Over the past two decades, many American universities have created transdisciplinary institutes devoted to science, engineering, art, and design (SEAD). These organizations promote research, teaching, and engagement across technoscientific and artistic disciplines, and seek to cultivate creativity and innovation. Their proponents argue that this particular type of transdisciplinary knowledge-making has the potential to transform research universities. However, making and maintaining SEAD institutions is difficult work for the researchers and administrators involved. Practitioners struggle to define the broader goals of their transdisciplinary research; to demonstrate its value; to receive appropriate credit from their peers; and to feel that they belong in their institutions. I argue that these issues result from a fundamental “transdisciplinary dilemma”: the challenge of institutionalizing an ideal of transdisciplinarity that is actually a complex and contradictory set of different actors and motivations. In my dissertation I examine SEAD and transdisciplinarity through an ethnographic study of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, a research institute that aspires to work “at the nexus of science, engineering, art, and design.” I identify three significant “matters of concern” for SEAD practitioners, each of which is a tension that reveals an aspect of the transdisciplinary dilemma and the challenges of institutionalizing art and technology research. Sponsored collaboration contrasts the idea of transdisciplinarity as an idealized stage of creative knowledge production with the notion of transdisciplinarity as an economic driver for higher education. Value and belonging highlights researchers’ simultaneous desire to exist outside of traditional disciplines and to enjoy the comforts of a disciplinary home. Measurable impact describes the balancing act between institutions’ need for resources and status, and the nature of researchers’ everyday work. Ultimately, I argue, these tensions are irresolvable aspects of SEAD as it exists within the contemporary research university. The persistence of the transdisciplinary dilemma leaves practitioners in a perpetual state of striving to belong, and SEAD institutions continually seeking to (re-)define themselves. / Ph. D. / Over the past two decades, many American universities have created transdisciplinary institutes devoted to science, engineering, art, and design (SEAD). These organizations promote research, teaching, and engagement across technical, scientific, and artistic disciplines, and seek to cultivate creativity and innovation. Their proponents argue that this particular type of transdisciplinary research and education has the potential to transform universities. However, making and maintaining SEAD institutions is difficult work for the researchers and administrators involved. Practitioners struggle to define the broader goals of their transdisciplinary research; to demonstrate its value; to receive appropriate credit from their peers; and to feel that they belong in their institutions. I argue that these issues result from a fundamental “transdisciplinary dilemma”: the challenge of institutionalizing an ideal of transdisciplinarity that is actually a complex and contradictory set of different actors and motivations. In my dissertation I examine SEAD and transdisciplinarity through a study of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, a research institute that aspires to work “at the nexus of science, engineering, art, and design.” I identify three significant “matters of concern” for SEAD practitioners, each of which is an issue that reveals an aspect of the transdisciplinary dilemma and the challenges of institutionalizing art and technology research. Ultimately, I argue, these tensions are irresolvable aspects of SEAD as it exists within the contemporary research university. The persistence of the transdisciplinary dilemma leaves practitioners in a perpetual state of striving to belong, and SEAD institutions continually seeking to (re-) define themselves.

Yes / Gaining access in fieldwork is crucial to the success of research, and may often be problematic because it involves working in complex social situations. This paper examines the intricacies of access, conceptualizing it as a fluid, temporal and political process that requires sensitivity to social issues and to potential ethical choices faced by both researchers and organization members. Our contribution lies in offering ways in which researchers can reflexively negotiate the challenges of access by: 1. Underscoring the complex and relational nature of access by conceptualizing three relational perspectives – instrumental, transactional and relational – proposing the latter as a strategy for developing a diplomatic sensitivity to the politics of access; 2. Explicating the political, ethical and emergent nature of access by framing it as an ongoing process of immersion, backstage dramas, and deception; and 3. Offering a number of relational micropractices to help researchers negotiate the complexities of access. We illustrate the challenges of gaining and maintaining access through examples from the literature and from Rafael’s attempts to gain access to carry out fieldwork in a Police Force.

