Ethnography

Ethnography has its origins and disciplinary home in cultural anthropology. The focus of ethnography is in the interpretation of cultural groups or phenomena. Ethnographic reseach aims to produce knowledge, which is difficult to retrieve By inquiries or surveys. Usually, the research topics are everyday routines, considered as trivial or self-evident and which people do not consciously think about. The topics might also be issues that people are not able to speak about or which do not come into their minds in traditional interview situations. This paper is part of the theoretical framework in Service Design report: Case Studies in of applied research projects on mobile ethnography for tourism destinations. Published By Service Design in Tourism -Project.

The Religious Soundmap Project uses audio recording and digital mapping technology to study the religious diversity of American cities. Student researchers will produce audio recordings of religious practices across a wide range of local sites. These recordings will be integrated, along with interviews, visual images, and explanatory texts, onto a publicly accessible online mapping platform, which will provide a valuable research tool and pedagogical resource for specialists and non-specialists alike.

This paper discusses the use of racetalk by white college students and its effect on perceptions of race in society in the form of an ethnographic study of conversations and situations recorded on and around the campus of a small, Christian, liberal arts university in the Midwest. Additionally, it examines how caricatures and othering language are used by whites in this setting to reinforce negative stereotypes about minorities, specifically African Americans, and create social boundaries. The introduction and maintenance of these boundaries enables white people to maintain a level of control over the racial hierarchy and social identity of minorities in America.

RESUMEN - ABSTRACT
Las investigaciones aquí desarrolladas buscan una aproximación interdisciplinaria al fenómeno de la salud y la enfermedad, así como a la naturaleza de la práctica médica en la posmodernidad. La filosofía de la medicina se inspira fundamentalmente en la actual filosofía de la ciencia, que ha abandonado la idea de una realidad objetiva o de un orden natural inmutable, reemplazándola por la representación de nuestro conocimiento, adquiriendo así uno de sus rasgos fundamentales, el carácter holístico e interpretativo.
Enfermedad, Biopolítica y Salud pública
Las investigaciones aquí desarrolladas buscan una aproximación interdisciplinaria al fenómeno de la salud y la enfermedad, así como a la naturaleza de la práctica médica en la posmodernidad. La filosofía de la medicina se inspira fundamentalmente en la actual filosofía de la ciencia, que ha abandonado la idea de una realidad objetiva o de un orden natural inmutable, reemplazándola por la representación de nuestro conocimiento, adquiriendo así uno de sus rasgos fundamentales, el carácter holístico e interpretativo.
Llevado al extremo de la irracionalidad, el esfuerzo de la medicina por preservar y cuidar la salud de las personas ha demostrado que es capaz de volverse en contra de aquellos a quienes pretende proteger. Cuando los médicos se empecinan en extender la vida aún más allá de las posibilidades fisiológicas y del deseo de sus pacientes, aparece lo que se ha dado en llamar el encarnizamiento terapéutico. Pero prolongar la vida innecesariamente no sólo perjudica a quienes se les priva del derecho a una muerte digna. En un mundo donde los recursos públicos que se destinan al cuidado de la salud no sólo son finitos, sino que muchas veces resultan insuficientes, su uso irracional parece cercenar aún más el acceso de la población en general al cuidado de su salud. Hoy se acepta el establecimiento de un límite en la asistencia médica, pero la cuestión es definir cuál es y quién establece, y aun más, cómo se valida este límite. Un punto de partida puede ser la observación de casos y el cambio actitudinal frente al manejo de estos conceptos.
Dr. ADOLFO VÁSQUEZ ROCCA

Tourism to indigenous populations is criticised as a form of modern colonialism, because the dominating tourist culture might overwhelm the so called fragile indigenous culture. This ethical research tries to evaluate this assertion on the example of tourism to the Tuareg-nomads in the region of Agadez, Republic of Niger, West Africa, Central Sahara. Therefore, interviews haven been done with a large number of local tour operators, tourists and the concerned Tuareg population of the Tuareg village of Timia in the central Aïr Mountains. The reconstructed structures and dynamics of the regional tourism development have been evaluated by an ethical model which is based on the principles of cybernetics and of sustainable development.
The ethical evaluation can proof, that tourism to Agadez in its present form doesn't destabilize the regional structures, even if there is a strong and sometimes even hostile concurrence between the Tuareg tour operators. Nevertheless tourism is an important economical factor of integration as the region suffers from unemployment, poverty and drought. By the population of Timia, tourism is seen as a tool to find contact to Europeans, who love to support this "idyllic but starving" village.
Obviously, the Tuareg from Timia have learnt to take advantage of those who are looking for an exotic, but endangered world to save.
Finally, most of the so found indicators don't support the assertion that tourisms to Tuareg nomads in the Agadez region could be a significant factor of its destabilization or something worse.

