Higher education as formation of the self and citizenship: an ethnography of the University Students from Amman, Jordan

My interest in higher education and citizenship in the Middle East at large and in Jordan in particular is fostered by some of the reflections Eickelman proposed (1992). Being a quite recent phenomenon, intimately linked with the more general topic of state formation it seemed to me more suitable to study it in a little country with a recent history (a field study left almost unexplored until now as far as Jordan is concerned, to the best of my knowledge, since Antoun 1994 focuses on the migration as a quest for higher education). The process of state formation in Jordan is quite studied. I thus intended to study the higher education policies as an attempt both to create a national citizenry and more recently as a way of controlling the more problematic part of the population (youth, which constitutes more than the double of the population. See UNDP and Ministry of Planning 2000). How do the young students enter the university system, and in which way does this system work? How is this system designed, in order to retain social control of the students (since they are usually perceived to be a factor of social and political instability, as in Iran or in Egypt)? Is there any significant difference between different faculties? And if so, why? My conclusions at this stage are that the university system is an integral part of the survival of the regime. The system works quite well, and Jordan has one of the best educational position in the region. Yet there are important distinctions to be made: the access to the better faculties is socially selective while the less valued faculties are left to the poorer and less wealthy youth. This results in a different treatment of the students and of the courses that I analysed. In the better faculties the teaching standards are quite high, and the relationship between professors and students is almost on a same-level base, while in the less privileged faculties the opposite is true. Thus we can observe a concrete politics of divide et impera intended to split the youth in two. For the more privileged there are some freedoms, both within and outside classes, designed I guess at forging them as autonomous individuals. On the opposite the less privileged are kept under tight control, even if also these students are a privileged category among youth at large.

The ethnography of study abroad: what is study abroad as a cultural event?

Recent research in the field of study abroad shows that study abroad participation among all U.S. students increased 20% since 2001 and nearly 200,000 U.S. students currently go abroad each year. Additionally, about 8% of all undergraduate degree recipients receive part of their education abroad. Although quantitative studies have dominated research on study abroad, my research project calls for a qualitative approach since the goal is to understand what study abroad is as a cultural event, what authentic cultural immersion is, how program stakeholders understand and perceive cultural immersion, and how cultural immersion in programs can be improved. Following the tradition of ethnographic and case study approaches in study abroad research, my study also pivots on ethnography. As an ethnographer I collected data mainly through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The study abroad participants were a group of undergraduate native speakers of English studying Spanish for seven weeks in Cádiz, a small costal city in southern Spain, as well as program coordinators, host community members, and professors. I also examined the specific program design features, particularly the in-class and out-of-class activities that students participated in. The goal was to understand if these features were conducive to authentic immersion in the language and culture. Eventually, I elaborated an ethnographic evaluation of the study abroad program and its design features suggesting improvements in order to enhance the significance and value of study abroad as a cultural event. Among other things, I discussed the difficulties that students had at the beginning of their sojourn to understand local people, get used to their host families’ small apartments, get adjusted to new schedules and eating habits, and venture out from the main group to individually explore the new social and cultural fabric and interact with the host community. The program evaluation revealed the need for carefully-designed pre-departure preparation sessions, pre-departure credit-bearing courses in intercultural communication, and additional language practice abroad and opportunities to come in contact with the local community through internships, volunteer or field work. My study gives an important contribution in study abroad research and education. It benefits students, teachers, and study abroad directors and coordinators in suggesting ideas on how to improve the program and optimize the students’ cultural experiences abroad. This study is also important because it investigated how US undergraduate learners studying the Spanish language and culture approach and perceive the study abroad experience in Spain.

Rethinking educational ethnography. Researching online communities and interactions

[eng] Proceedings for the 2nd annual conference: Rethinking Educational Ethnography - Researching on-line communities and interactions. University of Barcelona, 7-8 June 2012.

Rethinking educational ethnography. Researching online communities and interactions

[eng] Proceedings for the 2nd annual conference: Rethinking Educational Ethnography - Researching on-line communities and interactions. University of Barcelona, 7-8 June 2012.

Rethinking educational ethnography. Researching online communities and interactions

[eng] Proceedings for the 2nd annual conference: Rethinking Educational Ethnography - Researching on-line communities and interactions. University of Barcelona, 7-8 June 2012.

