Search Results (516)

Petroglyph motifs from 23 sites and 37 panels in northern Georgia and western North Carolina foothills and mountains are analyzed within their archaeological, ethnographic, and landscape contexts. The Track Rock Tradition comprises 10 chronologically sequenced marking categories: (1) Cupules/Meanders/Open Circles; (2) Soapstone Extraction cars; (3) Vulva Shapes; (4) Figures; (5) Feet/Hands/Tracks; (6) Nested Circles; (7) Cross-in-Circles; (8) Spirals; (9) Straight Lines; and (10) Thin Incised Lines. Dating spans approximately 3800 years. Early cupules and meanders predate 3000 years ago, truncated by Late Archaic soapstone extraction. Woodland period (3000–1050 years ago) motifs include vulva shapes, figures, feet, tracks, and hands. Early Mississippian concentric circles date to 1050–600 years ago, while Middle Mississippian cross-in-circles span 600–350 years ago. Late Mississippian spirals (350–200 years ago) and post-contact metal tool incisions represent the most recent phases. The Track Rock Tradition differs from western Trapp and eastern Hagood Mill traditions. Given the spatial overlap with Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee territory, motifs are interpreted through Cherokee beliefs, supplemented by related Muskogean Creek ethnography. In Cherokee cosmology, the matrilocal Thunderers hierarchy includes the Female Sun/Male Moon, Selu (Corn Mother)/Kanati (Lucky Hunter), Medicine Woman/Judaculla (Master of Game), and Little People families. Ritual practitioners served as intermediaries between physical and spirit realms through purification, fasting, body scratching, and rock pecking. Meanders represent trails, rivers, and lightning. Cupules and lines emphasize the turtle appearance of certain rocks. Vulva shapes relate to fertility, while tracks connect to life-giving abilities. Concentric circles denote townhouses; cross-in-circles and spirals represent central fires. The tradition shows continuity in core beliefs despite shifting emphases from hunting (Woodland) to corn cultivation (Mississippian), with petroglyphs serving as necessary waypoints for spiritual supplicants. Full article

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education offers novel opportunities to enhance critical thinking while also posing challenges to independent cognitive development. In particular, Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) in education aims to enhance human experience by providing a supportive and collaborative learning environment. Rather than replacing the educator, HCAI serves as a tool that empowers both students and teachers, fostering critical thinking and autonomy in learning. This study investigates the potential for AI to become a collaborative partner that assists learning and enriches academic engagement. The research was conducted during the 2024–2025 winter semester within the Pedagogical and Teaching Sufficiency Program offered by the Audio and Visual Arts Department, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece. The research employs a hybrid ethnographic methodology that blends digital interactions—where students use AI tools to create artistic representations—with physical classroom engagement. Data was collected through student projects, reflective journals, and questionnaires, revealing that structured dialog with AI not only facilitates deeper critical inquiry and analytical reasoning but also induces a state of flow, characterized by intense focus and heightened creativity. The findings highlight a dialectic between individual agency and collaborative co-agency, demonstrating that while automated AI responses may diminish active cognitive engagement, meaningful interactions can transform AI into an intellectual partner that enriches the learning experience. These insights suggest promising directions for future pedagogical strategies that balance digital innovation with traditional teaching methods, ultimately enhancing the overall quality of education. Furthermore, the study underscores the importance of integrating reflective practices and adaptive frameworks to support evolving student needs, ensuring a sustainable model. Full article

This study presents a cross-cultural comparison of two fortified residences—Palazzo Farnese in Italy and Dong’s Fortified Compound in China—through a triadic analytical framework encompassing architectural form, symbolic ornamentation, and public perception. By combining field observation, iconographic interpretation, and digital ethnography, the research investigates how heritage meaning is constructed, encoded, and reinterpreted across distinct sociocultural contexts. Empirical materials include architectural documentation, decorative analysis, and a curated dataset of 4947 user-generated images and 1467 textual comments collected from Chinese and international platforms between 2020 and 2024. Methods such as CLIP-based visual clustering and BERTopic-enabled sentiment modelling were applied to extract patterns of perception and symbolic emphasis. The findings reveal contrasting representational logics: Palazzo Farnese encodes dynastic authority and Renaissance cosmology through geometric order and immersive frescoes, while Dong’s Compound conveys Confucian ethics and frontier identity via nested courtyards and traditional ornamentation. Digital responses diverge accordingly: international users highlight formal aesthetics and photogenic elements; Chinese users engage with symbolic motifs, family memory, and ritual significance. This study illustrates how historically fortified residences are reinterpreted through culturally specific digital practices, offering an interdisciplinary approach that bridges architectural history, symbolic analysis, and digital heritage studies. Full article

