Going beyond data collection in ethnography: Options for bridging the gap between researchers and archivists

Abstract

This article investigates options for bridging the missing link between ethnographic field research and archiving. It interrogates the place of archiving in the entire fieldwork process and the roles played by researchers and archivists in promoting access. While a number of reasons explain the gap between research and archiving, the article identifies lack of collaboration as the main challenge. Borrowing from the postmodernist theoretical framework, the article argues that archivists cannot detach themselves from data collection, because the decisions they make are not objective but personal and subjective. The conclusion and main message are that digital technology, in spite of its many advantages, may not deliver all that it promises to data collection and archiving. There is a need to complement digital technology data collection and archiving with traditional archiving methods because of the latter's reliability and cost effectiveness.     

Methodological challenges in doing ethnomathematical research

Abstract

Researchers in ethnomathematics are confronted by a variety of methodological questions when they carry out ethnomathematical research. These have to deal with: participants and knowledge holders; language used in research; interviews and observations; familiarity (or lack thereof) with the knowledge holders; mathematical analysis of cultural artefacts; etc. Knowledge in this field engages with indigenous knowledge systems. This article primarily deals with indigenous games which the author researched. He proceeds to explore questions which arose and to provide possible solutions. The author also reflects on and analyses other studies that have grappled with the questions and draws on the implications and insights of these studies in constructing the suggested answers. The article therefore demonstrates that ethnomathematical research contributes to the demystification of the historical false projection by colonialism that Africa and Africans were and are not culturally embedded in mathematics – especially applied mathematics.     

Multiculturalism in South African soap operas

Abstract

This article explores the multicultural dimensions within the texts of three South African soap operas (soaps). It uses text analysis and interviews as a methodology to expose the intricate web of influences that are all part of the fabric of a South African soap.

The text and discursive analysis are based on Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory of Halliday. The analysis of the texts proceeds from a pre-interpretation stage, through an analysis stage and into a revisit or re-interpretative stage. The creators of the texts as well as commercial bias are seen as politico-economic and cultural influences which may have direct bearing on the texts and are therefore interrogated. The findings confirm no multicultural model for South African soaps and show correlation between commercial interests and homogenised South African stereotypes.     

Rights and Advocacy in Research with East Timorese Asylum Seekers in Australia

Abstract

This paper aims to derive lessons from a retrospective and comparative analysis of two previously unconnected projects that assessed the well-being of East Timorese asylum seekers residing in Australia. Despite disciplinary differences between psychiatry and social science research, overlapping philosophies and approaches emphasizing human rights and well-being paradigms were adopted. Drawing on these experiences, we explore the unique circumstances of East Timorese asylum seekers in Australia, and the applicability and positive effects of human rights-focused research and related methodologies including researcher-advocacy research amongst minority groups exposed to trauma and ongoing political pressures. Key issues examined include the complexities of adopting multi-method frameworks of investigation; individual and collective benefits in responding to a need for direct intervention, challenges in engaging an alienated community, and the need to frame the research and the intervention in an historical and political context. In addition, the process allowed us to confront some key challenges in the field, especially the relevance of traumatic stress and its treatment in assisting marginalized asylum seekers.     

Science,security and spies

Abstract

The national research and development (R&D) base has in the post-cold war era gained increased importance in order to fill new security demands. There is a broadening of the search for security relevant science and technology involving more organizations and interests, scientific disciplines and nations. The question discussed in this article is if the premises of international, free and open R&D will be(come) compromised? Will we see more scientists, in their normal scientific activities, being accused of spying? The article suggests that such risks are not unrealistic to expect. Spy cases in less democratic countries could have consequences for scientists also in other countries. Outcomes depend on, among other things, the relative strengths of academic freedom and a political Identification Friend and Foe (IFF) component. United Nations and European Union resolutions restricting science education for students from Iran and North Korea in an attempt to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons illustrate a strong IFF component. Difficulties with regard to the implementation of these resolutions and other findings are presented in the final section of the article.     

