Upcoming conferences

events

27 February-1 March 2014, San Angelo, Texas, USA
Conference “Doing Autoethnography”

7-9 May 2014, University of Oulu, Finland
VI Conference on Childhood Studies “Values of Childhood and Childhood Studies”

21-24 May 2014, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
10th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry “Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Research”
see also the Pre-Conference Call for Abstracts “Qualitative Psychology: Critical and Post-Structural Possibilities”, http://www.icqi.org/pre-congress-days/a-day-in-qualitative-psychology/

25-27 June 2014, Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico
Fifth International Qualitative Research Conference

13-19 July 2014, Yokohama, Japan
ISA World Congress of Sociology, Research Committee on Biography and Society

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The diary of a high school student ~ thinking about representation

representation

The following isn’t from a research project, but in a similar vein to the “The Slow, Costly Death of Mrs. K.” captures Rohan Nuttall’s (a Grade 12 student at Strathcona Composite High School in Edmonton, AB) interpretation of a day in the life of a high school student. The day is marked by time, a linear frame, through which the student moves visually illustrating monotony, distraction, disconnectedness.

The diary of a high-school student: Facebook or chemistry?

8:31 a.m. Wake up. Alarm was set for 6:30. School starts in 15 minutes.

8:35 a.m. Jump out of bed. Head-rush. Pause. Embark on journey to the bathroom. Turn on shower.

8:57 a.m. Step out of shower. Look at the clock. Swear. Look for towel and realize it’s in my room. Swear.

9:08 a.m. Consider eating breakfast. Think about having to take out bowl, find cereal box, find milk, put cereal in bowl, pour milk on cereal, find spoon, lift spoon to mouth multiple times.

9:10 a.m. Decide not to eat breakfast.

9:20 a.m. Anxiously await the arrival of bus. Of course it’s not on time. Blame bus driver for everything. Bus still hasn’t come.

9:20 a.m. Bus comes.

9:59 a.m. Arrive at school. Decide to make the last few minutes of my grade 12 biology class. Realize I have a spare 1st period. Marvel at my dim-wittedness. Forgive bus driver.

10:06 a.m. Bell rings. Realize I’m hungry. At risk of loud stomach rumbling in class decide to get a snack from the cafeteria.

10:10 a.m. Spend $7.00 on a ham sandwich. Get lectured by lunch lady after I question validity of food prices.

10:20 a.m. Still late for class. Give teacher petty excuse–“I was eating breakfast.”

10:45 a.m. Watch teacher spill information over our heads.

11:30 a.m. The all too familiar bell rings for lunch. Students swarm the narrow hallways. It smells like I’m either walking down a perfume aisle or through gym locker room. I can’t quite tell.

11:34 a.m. Get to my locker. Forgot to pack a lunch. Already spent all of my money. Decide to pass the time studying in the library. It’s loud. Kids shouting to each other enthusiastically about how cool GTA 5 is. Ponder the irony of the situation I’m in. There’s a large seagull nonchalantly strolling around in the parking lot.

12:05 p.m. Seagull flies away. Start calculus review. I’ve read the word “derivative” more times than I can remember. What was so wrong with the word “slope”? None of this makes sense.

2:10 p.m. The monotony of the day drags on. Notes. Test. Notes. Test. Worried that I’ll never know the meaning of freedom of interpretation. But hey, at least I’ll have 12 years of practising rote memorization as a life skill. We’re always told that critical thinking is something you do in university. So I guess it makes perfect sense to not bother about it in high school, right?

3:30 p.m. Bell rings for the 13th and last time of the day. Administration thought it would be a good idea to have warning bells. Student autonomy? What a crazy idea.

3:34 p.m. Leave school with bag slightly heavier. 10 pages of chemistry homework even though I know I’m studying economics in university. Useless.

4:05 p.m. Get home. Parents ask how day was. “Fine.” Take dog for a walk. Buckle down to finish homework and study for upcoming tests.

6:00 p.m. Disturbed by parents to eat dinner.

6:50 p.m. Sit down again to study. Phone buzzing every 5 minutes, Facebook messages popping up on laptop screen, music pounding in my ears. It’s no wonder I don’t remember anything I read. Favourite TV show in 10 mins.

7:23 p.m. Sitting on couch in living room. Books on my lap – open – but still only on the table of contents. Fifth time watching this episode.

9:00 p.m. Turn off TV when the news program begins. Head to bedroom. Continue procrastinating.

9:14 p.m. Decide to start chemistry homework. Out of all the questions I’m looking at, the only one that I can think about is “Why do I even have to do this?” What’s the point in homework? Sure, I get that silly yet oddly fulfilling completion mark, but what about the meaningful application? Instead, I’m just spending my time ingraining all of this information in my head for a stupid test at the end of the week only to forget it all on the bus ride home. Doesn’t seem like a very sustainable pedagogical model for the 21st century. So much for saving trees, too.

9:30 p.m. Feeling frustrated. Decide to get ready for bed.

9:36 p.m. Go to bed.

12:34 a.m. Stop texting. Fall asleep.

1:20 a.m. Set alarm for next day.

6:30 a.m. Wake up to alarm. Get ready for school.

7:00am It’s Saturday. Swear.

