No / Managers today increasingly find themselves facing unexpected problems, needing to learn how to cope with complex environments and to take action in an often chaotic flow of events. This paper discusses how researchers can engage managers in a form of dialogical action research, capable of nurturing meaningful knowledge and facilitating change. This is achieved by creating space for collaborative dialogue between managers and researchers, and supplementing it with the integration of a reflexive writing practice that can be used to create ‘generative moments’ for learning within experience. The paper first presents methodological reflections related to the challenges of sustaining management practice through action research. Second, we explicate dialogical action research and illustrate the reflexive writing practice through two vignettes, which provide opportunities to reflexively explore “how things work” in managers’ organizational contexts. This forms the basis for sustaining participation and learning at individual and collective levels. Finally, we identify and discuss the specific conditions and limits of such an approach.

Bakgrund: Sydafrika har ca 50 miljoner invånare, världens högsta antal HIV-positiva och har en BNP per capita på 6170 USD. Sjuksköterskorna blir legitimerade efter 4 års utbildning och där finns ungefär 2 sjuksköterskor per 1000 invånare, jämfört med Sveriges 10/1000. Dordrecht Provincially Aided Hospital är ett distriktssjukhus och erbjuder akutsjukvård, medicinsk- och kirurgisk vård, obstetrik, pediatrik, antiretroviral behandling och har ett upptagningsområde på ca 15 000 människor. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka och beskriva sjuksköterskornas dagliga arbete på Dordrecht Provincially Aided Hospital. Metod: Studien är genomförd med etnografisk ansats, med deltagande observationer, informella samtal och med ett frågeformulär. Den är gjord som en fältstudie på sjukhuset under åtta veckor. Åtta sjuksköterskor har deltagit i studien. Resultat: Analysen av det insamlade materialet resulterade i en allmän beskrivning av det dagliga arbetet, men även i fem kategorier som skildrar dagliga arbetet. Kategorierna var patient relationer, personal relationer, ansvar, omvårdnad och HIV. Slutsatser: Styrkan i studien har varit förmågan att tillhandahålla en helhetsbild av det dagliga arbetet som inte tidigare gjorts. / Background: South Africa has about 50 million people, the world highest number of HIV-positive and has a BNP at 6170 USD. The nurses are registered as a nurse after four years studies and there are approximately 2 nurses per 1000 citizens, compared to Sweden’s 10/1000. Dordrecht Provincially Aided Hospital is a district hospital, offering services as emergency, medical, surgery, maternity, paediatrics, antiretroviral treatment and serves about 15 000 people. Aim: The aim of this study is to explore and describe nurses’ daily work at DPAH.Method: The study is accomplished as an ethnographic study, with participant observations, informal conversations and a questionnaire. It is performed as a field study at the hospital for eight weeks. Eight nurses have been participating in the study. Results: The analysis of the gathered data resulted in a general description of the daily work, but also in 5 categories describing the daily work. These categories were patients relations, staff relations, responsibility, nursing and HIV. Conclusions: The strength of this study has been the ability to provide an over all picture of the daily work which has not been done before

The bat and human relationship has been one of ambiguity through the Anthropocene. Bats have been both persecuted and revered in different cultures and negative perceptions of bats remain widespread, causing concern for the support of bat conservation. Through this thesis I attempt to reach a better understanding of the interrelations between bats and humans, and the factors influencing perceptions of bats. This work lies in the interdisciplinary realm of animal studies, creating a junction between the natural and social sciences through studying and sharing the multispecies story of humans and bats. Through interviews and ethnographic study of bat researchers in Pretoria and an area of Limpopo Province, South Africa, attention is focused on the bat-human relationships from a South African context. A theme central to this work is human emotion, as I believe it is the greatest factor influencing how humans feel and act toward other beings. I examine how emotions towards certain stimuli, in this case bats, are formed through humans’ experiences and knowledge, looking at the different epistemic modes of knowing as other key concepts in this work while bringing attention to the emotional knowledge surrounding bats. Through a better understanding of the bat I believe the prevalent biophobia can transition into biophilia. Therefore, through this study I am to catch a glimpse into the meaningful lives of bats, striving to learn how to better know and understand them. Through this knowing I believe we can learn to love the bat for the unique animal it is, working towards securing the future of species and it’s environment in the midst of the current mass extinction, and hence secure the future of humankind as we move through the Anthropocene.

This thesis is based and developed on the ambiguous and open conception, iconic species, which reveals the relationship between human society and non-human species that goes be- yond its biological status. From the case of the giant panda, I attempt to deconstruct the shap- ing process of an iconic species from multiple perspectives, which includes how a specific cultural context, or a specific historical period contributes to the shaping process and how the government and the public diverge or even clash around the shaping process. Then, I introduce my fieldwork where I through observing both giant pandas and red pandas in the exhibition centres called panda bases to analyse the encountering an iconic species in reality and their different influences on public awareness of the wildlife conservation. I also attempt to explore the various representative forms of an iconic species such as the Tibetan antelope ranging from the mascot to the film and follow the changes of its symbolic meanings in different forms. In conclusion, the thesis is aimed to reflect the hybrid features of the iconic species and pro- vide in-depth interpretation of the endless interactions between the human beings and other species.

The lives of black-tailed godwits and farmers in the meadow landscapes of the Netherlands are closely entangled. While godwits and other ‘meadow birds’ have lived in around the human shaped meadows for many centuries and, especially in the first half of the 20thcentury, profited from farming practices, from the second half of the 20thcentury, their populations started to decline rapidly. Based on studies to the ecology and ethology of godwits, and interviews with farmers that work to save godwits and other birds on their land, this thesis explores the relationship between godwits and farmers situated in the meadow landscape through lively ethographic storytelling. Storytelling is a powerful method because it leaves open for multiple perspectives, without privileging the one over the other. Through this approach I aim to tell the stories of godwits and farmers alongside each other, in a way that gives individuals agency and presents their lives as meaningful. Through these stories I hope to engage readers with, and (re)connect them to, the lives of godwits and farmers and open up to a ‘capacity for response’.