This thesis identifies the shared pool of narrative resources, which constitute the public discourses and cultural meanings of the sport of boxing, in order to examine how individual boxers engage with them when performing their narrative identities. It is argued that the shared pool of narrative resources for boxing contain myths and legends that are taken for granted and yet heavily invested in by boxers and academics alike. This project explores how individual boxers engage with these resources in order to make sense of their own experiences and to formulate their narrative identity. The thesis asks how a thorough investigation of the shared narrative resources, and their use by boxers, provides new insights into what the sport of boxing means to boxers, and how shared resources are engaged with in order to perform idiosyncratic ontological narratives. This project makes a unique contribution, as it is the first project of its kind to fully consider the relationship between the individual accounts provided by boxers and the narrative resources available to them. It pays particular focus to the narrative resources as they relate to amateur and professional boxers alike. Through a performance ethnography, and qualitative inquiry approach, research data was collected and co- constructed over a period of three years. This data informed the reading of boxing texts in order to ascertain what the shared pool of narrative resources were for boxers, and how individuals used and engaged with them. This project found that the narrative resources of boxing were powerful, persuasive, and provided vocabularies of motives for individual boxers. The shared pool of resources, whilst constitutive of the cultural 2 meanings of boxing, were engaged with by individual boxers to tell stories about the desire for transformation, communion, respect and generativity.

This research study explores how future educational and occupational aspirations are constructed by young Sikh adults. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten young Sikh adults, both their parents, and their teachers at one school in West London to investigate how future aspirations are constructed, which resources are employed, and why certain resources are used over others. In some previous research on aspirations and future choices, Sikhs have either been ignored or, instead, subsumed under the umbrella category of 'Asian' and this study seeks to address this. Furthermore, the study seeks to shed light on how British-Sikh identities are constructed and intersected by social class, caste and gender. This is important to explore since it can have an impact upon how young adults are structured by educational policy. A 'syncretic' social constructionist framework which predominantly draws upon Pierre Bourdieu's notions of habitus, capital and field, along with the cultural identity theories of Avtar Brah and Stuart Hall, is employed to investigate the construction of identities and aspirations. In addition, the study contains ethnographical elements as it is conducted on my 'own' Sikh group and at my former secondary school. Consequently, I brought a set of assumptions to the research which, rather than disregard, I acknowledge since they highlight how I come to form certain interpretations of phenomena over others.

