Invisible Faiths: Paganism and Religious Diversity at the University of Illinois

In this research, I seek to understand religious diversity here at the University of Illinois. Using ethnographic methods, I propose a project to interpret the ways in which cultural expectations frame the experiences of Pagan students on campus, while at the same time, also frame the ways in which the University administration views the student body as a whole. Building on preliminary research conducted in fall of 2007, this research seeks to determine the environment here at the University of Illinois for students of alternative religions. Considering a violent history against Pagans, this research takes careful account of potential risks to Pagan students and members of alternative religions. In this way, this project may also provide a foundation for future applied projects to encourage greater resources for religious diversity on campus.unpublishe

Religion as practices of attachment and materiality: the making of Buddhism in contemporary London

This article aims to explore Buddhism’s often-overlooked presence on London’s urban landscape, showing how its quietness and subtlety of approach has allowed the faith to grow largely beneath the radar. It argues that Buddhism makes claims to urban space in much the same way as it produces its faith, being as much about the practices performed and the spaces where they are enacted as it is about faith or beliefs. The research across a number of Buddhist sites in London reveals that number of people declaring themselves as Buddhists has indeed risen in recent years, following the rise of other non-traditional religions in the UK; however, this research suggests that Buddhism differs from these in several ways. Drawing on Baumann’s (2002) distinction between traditionalist and modernist approaches to Buddhism, our research reveals a growth in each of these. Nevertheless, Buddhism remains largely invisible in the urban and suburban landscape of London, adapting buildings that are already in place, with little material impact on the built environment, and has thus been less subject to contestation than other religious movements and traditions. This research contributes to a growing literature which foregrounds the importance of religion in making contemporary urban and social worlds

Journeying to visibility:an autoethnography of self-harm scars in the therapy room

This autoethnography explores the experience of a therapist negotiating the visibility of their self‐harm scars in the therapy room. Its form takes the shape of the author's personal meaning‐making journey, beginning by exploring the construction of the therapist identity before going on to consider the wounded healer paradigm and the navigation of self‐disclosure. A thread throughout is finding ways to resist fear and shame as both a researcher and counsellor. The author concludes by recounting fragments of sessions from the first client she worked with while having her scars visible. While not every therapist will have self‐harm scars, all therapists have a body which plays “a significant part of his or her unique contribution to therapy” (Burka, 2013, p. 257). This paper is, therefore, potentially valuable to any therapist, at any stage of development, who seeks to reflect on the role of the body and use of the self

Seeing ethnographically: teaching ethnography as part of CSCW

While ethnography is an established part of CSCW research, teaching and learning ethnography presents unique and distinct challenges. This paper discusses a study of fieldwork and analysis amongst a group of students learning ethnography as part of a CSCW & design course. Studying the students’ practices we explore fieldwork as a learning experience, both learning about fieldsites as well as learning the practices of ethnography. During their fieldwork and analysis the students used a wiki to collaborate, sharing their field and analytic notes. From this we draw lessons for how ethnography can be taught as a collaborative analytic process and discuss extensions to the wiki to better support its use for collaborating around fieldnotes. In closing we reflect upon the role of learning ethnography as a practical hands on – rather than theoretical – pursuit

Developing Mediators: An Analysis of the Changing Associations of Ghanaian Internet Cafe Users between 2003 and 2014

This study examines interview data gathered a decade apart, in 2003 and in 2014.The analysis answers the questions: How were café patrons using the Internet in 2003 and how do the 2003 findings of this study compare to the findings of other studies conducted around the same time? How has Internet usage changed between 2003 and 2014? How has the Internet café business changed over the last decade? This study starts by reviewing the theory and literature which informs studies of the Internet and Internet cafés in developing countries. Two years were spent discovering the fate of the 2003 locations. The data that were used for analysis were gathered at these locations, or their walking distance equivalents, using ethnographic interviews. An argument is made that the Internet can either be a Black-box or a Quasi-actant in an Actor-network account, depending on how the subject frames its influence. The study then compares the findings from 2003 to the findings presented in Invisible Users, another study of Ghana\u27s Internet cafés conducted in 2005(Burrell 2011).This study makes the argument that “Invisible Users” were only one of many different types of café users. It is also argued that pornography played a multi-faceted role in the narratives of café patrons. Differences and similarities in both patron usage and the café business itself, between 2003 and 2014 are discussed Finally, this study concludes by presenting an actor-network description of the flow of action for both the café business and café patrons by using the first three uncertainties identified in Reassembling the Social (Latour 2007)