El Dios en la maleta. Análisis antropológico de las representaciones y prácticas religiosas de los ecuatorianos migrados a Bercelona y Nueva York

Nuestra investigación pretende abordar el estudio de la identidad católica ecuatoriana y su vivencia entre los migrantes residentes en Barcelona y New York. Cuando hablamos de identidad católica, pensamos en un determinado hábitat de sentido (Hannerz) o sistema cultural (Geertz) que satisface la sed de sentido de sus seguidores proveyéndoles de una determinada cosmovisión que éstos perciben como “emocionalmente convincente” (Geertz). A través de nuestra etnografía multisituada, desarrollada en Barcelona (6 meses), New York (6 meses) y Ecuador (3 meses), intentamos definir el tipo de influencia de este referente identitario en la manera de significar la realidad y de actuar de sus portadores, ante la experiencia de la movilidad y del encuentro con la alteridad. Para definir correctamente el influjo de este universo significativo en la experiencia migratoria vamos, paralelamente, a tratar de interpretar su “estructura significativa” (Geertz). En particular, reanudando los estudios propios de la Antropología de las Religiones (y el enfoque geertziano en la dimensión cultural de la religión), analizaremos sus creencias (sus mitos) y sus prácticas (los rituales); interpretándolos simbólicamente y analizando los efectos que estos dos diferentes niveles expresivos del universo católico (ecuatoriano) derraman tanto en la dimensión íntima del creyente, como en la social.

Vestidors nus

Vestidors nus presenta una descripció etnogràfica centrada en el vestidor femení d'una piscina pública. Les línies teòriques d'estudi parteixen de l'espai físic i la seva relació amb el comportament humà, tenint en compte les qualitats biològiques, culturals, socials i de gènere.

Ocupant la Límia : una etnografia de la Límia durant la festa de "O Esquecemento!

Mites, significat, espais i etnografia de la festa de "O Esquecemento" de la localitat de Xinzo da Límia (Ourense).

A Method and Tool to Support the Analysis and Enhance the Understanding of Peer-to-Peer Learning Experiences

In this paper we look at how a web-based social software can be used to make qualitative data analysis of online peer-to-peer learning experiences. Specifically, we propose to use Cohere, a web-based social sense-making tool, to observe, track, annotate and visualize discussion group activities in online courses. We define a specific methodology for data observation and structuring, and present results of the analysis of peer interactions conducted in discussion forum in a real case study of a P2PU course. Finally we discuss how network visualization and analysis can be used to gather a better understanding of the peer-to-peer learning experience. To do so, we provide preliminary insights on the social, dialogical and conceptual connections that have been generated within one online discussion group.

La selva tecnológica: sistemas socitécnicos y antropología simétrica en comunidades ribereñas del Bajo Amazonas

El objetivo de esta tesis es reinterpretar la idea “tecnología” partiendo del ejemplo etnográfico de varias comunidades ribereñas del Bajo Amazonas. La hipótesis que va a defenderse es que si se trasciende la perspectiva técnica y se analiza la “tecnología” desde un punto de vista antropológico, ésta se revela como algo indisociable de otras dimensiones sociales como 1. el cuerpo, 2. el conocimiento local 3. la modernización, 4. la política agraria y 5. la espiritualidad. Los datos etnográficos se han obtenido durante diez meses de trabajo de campo en diversas comunidades ribereñas formadas, principalmente, por población mestiza. La situación híbrida de estos ribereños, que mantienen las técnicas tradicionales indígenas y a la vez se acomodan al influjo de la modernidad, permite tender un puente analítico entre la tecnología amazónica y la tecnología “occidental”. El objetivo teórico que subyace a la propia etnografía es establecer un eje de simetría entre ambos sistemas sociotécnicos, para lo cual se propone evitar la valoración de la tecnología en tanto que instrumento y einterpretarla como estrategia relacional. Partiendo de esa perspectiva analítica, a lo largo de este trabajo se verá cómo la antropología amazónica y la antropología de la tecnología, aparentemente disociadas, confluyen en un cuadro interpretativo según el cual los ribereños del Bajo Amazonas (y si la simetría es correcta, también la población postindustrial), tienden a disolver la clásica distinción naturaleza/cultura en la continuidad relacional generada por sus sistemas tecnológicos.