A pesquisa em Enfermagem é uma atividade que tem possibilitado avanços na prática assistencial. No Brasil iniciou-se com os programas de pós-graduação, sendo as enfermeiras professoras as detentoras desta prática. As enfermeiras assistenciais têm procurado, ao longo dos anos, superar barreiras de ordem particular e institucional na sua realização. Instituições de ensino e empregadoras de serviços de saúde buscam promover o desenvolvimento profissional das enfermeiras implementando estratégias que incentivem a atividade investigativa no contexto profissional. Seguindo essa tendência a Diretoria de Enfermagem do Hospital Universitário Regional do Norte do Paraná criou em 1999 o Núcleo de Pesquisa em Enfermagem (NUPE), para apoiar as enfermeiras na realização de pesquisas. Tem-se, neste estudo, o objetivo de interpretar os sentidos atribuídos pelas enfermeiras assistenciais na participação em um serviço de incentivo à pesquisa e integrá-los em significados socialmente construídos, por meio da análise interpretativa. O quadro teóricometodológico foi delineado com base em conceitos e princípios educacionais e na cultura organizacional, visando-se interpretar como as enfermeiras constroem a atividade da pesquisa no cotidiano profissional mediante serviço de apoio inserido na instituição hospitalar. Para isso, a etnografia, como método, e o estudo de caso, como estratégia, possibilitaram a aproximação necessária do contexto cultural das envolvidas. Os dados foram coletados em entrevistas individuais e grupais, em depoimentos escritos direcionados por questões e em análise documental. O contexto histórico-estrutural do serviço foi descrito pelo olhar da diretora de enfermagem e secretária do NUPE, em exercício no período de 1999 a 2002. A produção científica nestes anos apresentou 129 projetos de pesquisa e 151 trabalhos científicos elaborados pelas enfermeiras. Destes, 36 foram publicados em periódicos e 6 premiados em eventos científicos. Os artigos, em grande parte, construídos coletivamente e publicados em diversos veículos de divulgação, relacionam-se ao Campo Temático Assistencial e Organizacional. Sobre o processo vivenciado, as enfermeiras aludiram sentidos da atividade investigativa na prática assistencial no que tange à valoração desta, ao papel de aprender por meio dela, além dos movimentos inerentes e ainda, do fato de ser uma tarefa árdua, que demanda empenho pessoal. Os significados, analisados sob o prisma do rito de passagem, evidenciaram os movimentos dos sujeitos e da instituição: no período pré-liminar, pela impregnação do fazer sem questionar; no período liminar, pela inserção das enfermeiras junto ao NUPE; e no período pós-liminar, com sinais de ruptura dos velhos paradigmas e abertura às novas perspectivas. Observou-se, no contexto cultural, o desenvolvimento de estratégias e ações pela mobilização dos atores e da instituição com o despertar para a atividade investigativa, o criar na postura de realizadoras de pesquisa, com repercussões intramuros e extramuros à instituição, percebidas no desenvolvimento pessoal-profissional e na valorização do trabalho desenvolvido. A pesquisa, apoiada pela organização e desejada pela enfermeira, consubstancia-se como estratégia científicopedagógica na formação permanente de enfermeiras assistenciais e agrega repercussões positivas para a assistência prestada. No âmbito de serviços de saúde conceber a realização de pesquisa em favor da produção do conhecimento e desenvolvimento profissional requer uma mudança na cultura organizacional por meio de inovações, tempo e interesse dos envolvidos. / The nursing research is an activity that has advanced in the assistant practice. In Brazil it started with pos-graduation programs, with nurse teachers as possessing this practice. The assistant nurses have been looking for many years to overcome barriers of particular and institutional order to get concreted. Education and health service institutions try to promote the professional development of nurses implementing strategies which encourage the research activities in the professional context. Following the tendency of the Nursery Board of Directors of the Regional University Hospital of North Paraná a Nursing Research Nucleus was created in 1999 (NUPE) to support the nurses during their researches. The aim of this study is to analyze the conferred meanings given by assistant nurses in their participation on the research incentive and include them in built social meanings, by interpretative analysis. The theoretical and methodological view was designed from concepts and educational principles and organizational culture, trying to interpret how nurses deal with research activity in their daily professional lives with support service provided in their hospital institution. For this reason, the ethnography as method, and the case of study as strategy, made the necessary approach to the cultural context of the ones involved in the process possible. The data were collected by individual and group interviews, written statements and documental analysis. The historical and structural context of the service was described through the nursing director and NUPE secretary?s view, working in the period from 1999 to 2002. The scientific production in these years present that the nurses created 129 research projects, 151 scientific works. From these, 36 were publicized in scientific newspaper and 6 awarded in scientific events. The articles, in general, were collectively written and publicized in different means, related to the assistant and organizational thematic field. About the experienced process, the nurses mentioned meanings of the research activity in the assistant practice referring to increasing the value in it, the role of learning through it, besides the movements and finality related to it, and furthermore, being a really hard task which demands personal dedication. The meanings, analyzed through the ritual process, show the movements of the subjects and from the institution during the preliminary period, by doing without asking; during the current period by the insertion of nurses into NUPE and during the pos period, with rupture signals to the old paradigms and an opened mind to new perspectives. The development of strategies and actions to mobilize the subjects and the institution were observed in the cultural context with the consciousness to the research activity, the creation of the role of research, the repercussion inside and outside the institution, realized during professional and personal development and having their work developed with an increased value. The research supported by the organization and desired by the nurse, consolidates as scientific and pedagogical strategy in the constant assistant nurse training and adds positive repercussions to the given assistance. In the health area, accepting the research realization in favor of knowledge production and professional development requires changes in the organizational culture through innovations, time and interests of the ones involved.

This thesis uses a cultural perspective to explore the working life of employees in a government office during the 1980s. During that period three significant changes took place - in the promotion system, in management recruitment and policies, and in the introduction of computer technology. In comparing and contrasting these changes with past practices, we gain an understanding of the relationship between organisational culture and organisational change.

In this dissertation I used the anthropological and sociocultural perspectives to examine the culture of school science and science communities. I conducted three independent studies. The first study is a meta-ethnography of three well-known case studies published in the literature. I analyzed these studies in order to identify the distinct characteristics of scientific communities and portray a picture of how science is practiced. The meta-ethnographic analysis reveals aspects of scientific practice that are insightful for the science educators and curriculum developers because these aspects are often neglected in school science even though they explain how science is done and accomplished in science communities. In the second study, I conducted an ethnographic research to explore the distinct characteristics of a scientific-engineering community. How the community members worked in collaboration as they conducted their research, how they negotiated and mutually agreed upon as they interacted and communicated with one and another and what they have learned through the process of these interactions were the units of the analyses. Findings reveal that the lead scientists' different working styles in the research center orchestrated learning and research. Ongoing communication and interdisciplinarity initiated collaborative partnerships with other communities and allowed the research groups to generate a shared repertoire to pursue the novelty in the process of knowledge generation. Mentorship was a catalyst for enculturation process, and it was on the trajectory of becoming an engineering university faculty. In the third study, I observed a science classroom over a period of time to explore the socio-cultural aspects of learning. I examined the social practices and the participants' interactions that establish and maintain participation, community, and meaning. In my analysis I investigated the extent to which students' participation and interaction formed a community of practice and fostered learning science. The three studies highlight the distinct characteristics of school science communities and science communities that are of importance for the efforts to better design learning environments. Translating the everyday activities of scientists and engineering researchers into school science communities can help enhance students' science learning experiences and cultivate a more informed understanding of science and engineering.