Public opinion as a dependent variable: A framework for analysis

This paper outlines an approach to examining how public opinion is taken into consideration by political and governmental leaders and reviews recent studies that have followed this approach to evaluate the extent to which public opinion is subject to manipulation by political elites in diverse circumstances. The central idea of this approach is to treat public opinion as a “dependent variable” and to examine the role of the mass media in linking elite initiatives and the public. Instead of starting with polls that presume public opinion is an independent force, we start with elites and presume that they try to manipulate public opinion through the mass media and by other means. First, we look at why the emphasis on the independent nature of public opinion has become so prominent in political science. We argue here that viewing public opinion as a dependent variable is a more promising perspective. Next, we review and evaluate a number of studies that attempt to demonstrate the fruitfulness of our suggested approach. Each of the studies analyzed focuses on the initiatives of political elites and monitors the success of their efforts with targeted groups. These studies demonstrate the conditions that favor elite control as well as the opportunities for citizens to limit such control. In our conclusion, we outline a theory of the role of public opinion in modern mass democracies.     

The ambivalence of populism: threat and corrective for democracy

Two images of populism are well-established: it is either labelled as a pathological political phenomenon, or it is regarded as the most authentic form of political representation. In this article I argue that it is more fruitful to categorize populism as an ambivalence that, depending on the case, may constitute a threat to or a corrective for democracy. Unfolding my argument, I offer a roadmap for the understanding of the diverse and usually conflicting approaches to studying the relation between populism and democracy. In particular, three main approaches are identified and discussed: the liberal, the radical and the minimal. I stress that the latter is the most promising of them for the study of the ambivalent relationship between populism and democracy. In fact, the minimal approach does not imply a specific concept of democracy, and facilitates the undertaking of cross-regional comparisons. This helps to recognize that populism interacts differently with the two dimensions of democracy that Robert Dahl distinguished: while populism might well represent a democratic corrective in terms of inclusiveness, it also might become a democratic threat concerning public contestation.     

Parenthood in Murder‐Suicide News. Idealized Fathers and Murderous Mums

In this article I analyse how parents' lethal violence is presented in Finnish murder‐suicide news reports. I explore how gendered ideas of parenthood and violence affect these constructions. The cases that I am interested in are those with child victims where the perpetrator is either the father or the mother. The theoretical frame of analysis is feminist ethnomethodology, and Membership Categorization Analysis is used as the method. One of the starting‐points is that parenthood is gendered in a way that mothers and fathers have different rights, responsibilities and competences in our culture. In other words, moral orders of fathering and mothering exist. Because of this, women's and men's violent actions towards their own children are understood differently. When a man kills his children and himself he can be portrayed as a caring parent. Instead, in a certain context a woman can be ‘a killer mum’, her act ‘a murder’ and her personality described in the light of the deed. The focus of this article is on gender and family categorization used in murder‐suicide news in Finnish newspapers and the moral orders created in them. I explore the differences by mainly using two case examples: 1) a man who killed his three children and himself, and 2) a woman who killed her husband, two children and herself. The consequences of these newspaper constructions are also considered.     

司法鉴定立法比较之法理研判——以新《刑事诉讼法》与新《民事诉讼法》为视角

2012年修改并通过的《刑事诉讼法》和《民事诉讼法》已于今年1月1日实施。两大新诉讼法对证据制度,包括证据种类、证明标准等内容进行了重大改革。其中,对于司法实践中证据地位凸显的鉴定意见,两大诉讼法也做了调整,包括完善鉴定人出庭制度、专家辅助人制度、鉴定人保护、鉴定人选任等。但因两大诉讼法性质不同,新刑诉法和新民诉法对相关内容做了不同规定,对于其是否符合立法统一性、是否具有合理性、是否与其诉讼性质相一致,有必要从法学理论角度层面予以释明与检视。