Reisen zu indigenen Kulturen sind umstritten, weil diese im Vergleich zur Tourismuskultur als fragil und somit als gefährdet gelten.
Die Richtigkeit dieser Hypothese wird am Beispiel von Tourismus zu Tuareg-Nomaden in der Region Agadez, Zentralsahara, überprüft. Dazu wurden die historischen, politischen, ökonomischen und kulturellen Rahmenbedingungen und Entwicklungsprozesse der Region als auch der Bevölkerung des Bergdorfes Timia untersucht. Im Zentrum der empirischen Untersuchungen standen die Strukturen der regionalen Tourismusentwicklung, wozu regionale Agenturbetreiber und Sahara-Touristen befragt wurden. Als Methode dienten Befragungen und Kataloganalysen. Als Evaluationsmaßstab wurde das System einer kybernetischen Ethik entwickelt, die sich an die Prinzipien der "nachhaltigen Entwicklung" anlehnt. Besonderes Augenmerk galt auch der ideologiekritischen Analyse des Tuareg-Mythos.
"Tuareg-Tourismus" wird überwiegend von urbanisierten Tuareg-Nomaden und einstigen Tuareg-Rebellen betrieben. Charakteristika der Tourismusstruktur sind ein weitgehend ungelenktes Tourismuswachstum, intensives Konkurrenzverhalten und geringe interkulturelle Qualifikation des Personals. Die Region leidet unter Arbeitslosigkeit und Dürren, weshalb die ökonomische Rolle des Tourismus signifikant ist, doch diese Einkommenschance trägt auch zu inneren Konflikten bei. Insofern weist Tourismus sowohl stabilisierende als auch destabilisierende Tendenzen auf.
Die Evaluation einer Rundreise konnte keine wesentlichen soziokulturellen und ökologischen Belastungen nachweisen. Die Belastungen des gesamten Tourismusaufkommens, maximal 4.000 Personen pro Jahr, halten sich aufgrund des großen Reisegebiets in Grenzen.
Die Befragung der Bewohner der Bergoase Timia ergab, dass Tourismus als willkommene Einkommensalternative sowie als Mittel betrachtet wird, um Entwicklungsprojekte zu requirieren. Dieser Haltung der Bevölkerung wird
vor dem Hinterrund der Transzendentalpragmatik und des Kulturalismus auf deren Legitimationskraft analysiert. Im Ergebnis kann die spezifische Form des Tuareg-Tourismus als vertretbar nachgewiesen werden, weil in seiner gegenwärtigen Form die stabilisierenden Effekte dominieren. Die Kritik am Tuareg-Tourismus wird zum Teil als Ausdruck exotisierender Projektionen entlarvt.

RESUMEN
El mundo como voluntad: La esencia del mundo es voluntad. El mundo contemplado desde dentro de sí mismo y nuestra vida es voluntad. La voluntad es lo íntimo del ser, el núcleo de cada individuo e igualmente de todo. Se manifiesta en toda fuerza ciega natural y también en la conducta del hombre. La voluntad obra de manera absolutamente libre, sin motivación, y es por tanto, irracional y ciega. Schopenhauer la identifica con las fuerzas que actúan en la Naturaleza, fuerzas que adoptan aspectos y nombres diversos (gravedad, magnetismo, electricidad, estímulo, motivo) en sus manifestaciones fenoménicas, pero que en sí son una única e idéntica fuerza: La voluntad de vivir. La voluntad es esfuerzo infinito, un impulso ilimitado, por ello no puede alcanzar nunca la satisfacción o un estado de tranquilidad. Su esfuerzo es continuo pero nunca alcanza. Lo que llamamos felicidad o goce no es más que el cese temporal del deseo. El deseo, como expresión de la necesidad y del sentimiento de privación, es una forma de dolor. Por ello la felicidad es la ‘liberación del dolor, la superación de la necesidad’; es real y esencialmente negativa, y en ningún caso positiva. No tarda en transformarse en aburrimiento y, entonces, el deseo de satisfacción resurge de modo natural.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

