This thesis reports the findings of an exploratory, ethnographic study of the spiritual journal keeping practices of Catholic university students at the 'Harbour House,' a Catholic student centre and parish operating on the campus of a large, Canadian university. Guided by the question,'How and why do Catholic students keep journals to document their spiritual lives?' it examines journal keeping in the context of Catholic spirituality, the relationships students have with their journals as spiritual documents, and the representations of information found in spiritual journals. Findings are organized under the themes of Content, Materials, Practice, and Structure, and demonstrate that spiritual journal keeping is a deeply personal activity that involves a variety of unique and individualized information practices and behaviours, developed and used in order to better navigate a vast and mysterious spiritual path, and to work towards spiritual growth.

The advent of medical journalism was initially felt to be an answer to the problem of communicating health and medical information to the public. However, currently, there is a concern among scientists with the way the media, newspapers in particular, communicate health and medical information. The concern of the medical community in particular and of the scientific community in general is that newspapers ‘distort’ health and medical information. In order to deal with this ‘perceived’ problem, scientists adopt a mechanical view and propose to solve it by issuing guidelines for journalists to follow when writing health and medical news. Close investigation of journalistic practice shows that many of the proposed guidelines are already present in journalistic practice, and yet, the concern for ‘distortion’ remains. The overall aim of the thesis is to contribute to this issue. Adopting an Applied Linguistics perspective, more specifically, using the discourse analytic methodology of Genre Analysis, the thesis demonstrates that Health and Medical News Reports are first and foremost news stories and that the proposed guidelines fail to achieve the envisaged changes precisely because they seem to be ignorant of this essential reality. In order to reach this conclusion, Genre Analysis is applied to different types of texts with a view to comparing their structures. Some of the text types used have already been described in the literature, but others are analysed for the first time in this thesis. Thus, comparison is made between Health and Medical Research Articles and Health and Medical News Reports, between Popularised Health and Medical Texts and Health and Medical News Reports, between News Texts and Health and Medical News Reports and between Health and Medical Press Releases and Health and Medical News Reports. Genre Analysis shows that Health and Medical News Reports are first and foremost news stories and, therefore, that the discourse of ‘distortion’ is somewhat ‘misguided’. However, because of its nature as a structural analysis, Genre Analysis leaves one important question unanswered, namely the ‘why’ of the discourse of distortion. Although it is beyond the scope of this thesis to investigate this question, in the thesis, it is indicated that a more context-sensitive analysis, using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for example, could fruitfully be pursued. This thesis draws on four types of data. The main data set consists of Health and Medical News Reports published in The Herald and The Guardian between April and May 2007, where possible, corresponding press releases were collected. Email interviews were conducted with authors whose research was reported in the two newspapers. Finally, ethnographic observation of newsrooms and face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with journalists who wrote the reports over a period of one week.

The orders of linkages that stabilise evolving media worlds are far from obvious. Often undertaken in media ‘laboratories’, the collaborative processes which combine a range of disciplines to develop media worlds are also far from straightforward. Enablers and constraints are as likely to be non-human as they are the people associated with the project. Plugs, wires, switches, protocols and standards - things whose detail can be mind numbingly boring - all have to be worked into effective and stable sets of associations. This thesis describes two knowledge pathways that track through such a project. The first describes the development of a prototype for a website, imagined as a portal for a range of interests around children and media in New Zealand/Aoteoroa. As media worlds are continually being reconfigured and as data circulates across increasingly linked access technologies, many non-government organisations are migrating their work to ‘the web’. ‘The Media Clearinghouse’ project was one of these. Latour’s analytical concept of immutable mobiles provides a way to make sense of some of the work observed whilst his direction to ‘simply follow’ worlds of interest provided the methodological challenge. The second pathway, traces the bibliographic threads of literatures that come from the descriptive genres of Science Technology Studies (STS). Significant amongst these are Leigh Star and Geoffrey Bowker who have elaborated the concept of boundary objects and infrastructures. Star and Griesemer’s seminal description of the Museum of Invertebrate Zoology is compared with a description of an early laboratory by Bruno Latour. These and other writers elaborate on methods that offer ways to render visible the messy, chaotic performances of design and invention. They follow inscriptions - tables, lists, maps, sketches and so on. These things work between the micro and the macro and enable very huge terrains to be assembled in small, ordered spaces. The thesis assembles a list of methods that have some utility for following and describing web design work and perhaps, other information worlds. Having followed and described this writer’s work through the invention of the prototype it is argued that a combinative method has successfully enabled a description that moves in and out of a new information ‘laboratory’.

