like Gohara can often profit from any attention, for Egyptian dancers the social costs of attracting attention frequently make it undesirable, creating opportunities for exploitation and the commodification of inattention and discretion. As such, the growing dominance of the visually based economies of attention on social media is generating new challenges for Egyptian belly dancers trying to compete in a changing market.

H. KVITKA-OSNOVIANENKO À LA E. SWEDENBORG: DEMONIC AS COLONIAL

The paper offers a reinterpretation of a well-known classical literary work, focusing on its acquisition of new meanings, emancipation from the narrow framework of the ethnographic narrative, and discovery of resistance intentions within the context of postcolonial criticism. The research work explores the mechanisms by which the ideas of the Swedish mystic E. Swedenborg influenced H. Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s concepts of the afterlife. It also scrutinizes the incorporation of hell’s topology into the temporal and spatial dimensions of “The Easter of the Dead” and traces the doctrines explaining the idea of souls, the origins of human evil, the nature of sins and their consequences. Analogies and correspondences between worlds, the symbolism of national space, and the anthropology of corporeality are analyzed within the carnival realm and reinterpreted through the lens of Ukrainian burlesque and travesty traditions. Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s story contains links between demonological narratives, myths, legends, and, on the other hand, colonization by fear, an irrational sense of guilt, and the inevitable punishment of the enslaved by a repressive community. 
 The use of the demonic as a tool to influence the reader is determined by the logic of the author’s tropological thinking within the context of imperial censorship, dual identity, and demonstration of political loyalty. The creative use of archaic genre elements, travesty, and parody of folklore motifs affected the interpretation of the irrational, which was subjected to formalization and intertwined with ideology and hidden anti-colonial rhetoric. The colonization by myths, visualized by monstrous pictures and the fears they instill, is juxtaposed with their deconstruction, disenchanted with laughter, the healing power of the carnival, and replication of an ancient tradition in the collective memory. The secret of the ‘national narrative’ of “The Easter of the Dead” lies in this process.

The Silent Enemy (1930) and n’Daki Menan: Reclaiming Mise-en-Scène as Authorial Expression

Paramount Pictures’ The Silent Enemy, released in 1930, is a fascinating cultural artifact made and released during the transition from silent to sound film. One of the last silent feature films made by the studio, this critically acclaimed film took three years to make and was shot in large part on location on n’Daki Menan, the traditional territory of the Teme Augama Anishnabai in northern Ontario. Like other silent films made in Indigenous communities during this period such as Curtis’ In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) and Myles’ The Daughter of Dawn (1920), The Silent Enemy employed local Indigenous actors and drew on their knowledge and traditions to construct its vision of pre-contact Anishinaabe life. While the exact location and community are never mentioned in The Silent Enemy itself, local Anishinaabe people were hired to act in the film and make the costumes and sets according to pre-contact standards, all elements of the film form that added greatly to the production’s claims of authenticity. This cultural labour went uncredited and unacknowledged. While the film recycles the prominent ethnographic narrative of the dying “Indian” culture, it does feature ironic moments of Indigenous survivance, such as an introductory sequence with Chief Yellow Robe shot in synchronized sound, naturalistic performances, material culture designed by locals that continue to captivate community members, and over-the-top colonial takes on pre-contact life. Until now, most readings of this silent feature focused on the celebrity image of Chief Long Lance and his “outing” as an African American and its use of Native American actors in leading roles, but for far too long, the story of its long-lasting influence as both a personal and a public historical artifact for the Teme Augama Anishnabai has not been told. The authors’ method for telling this story will alternate between oral storytelling and scholarly analysis of the film’s formal and thematic elements. The authors hope that by drawing on oral and traditional storytelling approaches, Indigenous ways of knowing will be foregrounded.