Based on ethnographic data collected in Germany, this article compares ultra-conservative Salafi and progressive, LGBTQI-plus Muslim movements and examines their negotiation of religious identity and practice within and in contrast to ‘mainstream Islam’ (e.g., DİTİB). While on the surface these movements appear to be on the fringes of Islam and clearly opposed to each other, a closer look reveals interesting moments of convergence and publicly gained prominence. In doing so, this article explores the actor biography issues that drive affiliation, including negative experiences with mainstream mosques and the search for authentic expression and roots. It analyses the politics of labelling (e.g., ‘Salafi’, ‘liberal’), and how these groups define their target audiences in relation to the perceived mainstream. It examines the negotiation of cultural diversity and Islamic ‘purity’, contrasting Salafi reform with progressive interpretations. Finally, it examines strategies for challenging mainstream institutions. By comparing these groups, the article offers a nuanced insight into Islamic practices at the margins. It sheds light on the various strategies employed to discredit mainstream Islamic institutions, ranging from theological differences to power struggles within the contested religious field. Full article

The historical evolution of auditing reflects an increasing complexity in organizational demands, culminating in the emergence of Audit 5.0—an approach that integrates emerging technologies with professional judgment. This study aims to analyze how technological adoption influences risk assessment and materiality determination in financial auditing within a practical, real-world context. The research, qualitative in nature, combines narrative and thematic analysis of the literature, ethnography in a professional setting, and task analysis, developed over four years of experience in a firm of Chartered Accountants. The findings reveal that although digital tools enhance efficiency and accuracy, professional judgment remains essential to ensure the ethics, reliability, and contextualization of audited information. This study contributes to the advancement of understanding regarding the complementarity between technology and the human factor, proposing paths toward more robust and digitally adapted auditing practices. Full article

Higher education has long been subject to feminist critique, contesting traditional practices, with calls for transformative pedagogies that empower marginalised students, address social injustices and promote gender equality. Despite this, most classrooms in Western European universities remain largely unchanged, with educators facing the difficulty of imagining and/or enacting decolonial futures within their curricula. However, some progress has been made, particularly the inclusion of transnational scholarship in syllabi and a turn to transformative pedagogies, which allow for alternative ways of interdisciplinary knowing to enter academia. In this paper, we examine this coming together of approaches which promote dialogue and personal reflection to restructure discussions on equality, gender and knowledge production in the ‘classroom’. Using a creative critical account of feminist ethnography conducted at a Western European university, we present and discuss two illustrative vignettes about cultural mapping and critical fabulation, considering how dissonant voices have challenged Western concepts, exemplifying transformative pedagogy working in tandem with transnational thought. Key insights from the study identify approaches for facilitation of more open and richer discussions to reshape staff and student perspectives of gender, equality and knowledge production. Full article

This article critically considers sample multigenerational oral traditions of Numic-speaking communities known as the Nüümü (Northern Paiute), Nuwu (Southern Paiute), and Newe (Western Shoshone), written down over the last 151 years. Utilizing the GOAT! phenomenological method to compare the onto-epistemologies of Numic peoples with a wide range of data from (G)eology, (O)ral traditions, (A)rchaeology and (A)nthropology, and (T)raditional knowledge, the author analyzed 824 multigenerational ancestral teachings. These descriptions encode multigenerational memories of potential geological, climatic, and ecological observations and interpretations of multiple locations and earth processes throughout the Numic Aboriginal homelands within California and the Great Basin. Through this layered and comparative analysis, the author identified potential convergences of oral traditions, ethnography, ethnohistory, rock art, and geological processes in the regions of California, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau, indicative of large-scale earth changes, cognized by Numic Indigenous communities as earth birthing events, occurring during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene to Middle and Late Holocene, including the Late Dry Period, Medieval Climatic Anomaly, and Little Ice Age. Full article