Autonomía comunitaria y caciquismo: identidad étnica, control social y violencia en una comunidad mixe de Oaxaca

La etnografía de la comunidad mixe de Salto de la Tuxpana y del grave conflicto que se produjo entre 2005 y 2007 es el punto de partida del presente artículo. La investigación realizada arrojó como resultado más destacado el descubrimiento de un violento cacicazgo, legitimado ideológicamente en la autonomía comunitaria, la identidad étnica y el reclamo de una jurisdicción propia, y asentado firmemente sobre tres mecanismos de control social: protección a través de la Policía Comunitaria Armada, acceso a la tierra y acceso a los programas de «desarrollo». El caciquismo se define como el régimen político personalista, basado en estructuras clientelares, que monopoliza y controla recursos y votos. También se propone la hipótesis de que la mayor parte de la violencia desplegada por los caciques es el resultado del proceso de reproducción social del mismo sistema político, cuando se genera una faccionalización simétrica de la comunidad, después de un periodo de estabilidad complementaria.

Human-Computer Interaction with older people through ethnographical lenses: everyday interactions with ICT

Report for the scientific sojourn carried out at the School of Computing of the University of Dundee, United Kingdom, from 2010 to 2012. This document is a scientific report of the work done, main results, publications and accomplishment of the objectives of the 2-year post-doctoral research project with reference number BP-A 00239. The project has addressed the topic of older people (60+) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which is a topic of growing social and research interest, from a Human-Computer Interaction perspective. Over a 2-year period (June 2010-June 2012), we have conducted classical ethnography of ICT use in a computer clubhouse in Scotland, addressing interaction barriers and strategies, social sharing practices in Social Network Sites, and ICT learning, and carried out rapid ethnographical studies related to geo-enabled ICT and e-government services towards supporting independent living and active ageing. The main results have provided a much deeper understanding of (i) the everyday use of Computer-Mediated Communication tools, such as video-chats and blogs, and its evolution as older people’s experience with ICT increases over time, (ii) cross-cultural aspects of ICT use in the north and south of Europe, (iii) the relevance of cognition over vision in interacting with geographical information and a wide range of ICT tools, despite common stereotypes (e.g. make things bigger), (iv) the important relationship offline-online to provide older people with socially inclusive and meaningful eservices for independent living and active ageing, (v) how older people carry out social sharing practices in the popular YouTube, (vi) their user experiences and (vii) the challenges they face in ICT learning and the strategies they use to become successful ICT learners over time. The research conducted in this project has been published in 17 papers, 4 in journals – two of which in JCR, 5 in conferences, 4 in workshops and 4 in magazines. Other public output consists of 10 invited talks and seminars.

Ecologies of Value in a Wall Street Trading Room

Our task in this paper is to analyze the organization of trading in the era of quantitative finance. To do so, we conduct an ethnography of arbitrage, the trading strategy that best exemplifies finance in the wake of the quantitative revolution. In contrast to value and momentum investing, we argue, arbitrage involves an art of association-the construction of equivalence (comparability) of properties across different assets. In place of essential or relational characteristics, the peculiar valuation that takes place in arbitrage is based on an operation that makes something the measure of something else-associating securities to each other. The process of recognizing opportunities and the practices of making novel associations are shaped by the specific socio-spatial and socio-technical configurations of the trading room. Calculation is distributed across persons and instruments as the trading room organizes interaction among diverse principles of valuation.

How to recognize opportunities: Heterarchical search in a Wall Street trading room

Our task in this paper is to analyze the organization of trading in the era of quantitativefinance. To do so, we conduct an ethnography of arbitrage, the trading strategy that bestexemplifies finance in the wake of the quantitative revolution. In contrast to value andmomentum investing, we argue, arbitrage involves an art of association - the constructionof equivalence (comparability) of properties across different assets. In place of essentialor relationa l characteristics, the peculiar valuation that takes place in arbitrage is based on an operation that makes something the measure of something else - associating securities to each other. The process of recognizing opportunities and the practices of making novel associations are shaped by the specific socio-spatial and socio-technical configurations of the trading room. Calculation is distributed across persons and instruments as the trading room organizes interaction among diverse principles of valuation.