Indigenous Research and Romantic Nationalism

In recent years, “indigenous research” and “indigenous methods” have become prominent themes in the general field of qualitative methodology. These ideas and their implications raise serious questions for the wider conduct of social research. We will outline some of those ideas, subjecting them to scrutiny, and ultimately using them to question the rise of Romanticism in contemporary social methodology. We develop these ideas to question the contemporary emphasis on the personal and the experiential in current methodological commentary.

Exploring or exporting? Qualitative methods in times of globalisation

Europeanism, westernism and methodological imperialism all refer to the classic criticism of Western research in non-Western contexts. Though I welcome the debate, I find arguments based on simple binary oppositions and descriptions problematic. This debate is better positioned as one about the quality of qualitative research. With reference to the criticism I ask if contemporary qualitative research is stuck in old problems. Based on my ethnographic data from East Africa I show that the pitfalls of Western research that are pointed to in classic criticisms are the outcome of old models and poor analytic work. I also show that contemporary ‘Western’ qualitative research offers analytic alte…

Reflecting on Female Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery and (Dis)Empowerment

This project aims to unwrap some of the complexities related to female beauty and the body. It reflects on the second wave radical feminist view that beautifying the female body serves to attract male approval via the male gaze, both of which are deeply entrenched in patriarchal power. This perspective positions cosmetic surgery as a disempowering act for women. In riposte, we turn to third wave liberal feminist ideas to engage with the narratives of ten participants who tell of their personal experiences of, and motivations for, undergoing a cosmetic intervention. We undertake an in-depth exploration of these lifeworld experiences and the interplay of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in …

A Shock to the System: HIV among Older African Women in Zimbabwe

HIV remains a threat to the ordinary everyday life of older woman in African society. In what can be called “a reality shock,” HIV challenges most of the ordinary everyday endeavors in conservative African societies as it imposes new Western prevention, treatment, and health-management methods over long-held African traditions. The reality of the “Western” HIV epidemic, and its impact on the “African” ordinary everyday life, demands that the infected undergo a paradigm shift in order for them to live harmoniously within their society. This calls for a re-examination of traditional values and a strong sense of responsibility, courage, and determination to remain relevant and not be considere…

Fighting the Crocodiles: Immigrant Students and Their Perilous Routes at Campus

This article is about what institutional frameworks do to our immigrant students, or how such frames may open or close opportunities. As my text unfolds, my students will speak. What stories do they provide us with? and What stories pass unnoticed? This text is also about voice and academic texts as muted lives, or as flat versions on a felt board.

The Inefficiency of Knowledge and the Limits of Explanations; the Necessity of Critique

July 22nd 2011 Norway experienced the deadliest terror attack in the country since World War II. One man, Anders Behring Breivik, ABB (33), blew up the Governmental Headquarters in our capital Oslo, killing eight people. Later that day he shot and killed, one by one, 69 youths attending a summer camp at Utøya, and wounded many others. His target was the Norwegian Labour Party, its most prominent and influential members, and those who one day might be. His country is dying he says, because of multiculturalism. He is a commander and knight—future leader and even king. His actions were political, compulsory—necessary. . . he says. He regrets nothing.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . 43: Justice! Ay! Ay! Ayotzinapa

Beauty and the Cosmetic Secret

Cosmetic surgery is often linked to the perception that women who resort to cosmetic interventions to alter their physical appearance are vain, superficial, and narcissistic. Few investigations have acknowledged and explored the individual’s personal motivations and experiences of her action and choice with regards to aesthetic surgery. By focusing on subjective experience, alternative insights can be gained on the cosmetic procedure(s) and on how their reshaped body influences an individual’s lifeworld experience. The article explores the perceived benefits and consequences of reshaping, enhancing, and/or reducing a perceived flaw or shortcoming of the body. From this exploration the focus…

Managing the decline of globalized methodology

In his preface to the World Social Science Report (ISSC, 2010) Gudmund Hernes, the President of the International Social Science Council argues that the contemporary confluence of crises generates ...