This thesis reports on findings from a year-long sociolinguistic ethnography at an all girls’ high school in New Zealand which is referred to as Selwyn Girls’ High (SGH). The study combines the qualitative methods of ethnography with the quantitative methods of acoustic phonetic analysis and experimental design. At the school, there were a number of different groups (e.g. The PCs, The Pasifika Group, The BBs), each forming a community of practice where the different members actively constructed their unique social personae within the context of the group. There was a dichotomy between the groups based on whether they ate lunch in the common room (CR) or not (NCR) and this division reflected the individual speakers’ stance on whether they viewed themselves as “normal” or different from other girls at the school. In-depth acoustic analysis was conducted on tokens of the word like from the girls’ speech. This is a word with a number of different pragmatic functions, such as quotative like (I was LIKE “yeah okay”), discourse particle like (It was LIKE so boring), and lexical verb like (I LIKE your socks). The results provide evidence of acoustically gradient variation in the girls’ realisations of the word like that is both grammatically and socially conditioned. For example, quotative like was more likely to have a shorter /l/ to vowel duration ratio and be less diphthongal than either discourse particle like or grammatical like and there was a significant difference in /k/ realisation depending on a combination of the token’s pragmatic function and whether the speaker ate lunch in the CR or not. Additionally, three speech perception experiments were conducted in order to examine the girls’ sensitivity to the relationship between phonetic variants, lemma-based information, and social factors. The results indicate that perceivers were able to distinguish between auditory tokens of the different functions of like in a manner that was consistent with trends observed in production. Perceivers were also able to extract social information about the speaker depending on phonetic cues in the stimuli. Taken together, the results provide evidence that lemmas with a shared wordform can have different phonetic realisations, that individuals can manipulate these realisations in the construction of their social personae, and that individuals can use lemma-based phonetic trends from production to identify a word. These results have implications for how phonetic, lemma, and social information are stored in the mind and, together, they are used to inform a unified model of speech production, perception and identity construction.

This study analyzes the bicycling community of Lexington, Kentucky. Interviews and participant observation were conducted in order to better understand the structure of Lexington’s cycling community, revealing three prominent groups/types of cyclists: (1) road cyclists, (2) underground/urban cyclists, and (3) commuters. The characteristics of each group are discussed, with particular attention devoted to the underground/urban cyclists, due to their politically-minded culture. Building from prior social movement literature, the unique framing processes of the underground/urban cycling group are analyzed in order to explore the group as a new social movement. Finally, the potential for a broader cycling movement based upon interests common to all cyclists is discussed.

