Search Results (578)

Background The social, physical, and relational environment plays a particularly key role for people living with chronic illness. The available resources must match the needs and abilities of those individuals. Objectives This study aims to describe how people perceive their environment in relation to managing their chronic illness daily. Methods Ethnography was employed to collect and analyze data. The researcher visited each participant at home three times, making observations and conducting interviews. Results Fifteen people with cardiovascular disease took part in the study. Four themes emerged relating to their environment: self-expression/being listened to; decision-making/action; creating a safe space; and overcoming illness. Conclusions A supportive environment enables individuals to recognize their achievements based on the meaning they attribute to them. Although people adapt to their environment according to their abilities and needs, effective communication between people with chronic diseases and healthcare professionals remains essential. Full article

This article develops the analytical concept of post-liturgical female rituality to examine informal religious practices created by Western Ukrainian female labor migrants in Israel. Drawing on approaches that conceptualize ritual as flexible, embodied, and processual, it focuses on women’s ritual activities that take place in close temporal and symbolic proximity to official church liturgy while remaining outside canonical frameworks. Rather than directly challenging institutional religion, these practices extend and reinterpret patriarchal liturgy through gendered forms of ritual engagement. The analysis is based on qualitative research among Ukrainian Greek Catholic women in Israel, including 27 in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography. The findings highlight three interconnected dimensions: collective gatherings following church services; post-liturgical practices involving food, singing, and embodied performance; and national-religious rituals expressing emotional belonging to Ukraine in the context of war. The article argues that post-liturgical female rituals constitute a distinct form of women’s religious agency that operates within institutional Christianity while reworking its meanings, contributing to feminist scholarship on ritual, migration, and war. Full article

This paper explores Indigenous Maya practices, ways of sensing, from a personal perspective to provoke discussion on ways to ground mathematics education through land and ancestors. This paper is largely based on my doctoral research work (2018–2022). I adopt a sensory ethnography approach as a viable means to explore Maya Elders’ ways of knowing. Over a period of three years, I walked alongside my Elders and journeyed into a world of mysticism and mathematical wonder. These experiences evoked the questions: “What are the challenges in engaging with this form of knowing as a learner and translator? How can these experiences help us to ground Indigenous forms of mathematical knowing? What insights can we learn via our own Indigenous mathematical heritage?” I argue that an embodied and sensory approach to mathematics through the ways of our ancestors leads to a more meaningful and purposeful mathematics. In this more-than-human context, the predominant view of mathematics as a-human, a-cultural, and a-historical is blurred to reveal mathematics as human and very much grounded in our ways of yearning to make sense of the world around us. Full article

Social media platforms have become central infrastructures for disaster communication, yet their role in shaping ethnic cohesion in post-conflict societies remains insufficiently examined. Sri Lanka, marked by a legacy of ethnic conflict, provides a critical context for exploring how moments of crisis are narratively and symbolically negotiated online. This study employs a qualitative digital ethnographic approach to analyze publicly accessible social media content circulated during a recent national disaster. Data were collected from Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok between 1 and 10 December, yielding an initial corpus of 344 posts, of which 200 were purposively selected for in-depth analysis following the removal of duplicated and near-identical content. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three dominant and interrelated narrative patterns: expressions of solidarity, resource sharing and mutual aid, and visual–symbolic representations of unity. These narratives were articulated through inclusive language, unity-oriented hashtags, depictions of material assistance, and imagery emphasizing co-presence across religious and institutional lines. Engagement metrics were examined as indicators of narrative resonance within platform visibility structures. The findings suggest that social media temporarily foregrounded discursive cohesion and symbolic unity during the disaster period. However, these representations should be interpreted as context-specific and performative rather than as evidence of durable inter-ethnic integration. This study contributes by demonstrating how social media platforms operate as spaces for the performative articulation of ethnic unity during disasters in post-conflict contexts, using a digital ethnographic approach to methodologically and empirically research digital ethnography, disaster communication, and social cohesion in post-conflict settings. Full article

