Problems of Evidence in Ethnography. A Methodological Reflection on the Goffman/Mead Controversies (With a Proposal for Rules of Thumb)

Der Streit um die ethnografische Autorität wurde in der postfaktischen Ära rund um die Frage der Glaubwürdigkeit ethnografischer Evidenz entfacht. Deren Infragestellung wird meist als Konsequenz aus postmodernem Relativismus, verbunden mit politischem Opportunismus und dem sozialen Impact des Internets diskutiert. Aus meiner Perspektive verweist die Frage nach ethnografischer Evidenz aber auf ein älteres und bisher ungelöstes methodologisches Problem, das entsteht, weil 1. die einzigartigen Beobachtungen von Ethnograf*innen schwer mit dem wissenschaftlichen Ideal der Replizierbarkeit vereinbar sind, es aber offen bleibt, wie diese Beobachtungen auf andere Weise gestützt werden könnten, und weil 2. soziale Nähe zu den untersuchten Gemeinschaften Voraussetzung für direkte Beobachtungen ist, aber wie soll die mit dem Ideal einer Verifikation durch Außenstehende verbunden werden? Und 3. werden Fakten als zentral für die Glaubwürdigkeit dichter Beschreibungen angenommen, aber geht es überhaupt, interessante Ethnografien zu schreiben, ohne auch auf ein fiktives Instrumentarium zurückzugreifen? Mit den hier skizzierten Herausforderungen setze ich mich am Beispiel zweier ethnografischer Kontroversen auseinander, zum einen ausgehend von Margaret MEADs "Coming of Age in Samoa" (1973 [1928]) und zum anderen von Alice GOFFMANs "On the Run. Fugitive Life in an American City" (2014). Ich schließe mit dem Vorschlag einiger methodologischer Faustregeln für ethnografische Forschung im 21. Jahrhunderts, die (hoffentlich) sowohl effektiv als auch überzeugend sind.The contestation of ethnographic authority in the post-truth era revolves around the credibility of ethnographic evidence. This doubting of ethnographic evidence is usually explained as the consequence of postmodern relativism coupled with political opportunism and the social impact of the internet. I argue, however, that evidence in ethnography comprises a much older unresolved methodological problem that arises because: 1. ethnographers' unique observations are difficult to marry with the scientific ideal of replication, but what other tests are then available to support direct observation?; 2. social proximity to the community studied is essential for making direct observations, but how does that correspond to the ideal of outsider verification?; 3. facts are considered central in credibly reporting ethnographic thick description, but is it possible to write ethnography in an interesting way without resorting to the instruments of fiction? These methodological challenges are explored by juxtaposing two ethnographic controversies: Margaret MEAD's "Coming of Age in Samoa" (1973 [1928]) and Alice GOFFMAN's "On the Run. Fugitive Life in an American City" (2014). I conclude with a proposal for methodological rules of thumb for conducting ethnographic research in the 21st century in a way that is (hopefully) both effective and convincing

Lebanese traders in Cotonou: A socio-cultural analysis of economic mobility and capital accumulation

Passenger cars and other small vehicles have for a long time been the backbone of transport in west Africa. The cars are usually second-hand, and they are sourced on overseas car markets, mostly in western Europe. During the 1990s the port town of Cotonou, Bénin, became one of the most prominent hubs in this car trade: car markets mushroomed, attracting large numbers and a wide variety of traders - including a prominent contingent of Lebanese. This article discusses the role of these Lebanese traders in the car trade through a reconstruction of their careers. It reveals that Lebanese business, which can go through a rapid succession of different economic activities, starts as kin-based enterprise, but gradually incorporates peers and friends. Close analysis of this practice suggests that Lebanese immigrant traders are to a large extent driven by the ideal of enjoying life by adopting an expatriate lifestyle

Як уникнути підйому рівня води?

East Africa’s Lake Victoria provides resources and services to millions of people on the lake’s shores and abroad. In particular, the lake’s fisheries are an important source of protein, employment, and international economic connections for the whole region. Nonetheless, stock dynamics are poorly understood and currently unpredictable. Furthermore, fishery dynamics are intricately connected to other supporting services of the lake as well as to lakeshore societies and economies. Much research has been carried out piecemeal on different aspects of Lake Victoria’s system; e.g., societies, biodiversity, fisheries, and eutrophication. However, to disentangle drivers and dynamics of change in this complex system, we need to put these pieces together and analyze the system as a whole. We did so by first building a qualitative model of the lake’s social-ecological system. We then investigated the model system through a qualitative loop analysis, and finally examined effects of changes on the system state and structure. The model and its contextual analysis allowed us to investigate system-wide chain reactions resulting from disturbances. Importantly, we built a tool that can be used to analyze the cascading effects of management options and establish the requirements for their success. We found that high connectedness of the system at the exploitation level, through fisheries having multiple target stocks, can increase the stocks’ vulnerability to exploitation but reduce society’s vulnerability to variability in individual stocks. We describe how there are multiple pathways to any change in the system, which makes it difficult to identify the root cause of changes but also broadens the management toolkit. Also, we illustrate how nutrient enrichment is not a self-regulating process, and that explicit management is necessary to halt or reverse eutrophication. This model is simple and usable to assess system-wide effects of management policies, and can serve as a paving stone for future quantitative analyses of system dynamics at local scales

Overlap of cognitive concepts in chronic widespread pain: An exploratory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A wide variety of cognitive concepts have been shown to play an important role in chronic widespread pain (CWP). Although these concepts are generally considered to be distinct entities, some might in fact be highly overlapping. The objectives of this study were to (i) to establish inter-relationships between self-efficacy, cognitive coping styles, fear-avoidance cognitions and illness beliefs in patients with CWP and (ii) to explore the possibility of a reduction of these cognitions into a more limited number of domains.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Baseline measurement data of a prospective cohort study of 138 patients with CWP were used. Factor analysis was used to study the associations between 16 different cognitive concepts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Factor analysis resulted in three factors: 1) negative emotional cognitions, 2) active cognitive coping, and 3) control beliefs and expectations of chronicity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Negative emotional cognitions, active cognitive coping, control beliefs and expectations of chronicity seem to constitute principal domains of cognitive processes in CWP. These findings contribute to the understanding of overlap and uniqueness of cognitive concepts in chronic widespread pain.</p