Passengers’ trust in Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) can be affected by different factors, such as their attitudes toward new technologies and perceptions of the vehicles’ reputation. While the existing literature has begun to explore these issues, there is limited research investigating how industrial design in SAVs can enhance passengers’ trust levels. To address this gap, this study responds to the central question: How can passengers’ trust in the vehicle itself and in fellow passengers be enhanced through design intervention? This question conceptualises trust in the vehicle and trust in strangers as an integrated trust issue within the SAV context. To fill this gap, this study adopts a project-grounded methodology. The design work is guided by five trust principles: anthropomorphic design, a defensible space, system transparency, personalisation features, and a restorative environment. Drawing on insights from an auto-ethnography of current ride-sharing services, these principles are further explored and applied to identify design opportunities for both the physical and digital elements of SAVs. The final conceptual SAV design demonstrates how different design elements can be orchestrated to engender user trust. The outcome contributes to ongoing design practices and helps researchers and designers better understand trust design for SAVs. Full article

Unbalanced population growth, especially in developing countries, has exacerbated the waste problem. This issue is alleviated by waste pickers who play a vital role in recycling, the city’s circular economy, and sustainability strategies. The article aims to create an alternative form of communication by analyzing the daily lives and work patterns of waste pickers through various instruments, contributing to urban sustainability policies. Most studies on waste pickers have focused on broader trends and have not explored the lives of waste pickers in-depth. As a result, effective communication has not been established, and practical solutions have not been developed. This study directly addresses this gap and examines the daily lives and work practices of waste pickers in the metropolis of Istanbul, using ethnographic and grounded theory methodologies. It analyzes these findings with the MAXQDA program and proposes alternative solutions. The methodology generated verbal and spatial data from waste pickers, which were organized using an extensive coding system and, as a result, categorized under four selective codes. Through diagrams created from the theoretical codes used in the coding process, the narratives of waste pickers and their spatial production and usage were correlated, enabling a thorough analysis of waste pickers. This code model presents a challenging reevaluation of the traditional approach to urban sustainability in local systems by recognizing waste pickers as often overlooked yet essential actors and agents of sustainability in the city. Full article

Living Labs are collaborative, real-world environments for co-creating sustainable innovations that rely on trust-based engagement with local communities. However, while many studies emphasise scaling up or out of such innovations, the potential for achieving qualitative transformations in relation to local values (“scaling deep”) remains underexplored. In response, we adopted a design ethnographic approach that blended immersive, reflexive ethnographic methods with the participatory co-design characteristics of Living Labs. This approach involved closely partnering with a local community champion through participant observation and co-creation workshops embedded in the community’s daily life. Our findings show that community champions acted as co-creators and mediators, building trust and aligning Living Lab activities with local values through a relational ethic of care. By immersing the research team in day-to-day community life via shared activities and open dialogue, champions enabled situated learning about local needs, thereby facilitating “scaling deep” through mutual trust and understanding. Overall, the study demonstrates that scaling deep in Living Labs hinges on embodied researcher–community partnerships in mutual care and shared responsibility. The study contributes to the Living Lab literature by illustrating how community champions can bridge understanding about sustainable transformations through relational engagement. Full article

There are very few data linking recent climatic changes to changes in biological communities in the Russian Arctic, and no palaeoecological data are available from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (NZ). We studied chironomid, cladoceran, and diatom communities from a 165-year-old sediment core from a lake on Southern Island, NZ. Sixteen diatom and four cladoceran species new to NZ were found in the lake. Significant changes occurred in biological communities; species turnover was highest for diatoms (2.533 SD), followed by chironomids (1.781 SD) and cladocerans (0.614 SD). Biological communities showed a correlation with meteorologically recorded climate parameters. For chironomids, the strongest relationships were found for T_June, T_July, and T_ann. Both planktonic proxies, diatoms, and cladocerans showed a relationship with summer and annual air temperature and precipitation. The largest shifts in communities can be linked to recent climatic events, including the onset of steady warming following the variable conditions at the end of the LIA (ca. 1905), the cooling associated with the highest precipitation on record between 1950 and 1970, and, probably, the anthropogenic influence specific to Novaya Zemlya at this time. The new data provide a valuable basis for future ecological studies in one of the least explored and remote Arctic regions. Full article

This study investigates how human will is articulated, negotiated, and reimagined within the discourses about Shamanism of Northeast China, with a particular focus on user-generated content from the Douyin platform (Chinese TikTok). Drawing on the data collected from comments between 2020 and 2024, this research employs a triangulated methodology integrating Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, the Discourse–Historical Approach (DHA), and virtual ethnography. In traditional Shamanic belief systems, human will is conceptualized not as purely autonomous, but as inherently relational—interwoven with ecological responsibilities, ancestral spirits, and cosmological forces. While previous studies have explored Shamanism’s cultural and performative dimensions, they have largely overlooked the ethical and philosophical constructs of human agency embedded within Shamanic practices, especially in their digital adaptations. This study reveals that contemporary digital discourse simultaneously preserves, transforms, and commodifies Shamanic concepts of human will. Users express reverence, nostalgia, critique, and playful reinterpretations, demonstrating that digital platforms serve both as spaces for cultural continuity and dynamic meaning-making. By analyzing online discursive practices, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how indigenous spiritual frameworks negotiate modern visibility, identity, and ethical agency in the digital era. Full article