This article analyses the Museo de los Desplazados (Museum of the Displaced), a collaborative platform conceived by the Left Hand Rotation collective to foster shared reflection on gentrification processes. This project takes the form of a collective and decentralised digital archive, functioning as an open, ‘in-process’ collaborative tool. Within the context of the proliferation of self-organised digital archives, this study explores how the Museum acts as a dynamic social object that articulates dispersed narratives. Drawing on Derrida’s concept of the ‘anarchive’, the research validates the hypothesis that there is a direct relationship between the profiles of autonomous collectives and their specific epistemic practices. The findings reveal that activists utilise the archive as a tool for legal defence, ‘heat-of-the-moment’ ethnography, and networking, thereby resisting ‘archival violence’ and constructing collective counter-memory. Ultimately, the Museum demonstrates that memory is not a guarded site, but a living network built through horizontal and rhizomatic collaboration. Full article

This article addresses a major challenge in circular economy accounting: assessing the social dimension, particularly social ties, which are often immaterial and difficult to capture. It examines a case study of how a local project managing organic waste and unsold goods fosters social ties in a priority urban neighborhood in France, and how these dynamics can be apprehended through an alternative qualitative accounting approach. The study draws on an ethnographic case of the MatOrGa project, combining participant observation, semi-structured interviews, discourse grounded analysis, and actor and flow mapping. Situated within counter-accounting and critical accounting, the research emphasizes social ties that extend beyond purely economic logic, spanning social, ecological, and economic dimensions. The new concept of counter-accounting utterances is introduced to describe empirical accounts that make visible practices, relationships, and social effects often overlooked in conventional accounting and sustainability reporting. The study shows how ethnography can function as a form of counter-accounting, producing qualitative representations of social impact that resist standardization. The findings advance social and sustainability accounting by offering a situated and reflexive approach to assessing the social impact of circular economy initiatives, while also opening the way for context-sensitive non-financial reporting. Full article

Norwegian early childhood education and care (ECEC) is increasingly shaped by cultural diversity, raising questions of justice regarding how children and parents, particularly those from refugee and other minority backgrounds, are recognised as equal participants in the institutional community. This article develops a conceptual framework of just recognition as professional practice through a meta-ethnographic synthesis of three qualitative studies conducted in Norwegian ECEC. The studies examine ECEC professionals’ constructions of diversity, refugee parents’ experiences, and negotiations within home–ECEC partnerships. Drawing on theories of recognition, participatory parity, and democratic equality, this article conceptualises diversity as recognition-in-relation and analyses how justice is enacted in everyday pedagogical and relational practices. The synthesis identifies three interlinked mechanisms, equality, adaptation, and reflexivity, through which recognition and misrecognition are produced across relational levels. While equality is often enacted as sameness, adaptation may be asymmetrically distributed, and reflexivity emerges as a crucial professional practice for rendering institutional norms visible and open to negotiation. This article argues that everyday pedagogical work and home–ECEC partnerships constitute key sites where the conditions for equal standing and participatory parity are either enabled or constrained. By shifting attention from inclusion as access to justice as enacted practice, the study contributes a relational and institutional framework for analysing cultural diversity in ECEC. Full article

Male-biased drug use is a consistent finding in contemporary epidemiology, yet most global evidence derives from urban and industrialized populations. As a result, little is known about gendered substance use in small-scale societies, leaving unresolved whether male-biased drug use reflects universal features of human behavior or is primarily a product of industrialization. To address this gap, we examine ethnographic evidence of female substance use across 171 societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample using 1397 ethnographic cases from the Human Relations Area Files. We document the presence of male and female drug use descriptions, regional and subsistence-based variation, substances associated with women’s use, and the cultural contexts in which female consumption occurs. Results reveal that women’s drug use is consistently less frequent and more culturally regulated than men’s across all world regions and subsistence economies, with variation in magnitude. Exploratory factor and cluster analyses identify four domains structuring female drug-use contexts: prestige-regulated substances, ceremonial and social practices, medicinal use, and high-risk entheogenic rites. Together, these findings demonstrate that low female drug use is a cross-cultural regularity while highlighting patterned variation in the contexts of women’s consumption, providing a comparative foundation for evaluating biocultural, political–economic, and evolutionary explanations of gendered substance use. Full article