The Methodology of Participatory Design

At the time of publication C. Spinuzzi was at the University of Texas at Austin.Provides the historical and methodological grounding for understanding participatory design as a methodology. Describes its research designs, methods, criteria, and limitations. Provides guidance for applying it to technical communication research.Writin

Interview with Robyn Davidson

In an interview with Tim Youngs, conducted on 8 July 2004, Robyn Davidson discusses her relationship to Australia and her peripatetic existence, which she compares with the movement of traditional nomads. Refusing an easy identification with them, she nevertheless admits having a romantic feeling for their lifeways. Modern forms of post-industrial rootlessness, she acknowledges, are not the same as ancient forms of nomadism, which are disappearing with globalisation, a process whose effects she plans to represent in a series of films. Reflecting on her travel books, Tracks and Desert Places, Davidson talks of how they are artefacts and their narrators creations. The construction of a persona affords her a welcome anonymity. Writing about a journey is to relive it but also creates a distance between the event and the writing. Davidson likens travel writing to the novel and she considers some of the characteristics of women's writing. Finally, developing some comments made in her introduction to the Picador Book of Journeys, Davidson talks about the future of travel writing

Lost in Translation: An Ethnography of Self-directed Support in Scotland

Self-directed support (SDS) is Scotland’s approach to social care and was enshrined in legislation with the passing of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013. This policy is underpinned by a shift towards personalised social care services with the intention that people who require support can exercise as much choice and control as possible over their receipt of social care. With a clear emphasis on co-production and outcome-focussed support, SDS is intended to support people to participate in society whilst also protecting their human rights, including the right to independent living. Although the positive transformative potential of the policy is evident from its overarching principles and values, it is widely acknowledged that SDS is not being delivered as was intended. Within the growing SDS literature, scarce attention has been paid to the daily work of practitioners, who are tasked with translating SDS legislation into everyday practices. Consequently, in order to bridge this gap, this thesis places an emphasis on what practitioners actually do, by exploring how their SDS knowledge is translated through their everyday activities. An ethnography was undertaken in a Scottish local authority adult team to explore the everyday implementation of SDS. The fieldwork included practice observation, formal and informal interviews, document analysis, and auto-ethnographic reflection, all of which took place between December 2019 and January 2021. The mobile methods captured desk work, meetings, informal interactions, and home visits within fieldnotes, a reflective log, and interview transcripts. The fundamental question being addressed was not whether SDS works, but rather how SDS works. Consequently, the work of practitioners has become the unit of analysis and the central focus of this thesis. The findings were analysed through Freeman and Sturdy’s (2014) embodied-inscribed-enacted knowledge framework, which provides a powerful tool to identify and capture practitioners’ SDS knowledge during policy translation. Practitioners embody SDS knowledge through their emotions, feelings, and embrained information. They inscribe SDS knowledge into documents and artefacts as they construct the policy reality, and enact it through their everyday encounters as they create and recreate a collective SDS world. The thesis renders the unseen backstage SDS practice visible, providing a window into the black box of social work practice, or what has been described as the ‘the invisible trade’ (Pithouse, 1998). The findings highlight the contested nature of SDS implementation and reveal a concerning gap between social work practice and policy expectations. Practitioners are pulled in different directions due to competing functions in daily work, and the thesis therefore shines a light on the complex position occupied by social workers. Although SDS processes and procedures attempt to standardise work, highly bureaucratic tasks seem to have encroached on their practice, depleting the time available to build relationships with supported people. The evidence suggests that relationship-based practice thus takes a back seat, and high eligibility criteria, thresholds, and procedural demands are placed upon practitioners instead. Workers feel frustrated and constrained by these bureaucratic boundaries imposed through local authority processes and procedures, impacting their sense of professional identity and autonomy. Amid this global pandemic the importance of social care and SDS delivery has never been more apparent, which is why an overdue but much-needed board discussion regarding a Scottish National Care Service has been sparked. This thesis contributes to the current national conversation regarding the future direction of SDS amid the shifting social care landscape