Some places which once were celebrated by many slowly become places of desolation and social problem while others built with similar intentions and forms continue to flourish. This is typically true of a number of large residential neighbourhoods of Post-World War II Europe and many cities of the global South. Large residential environments have been extensively studied since their emergence in the early 20th century, but often from disciplinary perspectives. Moreover, studies have often focused on singular aspects of these environments. Thus, knowledge of how large residential environments develop as places once created, and what the residents’ role in this process is, remains fragmented and hardly usable for effective urban design/planning interventions. Studies, particularly in the last decade, have begun to show the usefulness of the notion of place as an integrative conceptin housing research. This thesis aims to contribute to interdisciplinarydiscussions on large residential environments by drawing upon theories of space and place from vast fields of social and human sciences, and using anthropological and historical research methods. It explores the multiple ways and means that large residential environments gain their material and social identity as places. The main interest is to understand how the residents perceive, receive and appropriate living environment, and how that contributes to the becoming of the places. Based on such a notion of place, the study presents a critical review of the current transformation of Addis Ababa and its ongoing large-scale housing development. Residents’ ways of articulating their needs, desires, and values are investigated ethnographically and in relation to the socio-political, historical and spatial contexts within which they are taking place.The findings of the study are presented in four academic articles, and in an introductory essay. Each article addresses the main research question (i.e. “how residential places become”) from different angles: Article I (History, Modernity and the Making of an African Spatiality) explores place as a construction of historical and socio-political processes; ArticleII (Socio-SpatialTensions and Interactions: An Ethnography of Condominium Housing of Addis Ababa) and Article III (Home-looseness in Large Residential Environments?) explores place as an assemblage of multiple spatial practices and experiences. Article IV (Sustainable Urbanism: Moving Past Neo- Modernist &amp; Neo-Traditionalist Housing Strategies) explores place as a product of particular urban design/planning paradigm.The findings of the thesis show that the key processes that shape spaces into places are highly embedded in the dialectical relationship between larger structures (i.e. social, economic, political and physical) and the everyday practices of people within the built environment. The findings also show that this relationship is highly mediated by local experiences of modernity. Thus, for example, when modernity is sought as an end, as in the case of the condominium housing of Addis Ababa, a fragile and often paradoxical relationship develops between people and their places as could be seen by the weak senses of place or attachment among condominium residents. One implication for urban design/planning practice is the recognition that place (or the home-place) is predominantly a process, and in the context of modernity, placemaking is highly contested because the process is evaded and people’s relationships with place overridden. Based on the findings, the limits and potentials of the urban design or planning are highlighted. It is recommended that theories of place- becoming – implying understanding of a place as an open-ended process and spatial experiences of ordinary people as the fundamental aspect of place – should be the integral basis of placemaking understanding and practice. Design ethnography is suggested as a possible way to promote placemaking practices closer to the multiple experiences of ordinary people / residents. / Några platser som tidigare prisats av många blir långsamt platser som ligger övergivna och får sociala problem medan andra som byggts med liknande avsikter och med likartad bebyggelse fortsätter att blomstra. Detta gäller särskilt många stora bostadsområden i Europa efter andra världskriget och många städer i det globala Södern. Stora bostadsområden har undersökts utförligt sedan de kom till i början av 1900-talet, men ofta ur ett disciplinärt perspektiv. Dessutom har undersökningarna ofta fokuserat på enskilda aspekter av dessa omgivningar. På så sätt har kunskapen om hur stora bostadsområden utvecklas som platser när de väl skapats och vilken roll som de boende spelar i denna process förblivitfragmentiserad och knappastanvändbar för effektiva insatser inom urban design och planering. Undersökningar särskilt under det senaste årtiondet, har börjat visa användbarhetenav begreppet om plats som ett integrativt koncept ibostadsforskningen. Denna avhandling syftar till att bidra till tvärvetenskapliga diskussioner om stora bostadsområden genom att utnyttja teorier om utrymme och plats från vidsträckta fält inom social- och humanvetenskaperna och genom att använda antropologiska och historiska forskningsmetoder. Den forskar om de många sätt och medel genom vilka stora bostadsområden får sin materiella och sociala identitet som platser. Det viktigaste är att förstå hur de boende uppfattar, mottar och tillämpar dem och hur det bidrar till hur platserna utvecklas. Baserad på ett sådant begrepp om plats presenterar undersökningen en kritisk granskningav den nuvarandeombildningenav Addis Abeba och dess pågående storskaliga bostadsutveckling. De boendes sättattuttrycka sina behov, önskningar och värderingar undersöks etnografiskt och i jämförelse med de sociopolitiska, historiska och spatiala ramar inom vilka de äger rum.Undersökningens resultat presenteras i fyra akademiska artiklar som sedan sammanfattas och kopplas ihop till en inledande monografi. Varje artikel tar upp den viktigaste forskningsfrågan (t.ex. ”hur bostadsområden blir till”) från olika vinklar: Artikel I (Historia, Modernitet, och Skapandet av en afrikansk rumslighet) utforskar plats som en konstruktion av socio-historiska processer; Artikel II (socio-spatiala spänningar och interaktioner: Enetnografi om bostadsrätter i Addis Abeba) och artikel III (Hemlöshet i storabostadsområden?) utforskar plats som en samling rumsliga metoder och erfarenheter. Mer specifikt utforskar Artikel II hur politiska intentioner och folks förväntningar och deras vardagliga användningar av rymd, form och plats och Artikel III utforskar hur hem och platser formas som ett resultat av olika former av rumslig disposition, inom de ramar och de restriktioner som bestämts av hegemonisk rumslig praktik. Artikel IV (Hållbar urbanism: Att gå förbi neomodernistiska &amp; neotraditionella bostadsstrategier) utforskar plats som en produkt av särskilt paradigm av urban design/planering.Avhandlingens resultat visar att de viktigaste processerna som skapar platser av utrymmen ligger lagrade i det dialektiska förhållandet mellan större strukturer (dvs. sociala, ekonomiska, politiska och fysiska) och vardagliga rutiner för människor inom den byggda miljön. Resultaten visar också att detta förhållande har en stor förmedlande funktion i moderniteten. På så sätt ökar spänningent t.ex. inom den förstärkta moderniteten mellan det globala och det lokala, mellan makro och mikro, mellan struktur och verkan och i sista hand mellan utrymme och plats.Men viktigast av allt när modernitet söks som ett ändamål i sig, som i fallet med bostadsrätter i Addis Abeba, utvecklas ett ömtåligt (dvs. ytligt och paradoxalt) förhållande mellan stora platsers identitet och folks rutiner som man kunde se av de svaga känslor för platsen ( eller tillgivenheten) bland bostadsrättsinnehavarna. En slutsats av urban design/planeringspraxis är insikten att plats(ellerhemvist) är företrädesvis en process och inom ramen för moderniteten är urban förnyelse och platsskapande försök omstridda eftersom processen avbryts eller undviks. Baserat på resultaten, framhävs begränsningarna och möjligheterna för urban design eller planering. Det rekommenderas att teorierna om hur en plats blir till vilket innebär förståelse för plats som en öppen process och en rumslig erfarenhet för vanliga människor som den grundläggande aspekten på plats – borde vara den väsentliga grunden för insikt och rutin i platsskapandet. Ett reflexivt tänkande i praktik och teori föreslås, vilket innebär en metod som omprövar sina grundläggande premisser/teorier och erkänner kontextens betydelse. Några idéer om etnografisk design föreslås som ett sätt att främja sådana metoder. / <p>QC 20150423</p>