The eighth educational reform in China is experiencing a critical period. In the implementation process of this New Curriculum Reform (NCR), teachers become the target of criticism for their failure to act on the new ideas of the NCR. This research focuses on the question, “Why teachers accept the ideas of the NCR yet fail to implement these ideas in their daily teaching?” Through reflecting on my own teaching experience and interviewing a group of Chinese Language Arts teachers in a Beijing model high school, I collected qualitative data to create 8 ethnographic stories, showing teachers’ bodily, emotional and intrapersonal experiences that are rarely published in the academic world. Conclusions show that the coexistence of the new and old curriculum systems causes the discordance of school cultures, and teachers are suffering silently. Recommendations are made for researchers returning to teachers’ bodily experiences for solutions that can integrate reform ideals and reality. / Graduate / 0727 / wwang15473@gmail.com

The eighth educational reform in China is experiencing a critical period. In the implementation process of this New Curriculum Reform (NCR), teachers become the target of criticism for their failure to act on the new ideas of the NCR. This research focuses on the question, “Why teachers accept the ideas of the NCR yet fail to implement these ideas in their daily teaching?” Through reflecting on my own teaching experience and interviewing a group of Chinese Language Arts teachers in a Beijing model high school, I collected qualitative data to create 8 ethnographic stories, showing teachers’ bodily, emotional and intrapersonal experiences that are rarely published in the academic world. Conclusions show that the coexistence of the new and old curriculum systems causes the discordance of school cultures, and teachers are suffering silently. Recommendations are made for researchers returning to teachers’ bodily experiences for solutions that can integrate reform ideals and reality. / Graduate / 0727 / wwang15473@gmail.com

This study has explored the culture of nursing home life as experienced by elderly nursing home residents in Taiwan in order to understand, describe and interpret their care needs. In December 2006, the elderly represented 10% of the total population of Taiwan, and this proportion is predicted to increase steadily. In turn, this increase suggested that Taiwan would see ever greater numbers of elderly people with chronic illnesses and physical and mental disabilities. To care for these people, nursing homes have expanded rapidly throughout Taiwan. However, the quality of care provided in these nursing homes has become an urgent matter of concern. Though meeting the residents' care needs is essential for the provision of the best quality care, a review of the available literature shows that the care needs of the elderly residents within the nursing home context are poorly understood, both in Taiwan and internationally. To address this gap in present understanding, a focused ethnographic approach, using participant observation, in-depth interviews and a review of documents, was undertaken between July 2005 and February 2006. The key participants were sixteen elderly residents who were 65 years old and over, had no cognitive impairment and had lived in the nursing home selected for the present study for at least six months. Eight nurses, six nursing assistants, one private nursing assistant, one orderly, one physician's assistant and four family members were also interviewed, with questions put to them being based on the data generated from the observation and in-depth interviews with the elderly residents. All interviews were recorded on a digital recorder and transcribed verbatim. Following this, the data gathered from the in-depth interviews, the participant observation and the review of documents was sorted and indexed using the qualitative software program, NVivo7. A five-step analytic process, based on concepts discussed in previous literature, was used to trace the emerging themes. Nine major care needs were identified by the elderly residents. These included basic functional care needs, emotional support care needs, economic care needs, psychological care needs, environmental care needs, social support care needs, professional care needs, religious care needs and preparation for death care needs. Three themes of nursing home culture were generated; these were collective life, care rituals and embedded beliefs. The findings of the study indicate that the structure and culture of the nursing home contribute to several care needs remaining unmet. In addition, the results reveal that it is necessary to satisfy economic care needs before other care needs can be resolved. These findings fill an important gap in nursing knowledge regarding the delivery of better quality care in nursing homes. They also provide relevant information to nursing practice, nursing education and Taiwanese long-term care policy-making, and provide a sound basis for future residential care research.