This study examines the evolution of qualitative research in the Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities over time through an extensive bibliometric analysis of 15,115 publications indexed in Scopus between 1985 and 2026. This research maps the scope of the field, the most prevalent methodologies, types of publications, linguistic distribution, and geographical origin of the works. Simultaneously, it correlates qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies, highlighting the tensions, differences, and synergies between them. Using PRISMA-guided selection and bibliometric techniques, the analysis revealed a gradual and steady increase in qualitative research over the last decade. In the Arts and Humanities, there is a particular emphasis on narrative research, discourse analysis, and ethnography, while in the Social Sciences, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies coexist more evenly, with case studies and semi-structured interviews being used extremely frequently. Analysis of the document types revealed the predominance of scientific articles (over 85%), with English being the main language of publication. In terms of geographical distribution, the US and the UK are the strongest producers of qualitative knowledge, with Australia and Canada contributing significantly and a gradual strengthening of the participation of research communities from Latin America and Asia. The data show that publications referring to qualitative and mixed methodologies demonstrate comparatively higher citation visibility within the analyzed corpus, particularly in education, culture, and public policy. The findings indicate that the qualitative approach continues to play a key role in understanding the complex and lived dimensions of human experience, while opportunities for more integrated hybrid methodological frameworks will emerge in the future—both within individual scientific fields and in their interconnections. This study provides one of the largest bibliometric mappings of qualitative research internationally and systematically clarifies how the qualitative tradition differs between the Social Sciences and the Arts & Humanities. The findings can be used for evidence-based curriculum design, targeted development of research collaborations, and formulation of publication policies that enhance the visibility and influence of qualitative research. Full article

Digital infrastructure in rural China acts as a significant temporal intervention, yet its impact on social sustainability remains under-explored. Adopting the “timescape” lens, this study examines the interaction between linear algorithmic time and cyclical agricultural rhythms. Focusing on Qing Village, a hollowed-out settlement in the Wuling Mountains, we employed a mixed-methods approach combining ethnography, time-use surveys, and logistics trace data. The findings depict a transforming rural timescape characterized by specific temporal tensions: (1) digital connectivity tends to permeate the interstices of agricultural labor, blurring the traditional boundaries between work and recovery; (2) the “digital nanny” phenomenon emerges as a temporal trade-off, where caregivers utilize devices to manage labor pressure, modifying the sequence of intergenerational interaction; and (3) logistics systems facilitate a loose re-synchronization of consumption, and villagers further demonstrate behavioral elasticity by leveraging natural interruptions to reclaim social time. We suggest that digital intervention reconfigures the local temporal order. Consequently, achieving genuine social sustainability requires moving beyond coverage metrics to establish a resilient “ecology of social time” that respects diverse rural temporalities. Full article

This research explores how Chinese youth, most of whom lack formal religious beliefs or affiliations, engage with digital non-traditional religious music, such as electronic adaptations of the Great Compassion Mantra chant, on platforms such as Bilibili. A total of 15 interviews and one year of digital ethnography were conducted to examine how various music mediators, such as music, technology, the environment, and the cultural context, shape youth’s affective states, namely their states of tranquility, trance, and transcendence. This study reinserts musicality into the social and cultural studies of religious music and identifies more fluid, contingent, and processual forms of associations and articulations between different mediators, along with the more emergent and ambient affective states brought about by such mediators, their networks, and related mediation processes. In addition, this study reveals Chinese youth’s hybridized and idiosyncratic practices that combine alternative spiritual elements with secular experiences, highlighting the context-specific ways in which Chinese youth navigate spirituality in the post-secular age. Full article