Using technology as an entry point, I employ the concept of the ecology of practice as a lens to interpret a specific food security intervention on small millets –neglected and underutilized crops important to rainfed agriculture. The “Revalorizing small millets: Enhancing the food and nutritional security of women and children in rainfed regions of South Asia using underutilized species (RESMISA)” project objectives each evoked technology to: increase production, decrease women’s drudgery, and increase the status of small millets. I examine networks of actors, ecologies and technologies in the Nepal project sites using a multi-sited ethnographic approach. Analyzing three types of technologies (seed, machines and practices), I found divergences between natural and social scientists’ perceptions on technology development. Interests differed among the worldviews of smallholder farmers that the researchers sought to engage as participants. Understanding practices in specific ecologies matters as research for development efforts seek to close the technology adoption gap.

As an immigrant in Sweden, I connect this study to my embodied experiences in the labor market and reflect throughout this research as I discuss the experiences of other immigrants who struggle with labor market integration. This qualitative study focuses on the phenomenon of the integration of immigrants in the Swedish labor market from an intersectional perspective and from my position as an immigrant which enriches the discussions. I analyzed how immigrants are integrated into the Swedish labor market and how gender intersects with other human factors to influence labor market integration. The study was based on a reflexive ethnography methodology in which interviews and documentation studies were used in collecting the empirical data. A semi-structured interview guide was used during the interviews and the documentation study was focused on scrutinizing integration policy documents in Sweden. The findings provide a detailed account on the genesis of immigration policies and how they have evolved into integration policies in Sweden. It traces this from the 1950s when integration policies were intertwined with immigration policies. Also it provides an account of how the integration policies are implemented in Sweden focusing on the activities of two main organizations namely Arbetsförmedlingen and the Linköping’s municipality. Furthermore the findings highlights that, men and women experience labor market integration differently therefore there is the need for this subject to be studied from a heterogeneous perspective instead of a homogenous perspective. It also highlights that women’s gender intersects with other human endowments factors such as education, gender roles, marital status, language and skills that complicate their labor market integration. In addition the findings highlight the transnational lives of some of the participants who hold on to traditional ideologies from their countries of origin. Furthermore, immigrants conceptualized labor market integration according to their own understanding. The results shows that the conceptualization of some of the immigrants was similar to what is common in the literatures but there was one new conceptualization of the term labor market integration that can be added to the already existing conceptualizations.

This thesis is an ethnographic study in which seven Swedish children from different social and cultural environments were followed over three years. The study began when the children were four years old. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate through what social and cul-tural practices seven children meet literacy events in their families. A second aim is to track informal and everyday literacy events which the children take part in or practice on their own. A further aim is to study the transition be-tween home, preschool, preschool class and primary school in order to de-termine to what extent and in what ways the children are allowed to use their previous experience with and knowledge of literacy. The results show that the children are socialised in practices rich in liter-acy events via their culture, traditions, language and religion. The children practise reading and writing in a number of contexts. This occurs long before the pupils have been exposed to formal education. In the work on this study, it has also become clear that the seven children, regardless of their cultural, language or socioeconomic background, share experiences and knowledge relating to popular culture and the media. The children have a common understanding of texts in the form of words, names, images and icons. The value of this knowledge and experience is often as-signed by the children themselves in their contact with other children. The seven children, in this study, come to preschool and primary school with a wealth of experience in literacies from their family lives. Some chil-dren are allowed to bring their experience to the classroom. For them, there is continuity between literacy practices at home and at school. Others are forced to leave their experience outside the classroom. What is common to all children is that their knowledge about literacy related to popular culture and the media has a low cultural value in instructional settings.

The researcher conducted an ethnographic study looking at how employers can build more inclusive workplaces and support the adaptation of immigrants into the Canadian workplace culture. The research consisted of ethnographic interviews with 15 immigrant employees living and working in British Columbia. The focus of the research study was to investigate how the various aspects of the employer-sponsored programs influence the cross-cultural adaptation from the perspective of the immigrant employee. Results from the study support that immigrant friendly practices and initiatives facilitate the adaptation process of immigrant employees. Practical implications and recommendations for employers are also discussed in the study.