Similarity and familiarity: reflections on indigenous ethnography with mothers, daughters and school teachers on the margins of contemporary Wales

Purpose This chapter reflects on the process of conducting qualitative research as an indigenous researcher, drawing from two studies based in south Wales (UK). The chapter explores the advantages of similarity in relation to trust, access, gender and understandings of locality; but it also complicates this position by examining the problem of familiarity. Methodology The studies, one doctoral research and one an undergraduate dissertation project, both took a qualitative approach and introduced visual methods of data-production including collages, maps, photographs and timelines. These activities were followed by individual elicitation interviews. Findings The chapter argues that the insider outsider binary is unable capture the complexity of research relationships; however, these distinctions remain central in challenging the researcher’s preconceptions and the propensity for their research to be clouded by their subjective assumptions of class, gender, locality and community. The chapter suggests that researchers need to engage in a high level of reflexivity and honesty in exploring how they view themselves, how they are seen by participants and what this means practically and ethically for their research projects. Research implications The chapter presents strategies to fight familiarity in fieldwork and considers the ethical issues that arise when research is conducted from the competing perspectives of both insider and academic. Value The authors focus on uncertainties and reservations in the fieldwork process and move beyond notions of fighting familiarity to consider the unforeseen circumstances of acquaintance and novel positionings within established social networks

Negotiating Closed Doors and Constraining Deadlines: The Potential of Visual Ethnography to Effectually Explore Private and Public Spaces of Motherhood and Parenting

Pregnancy and motherhood are increasingly subjected to surveillance, by medical professionals, the media and the general public; and discourses of ideal parenting are propagated alongside an admonishment of the perceived ‘failing’ maternal subject. However, despite this scrutiny, the mundane activities of parenting are often impervious to ethnographic forms of inquiry. Challenges for ethnographic researchers include the restrictions of becoming immersed in the private space of the home where parenting occurs, and an institutional structure that discourages exploratory and long-term fieldwork. This paper draws on four studies, involving 34 participants, which explored their journeys into the space of parenthood and their everyday experiences. The studies all employed forms of visual ethnography including artefacts, photo-elicitation, timelines, collage and sandboxing. The paper argues that visual methodologies can enable access to unseen aspects of parenting, and engender forms of temporal extension, which can help researchers to disrupt the restrictions of tightly time bounded projects

On the Content and Form of the Prayers in Sophocles

Abstract not availabl

Six-Axis Monopropellant Propulsion System for Picosatellites

This project presents the design and fabrication of a hydrogen peroxide six-axis propulsion system for picosatellites. An experimental test setup is designed and fabricated with a torsional thrust stand for measurements of the steady-state thrust. The setup includes a thrust block, a catalyst block, a feed system, and sensors for measuring the chamber pressure and temperature. Safety procedures are established. The optimum catalyst bed-length is established with analytical modeling assuming operation with 98 weight percent hydrogen peroxide. Nitrogen, helium, and water pressurization tests are performed as well as a nitrogen firing test and a valve-actuation test. Experimentation under atmospheric conditions and a chamber pressure of 95 psia shows approximately 0.6 N of thrust

Diversifying WPI Projects in Switzerland

Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Interactive Qualifying Project challenges students to address problems at the intersection of society and technology. Our project was to diversify student opportunities at the Global Projects Program’s new project center in Switzerland by recommending new project partners and developing tools and strategies for growth. By meeting WPI alumni, we learned how the IQP could grow in Switzerland. We also created an annotated bibliography and summary of IQP literature, demonstrating the impact of a global experience on engineering education