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Meet The Somalis ~ illustrated stories of Somalis in seven cities in Europe

image based research, narrative inquiry, publications, representation

You might have just seen Captain Phillips, the movie starring Tom Hanks as the real life Captain Phillips, commander of a Maerck shipping freighter hijacked by Somali pirates. The movie gives a wee glimpse into the life of Somali pirates, and the circumstances in their home country related to piracy. But, of course, to be Somali is something quite a bit larger.
Meet the Somalis tells the stories of 14 Somalis living the refugee or immigrant life in seven European cities. Based on interviews, “the illustrated stories focus on challenges faced by Somalis in their respective cities in Europe and issues raised in the Somalis in European Cities research, including education, housing, the media, employment, political participation, and identity. Meet the Somalis depicts experiences many of us will never know, like fleeing a warzone with your children or, worse, leaving your loved ones behind.”

Like most ethnographic research, the stories are not just windows to the experiences of others, but also mirrors reflecting our own values and the deep interconnections among all people, like the importance of family, well-being, and identity. The cartoon illustrations combined with interview excerpts build the narrative of experience as an immigrant and/or refugee connected to a war-torn homeland.

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comic books ~ and you thought they were just for your amusement!

material culture

Studies of material culture can open a window to understanding meaning and interaction. Objects are the focus of study and it is no surprise that very specialized foci crop up with communities of serious scholars investigating a certain type of object. Such is The Comics Grid, an open access journal that “aims to make original, media-specific contributions to the field of comics scholarship and to advance the appreciation of comic art.”

While your childhood entertainment likely included reading comics and comic books, these artifacts are a part of human existence and therefore of scholarly interest. The Comics Grid is just one example of the many resources in the study of comics, see also, just a few more examples:

Comics Research

the University of Florida’s resources page for comics studies

The International Journal of Comic Art

Needless to say, there is plenty of contentious quibbling about whether comics scholarships is, well, you know scholarship. But, of course, it is, although that doesn’t mean it is all good. But what is absolutely true is that comics are created by humans and, as such, like any other human made artifact they are culturally interesting.

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the meaning of ‘handmade,’ the evolution of cultural artifacts

material culture, methods

The largest market for ‘handmade’ goods is Etsy, the online marketplace for all things vintage and handmade. Until recently, their definition of handmade was that it was not factory-made. But Etsy has changed the definition of ‘handmade’ largely because of its success… sellers aren’t able to keep up with the demand for their products. So, Etsy is ushering in its own industrial revolution by redefining handmade to allow sellers peddle items they produced with manufacturing partners and to hire staff and use outside companies to ship their wares.

The size of your shop is up to you.
Hire help if you need it or collaborate, even from different locations. Everyone who helps you make handmade items should be listed on your shop’s About page.
You can use shipping and fulfillment services.
If it’s right for your business you can let someone else handle these logistics. Keep in mind that shop owners are ultimately responsible for buyers’ customer service experience.
Manufacturers can help you produce your designs.
Sellers create their handmade items in many different ways. Partnering with an outside business is okay, but we’ll require you to be honest about how your items are made.

Some see this as a sell-out, an unconscionable compromise to what it means for an object to be handmade. But this redefinition of the meaning of handmade is precisely what happens with the use of objects in social contexts… high demand meets the very slow process of making everything without machines and so handmade comes to mean something you make with your hands, possibly aided by a machine (like a sewing machine, loom, soldering gun, and so on). Using something like a loom to weave a rug is just such an example, and watching a Turkish woman weaving a rug still looks like making something by hand. When an object includes parts that have been manufactured or is made with the assistance of a tool, it may still be considered handmade, the outcome of an individual’s creative work.

The meaning, role, and value of artifacts is fluid, changing with human use and interpretation.

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An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

big abstract ideas, publications

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. — Richard P. Feynman

In addition to being amusing, this little book is a great introduction to argumentation and more specifically the various common errors in logic. From hasty generalizations (see cartoon) to appeals to irrelevant authorities to straw man arguments, each is described with examples and a clever cartoon as illustration. Scholarship always involves making arguments and budding scholars might find this useful in honing their skills.

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A classic is back ~ new edition of Miles & Huberman’s Qualitative Data Analysis

data analysis, publications, technology

With Johnny Saldaña as a new third author to the ghosts of Matt Miles and Michael Huberman, a new edition of this classic text on qualitative data analysis is back. This 3rd edition stays true to Miles’ & Huberman’s original organization and ideas, but is significantly updated with the inclusion of more information on computer based analysis and specific approaches to qualitative research emerging over the past few decades. The new edition ends with a very good list of resources for qualitative researchers.

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Humans of New York (HONY)

image based research, importance of place, research examples

The Humans of New York (or HONY) is a photography project started by one person in 2010 and has developed into a blog with images and snippets of stories from New Yorkers. Brandon Stanton, the photographer and writer, describes the blog: “With nearly one million collective followers on Facebook and Tumblr, HONY now provides a worldwide audience with glimpses into the lives of strangers in New York City.”

The front page evolves as photos and stories are added and looks like this. The blog is in the genre of street photography, with the addition of the stories. While Brandon wants to give us a glimpse of the lives of New Yorkers it is also possible that he is unwittingly creating an ethnographic data record that reveals much about the culture of, in this case, New York City, but perhaps more generally urban USA. The ability to digitally create, store and distribute data opens possibilities for a new kind of field work.

HONY has spawned a host of clones, especially on college and university campuses: Simon Fraser University, Humans of Houston, Detroit, Miami and Seattle, Humans of Brown University, Binghamton University, Lehman College, and Reed College. The purposes of the clones may vary but each creates a census of people in a given place, a data record of people within a cultural context.

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