This study explores how commercialization shapes gender representation and inequality within contemporary running culture. Situated within the broader context of sport and media consumption, it examines how bodies, identities, and spaces are disciplined by market-driven values. Using a critical ethnographic approach, 10 months of fieldwork were conducted across various running events in multiple urban locations. The primary researcher, a semi-professional female runner, participated as both insider and critical observer, supported by a research team in data collection, reflexive journaling, and thematic analysis. The findings reveal that promotional campaigns and commercial spaces reproduce gendered ideals: women are highlighted for beauty, charm, and body esthetics, while men are portrayed for endurance and performance. Female runners are frequently deployed as “marketing capital,” valued more for visual appeal than athletic ability. These dynamics transform public running spaces into gendered, semi-commercial arenas governed by capital, consumer culture, and the male gaze, reinforcing structural inequality under the guise of empowerment. Full article

Background: This study explores the interplay between environmental stressors and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: Drawing on participants’ interviews, visual ethnography, thematic analysis, and a review of secondary sources, the research examines how resource scarcity, displacement, and climate change intersect with social determinants of health to intensify IPV. Results: Using an ecological systems perspective, the study demonstrates how structural vulnerabilities and environmental degradation disproportionately affect residents of informal urban settlements, particularly women, who face intersecting vulnerabilities due to poverty, inadequate services, and gender-based discrimination. Conclusions: The findings from this study underscore the need to integrate gender-sensitive urban planning and policy that address both environmental risks and existing social inequalities, thereby enhancing household and community resilience. Full article

This article examines the everyday dynamics of informal activities in touristified urban environments through a qualitative case study of Porto, Portugal. Drawing on an urban ethnography combining observation and semi-structured interviews, we analyse how individuals providing tourism-related services perceive their role within informality, how they articulate their agency, and how their practices contribute to the everyday production of the tourist experience. The study shows that engagement in informal tourism work is structured by intersecting legal, economic and institutional constraints that channel professional trajectories into unregulated or semi-recognised forms of labor. Individuals display significant agency through adaptive strategies, craft-based skills and relational networks that enable them to navigate surveillance, seasonality and spatial exclusion. We argue that these practices operate as a form of urban tourism scaffolding, to conceptualise informal tourism practices as a contingent support structure that sustains tourist experiences beyond formal planning and infrastructure. Although situated in precarity and vulnerability, these practices produce structural effects on the urban tourism offer by filling gaps, organizing encounters and animating public space. By conceptualising informal tourism work as a processual and relational support structure rather than as marginal spontaneity or residual activity, the article highlights the need to reconsider informal labour as a constitutive dimension of tourist cities. Full article

Museums are cultural spaces that should promote accessibility and inclusion for all. However, accessibility is often interpreted as removing physical barriers, overlooking less visible obstacles—such as cognitive, sensory, and communicative challenges—that can profoundly shape the museum experience for people with intellectual disabilities. This paper presents an ethnographic case study conducted in the Veneto region of Italy, in collaboration with a group of individuals with Down Syndrome (DS), aiming to explore their lived experiences of a museum visit. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews, the study examines how visitors with DS engage with the museum environment on behavioural and sensory levels. Findings reveal the impact of environmental stimuli, difficulties in navigating abstract or densely layered visual content, and the importance of embodied interaction with objects and spatial cues. Positive experiences emerged from relational engagement, guided facilitation, and the use of multi-sensory supports. The study underscores the need for museums to move beyond compensatory or charity-based models of accessibility, and instead adopt inclusive design principles that value neurodiversity and participatory co-creation. In doing so, this research contributes to the emerging discourse on how museums can become safe spaces for learning, dialogue, and self-expression for people with intellectual disabilities. Full article