This study explores the governance and implementation of local labor market programs (LLMPs) in Swedish municipalities, analyzing the tension between national mandates and local policy practices. Drawing on institutional ethnography (IE), intersectionality, and emotional labor theories, we examine interviews with politicians and managers from eight municipalities. Politicians frame LLMPs as budget-driven initiatives, depoliticizing local labor market issues to comply with national policies like the January Agreement. This approach prioritizes efficiency, workfare models, and quick labor market entry, often sidelining individualized support. In contrast, managers describe their role as navigating policy constraints while addressing diverse local needs. They emphasize the challenges of aligning “one-size-fits-all” activation strategies with the realities of their participants, advocating for flexibility and adaptation within national frameworks. These contrasting perspectives reveal how LLMPs, although locally implemented, are shaped by textually mediated national policies, which influence local governance practices. Politicians focus on the need to meet national objectives, while managers struggle to reconcile these goals with participant-centered approaches. This study contributes to the understanding of how LLMPs operate within a governance framework that prioritizes efficiency over holistic support, highlighting the limitations of workfare-oriented policies and their implications for labor market integration. Full article

Western written travel narratives are a byproduct of the privileging of vision as the primary means of knowledge production, an epistemology often imposed on indigenous peoples through colonial practices. In contrast, indigenous cultures in Brazil have long relied on listening as a central way of engaging with their environment. In the present essay, I examine how listening practices appear in the written accounts produced by members of three foreign river expeditions in Brazil from the 16th to the 20th century. I analyzed travel accounts from Gaspar de Carvajal’s Relación del Nuevo Descubrimiento del Famoso Río Grande (XVI century), Hercules Florence’s Voyage Fluvial du Tieté à l’Amazone (XIX), and Theodore Roosevelt’s In the Jungles of Brazil (XX). To explore what these travelers might have heard, I also collaborated with a sound designer to create a soundscape using actual recordings of local fauna and indigenous chants and music. The results show a variety of listening modes put into practice such as conquest-driven, scientific observation, contemplation, and hunting-focused and aesthetic appreciation. These narratives illustrate how European epistemologies reinforced Western dominance by shaping both colonial encounters and scientific approaches to Brazilian wilderness exploration. Full article

Background: Ensuring the safety of patients in the operating room, through the monitoring and prevention of adverse events is a central priority of healthcare delivery. In the professionalization of operating room nurses, the processes of identifying, assessing, developing, monitoring, and certifying transversal competencies are crucial. While national and international frameworks have attempted to define such competencies, they often vary in scope and remain inconsistently integrated into education and clinical practice. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive and structured identification of transversal competencies relevant to both perioperative and perianesthesiological nursing roles. Objectives: To formulate a validated and structured repertoire of transversal competencies demonstrated by operating room nurses in both perioperative and perianesthesiological contexts. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, combining shadowed observation with Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). A convenience sample of 46 participants was recruited from a university and a public hospital in Italy. Data were collected between September 2021 and June 2023 and analyzed using content analysis and data triangulation. Results: Through a qualitative, inductive and iterative approach the study identified 15 transversal competencies, 50 sub-competencies, and 153 specific tasks and activities. Specifically, operating room nurses working in perioperative and perianesthesiological roles presented the following transversal competencies: communication and interpersonal relationships, situation awareness, teamwork, problem solving and decision-making, self-awareness, coping with stressors, resilience and fatigue management, leadership, coping with emotions, task and time management, ethical and sustainable thinking, adaptation to the context, critical thinking, learning through experiences, and data, information and digital content management. Each competency was associated with specific tasks observed. Conclusions: This framework complements the existing repertoire of technical-specialist competencies by integrating essential transversal competencies. It serves as a valuable tool for the assessment, validation, and certification of competencies related to patient and professional safety, emotional well-being, relational dynamics, and social competencies. The findings underscore the need for academic institutions to revise traditional training models and embed transversal competencies in both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education. Full article