Há uma comparação possível entre as concepções de Lévi-Strauss acerca da fotografia e de sua
angústia com as narrativas de viagem. Meu objetivo é mostrar que compreender esta associação só
é possível quando se leva em conta as reflexões de Lévi-Strauss a respeito das obras de arte e do
papel que ele reserva à etnografia. Por outro lado, são suas próprias considerações sobre o artista
que devem ser levadas em conta se nosso objetivo é avaliar o Lévi- Strauss fotógrafo e suas imagens
de enorme sensibilidade sobre os povos e locais que registrou quando de sua viagem pelo Brasil.

This paper discusses the problem of living in a stigmatized
inner city community. The reactions of residents are categorized
into "Four Moral Careers", and implications for the
community of each career are discussed. Major attention is
focused upon the "activist" career which aims to overcome
the stigma of the community. The activists are discussed
and described through the use of materials from intensive
interviews of local community leaders who have tried to
cope with the stigma of the area. Some suggested implications
are made for the application of the ideas presented
herein to urban research in general and the provision of
social services in the context of stigmatized inner city
communities.
Publisher: HeinOnline
Publication Date: Jan 1, 1976
Publication Name: J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare

An increasing number of broadcaster’s are trying to engage their audience through social media in order to increase their reach, alter their demographic profile and involve audience members to make their programme more relevant. This paper engages with debates about such media initiatives and their role in providing participatory spaces of democratic value inside and outside the African continent. The participatory programme BBC Africa Debate that launched in January 2012 is studied through participant observation of journalists as well as quantitative and qualitative social media analysis of BBC social media followers.
The first part of the paper provides a typology of audience participation from in-studio audience interaction, to radio listening and social media participation. This typology divides the participatory activities in to minimalist versus maximalist forms of participation (Carpentier 2007). Initial findings suggest that the participation taking place is mostly in line with minimalist forms of participation by the vast number of radio listeners who are not directly participating in the media production. In addition, those who are engaged in maximalist forms of participation through social media are not necessarily getting their voice heard by the wider radio audience because of lack of integration between social media and the radio content.
The second part of the paper evaluates BBC Africa Debate as a participatory space and contributes to debates about the democratic value of different forms of mediated participation. The paper concludes with arguing that despite some lack in terms of inclusivity and integration of debates between platforms, the programme serves an important purpose to reach new and younger audiences, make debates about Africa available to a wider global audience and provide a way for social media connected audiences to make the topics up for discussion their own.

This article analyses a non-fictional narrative from Nigeria, In the Shadow of a Saint by Ken Wiwa, which thematises, among other things, the discursive negotiation of ethnic and national identity during periods of transition. I interrogate how marginal subjects from peripheral sites of nationalist expression – in this case Ogoniland in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta – are positioned within dominant national narratives, and how the author uses public memory in (re)imagining Nigerian history and Ogoni identity. The overarching objective of this inquiry is to make evident the specific ways in which Wiwa’s text (as a veritable form of cultural expression and literary historiography) portrays the (re)construction and naturalisation of ethnic and national subjects and their ‘others’ within particular periods of critical socio-political transformation.

This article draws on an ongoing ethnography of distributed medical education (DME) provision in Canada in order to explore the methodological choices of the researchers as well as the wider pluralisation of ethnographic frameworks that is reflected within current research literature. The article begins with a consideration of the technologically mediated ways in which the researchers do their work, a way of work that is paralleled within the DME curriculum that forms the focus of the ethnography. The article goes on to problematise relationships amongst the researchers and between the researchers and the field of research, and to consider the ways in which methodological choices are mediated. In so doing, the article proposes an acceptance of methodological pluralism that is tempered by the need to acknowledge the sometimes-slight differences that distinguish ethnographic paradigms.