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Open access

#Vanlife

Living the Dream or Surviving a Nightmare?

Cody Rodriguez

Abstract

As an early piece of digital ethnographic work, this article aims to convey an ambience for full-time vanlifers who are supposedly ‘living the dream’ in Europe. A reflection of the causes and developments of the #vanlife movement sets the foundation for discussing overregulation of restrictions on vanlifers in England, which is juxtaposed to the joy of thriving nomadically in continental Europe. The resulting discussions reveal that for some members of the vanlife community, this alternative lifestyle is embraced to attain their own sense of personal autonomy, ontological security and overall higher quality of life in a neoliberal late-stage capitalistic society that has left far too many people alienated and struggling to survive the nightmare of economic uncertainty.

Cover Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

In  Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

Published (Print):
01 Sep 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
68–87 (20 total)
Open access

Affective Cartographies of Collective Blame

Mediating Citizen–State Relations in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Susanna Trnka and L. L. Wynn

Abstract

In both Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia, COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced through public scrutiny of the movements of supposedly ‘irresponsible’ individuals. Denouncing their impact on public health created an affective cartography of collective blame uniting State and society in shared moral indignation. Produced through assemblages of mainstream and social media and government statements, such mediated spectacles engendered a sense of collective unity and shared purpose at a time when both collective cohesion and narratives of individual responsibility were of particular interest to the State. Spatio-temporal maps and diagrams of culpable contagion helped materialise the invisible movement of the virus but also enabled identification of the sick. Some bodies more than others were made to carry the morality of the collective enterprise of stopping the virus.

Cover Anthropology in Action

In  Anthropology in Action

Published (Print):
01 Jun 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
1–13 (13 total)
Open access

‘Anthropological Enough?’

Reflections on Methodology, Challenges of Doing Fieldwork ‘At Home’ and Building a More Inclusive Discipline

Ryan I. Logan, Laura Kihlström, and Kanan Mehta

Abstract

In this article, we discuss how fieldwork completed ‘at home’ in the USA presented challenges and resulted in our work being considered not ‘anthropological enough’. Centring our article around our individual projects for which primary data collection was completed prior to COVID-19, we explore a variety of issues related to methodology and structural constraints we experienced as graduate students in anthropology and now as junior scholars. Drawing on our experiences conducting research in the USA, we posit how anthropology might move forward in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and foster a more inclusive discipline. By challenging the notion of ‘anthropological enough’, we reimagine ways of conducting anthropology that are better suited for increasingly uncertain times, which call for collaborations rooted in social justice.

Cover Anthropology in Action

In  Anthropology in Action

Published (Print):
01 Jun 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
26–34 (9 total)
Open access

Using Photovoice to Explore Migrant Women's Sociospatial Engagement in Diverse Local Urban Areas of Santiago, Chile

Carolina Ramírez

Abstract

Framed in a project on conviviality and migration-led diversity in Santiago, Chile, this article presents visual narratives of neighborhood participation. Accounts of migrants’ public lives have turned to underlining mundane forms of conviviality and place-making. This visual essay shows how such dynamics can comprise a fertile terrain for public engagement in contexts of “crisis.” The account is based on a photovoice exercise developed by three long-established migrant women of different occupations, age, and nationalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that shaped the personal/public interface of their lives. I propose that photovoice, by endowing agency and producing situated knowledge, can illuminate migrants’ local engagement, making visible (creatively, descriptively, and symbolically) the connection between the personal and the public while counteracting dominant problem-based representations of migrants.

Cover Migration and Society

In  Migration and Society

Published (Print):
01 Jun 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
136–149 (14 total)
Open access

‘Out of touch’

University teachers’ negative engagements with technology during COVID-19

Jesper Aagaard, Maria Hvid Stenalt, and Neil Selwyn

Abstract

In the wake of COVID-19, enthusiasm is growing for hybrid and other blended forms of teaching. Before celebrating the hybrid future of education, however, it is instructive to interrogate its hybrid presence. Accordingly, this article explores pedagogical challenges prompted by the pandemic pivot to online teaching. Analysing qualitative survey data from Danish university teachers (n = 488), we identify five critical stances towards educational technology: (1) technologies are fine when used correctly; (2) technical issues are a major obstacle; (3) hybrid teaching is overwhelming; (4) one's sense of students suffers online; and (5) students hide behind their screens. Based on these results, this article identifies two challenges for the hybrid future of education: the problem of presence and the webcam-related tension between surveillance and care.

Cover Learning and Teaching

In  Learning and Teaching

Published (Print):
01 Mar 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
98–118 (21 total)
Open access

A politicized ecology of resilience

Redistributive land reform and distributive justice in the COVID-19 pandemic

Jonathan DeVore

Abstract

Brazil has endured multiple political, economic, and environmental crises—and now the COVID-19 pandemic—which have drawn social inequalities into razor sharp relief. This contribution analyzes the resilience of rural families facing these crises in southern Bahia. These families have benefited from various redistributive policies over the years, including redistributive land reforms (RLRs), conditional cash transfers (CCTs), and recent emergency aid (EA) payments related to the pandemic. Each (re)distributive approach involves different notions of distributive justice informed by competing background theories of “the good,” which hold implications for concepts of resilience. Drawing on long-term research with RLR communities in Bahia, this article considers the gains achieved by different redistributive programs. Families who acquired land through RLR projects appear more resilient, especially in the face of crisis.

Cover Focaal

In  Focaal

Published (Print):
01 Mar 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
1–15 (15 total)
Open access

Starting university during the COVID-19 pandemic

A small-scale study of first-year education students’ expectations, experiences and preferences

Marc Turu, Tom van Rossum, and Nicole Gridley

Abstract

In early 2020, universities across the world ceased face-to-face teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores the experiences of first-year UK university students during this time. Four main themes were identified in the data. Regarding course delivery, students valued the flexibility of blended learning, which involved attending some live sessions while working on others in their own time. Student interaction was mentioned to be critical for learning and how the use of webcams and breakout rooms can facilitate or hinder it. Regarding staff, continuous communication, availability and online drop-ins were highly valued and had a positive impact on satisfaction. Finally, while students benefitted from a coherent use of online tools provided by the university, they also valued the flexibility of using less-regulated tools, including social media.

Cover Learning and Teaching

In  Learning and Teaching

Published (Print):
01 Mar 2023
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
77–97 (21 total)
Open access

Exploring the Digital Revolution in Education in India during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shivi Grover and Leemamol Mathew

Abstract

One important response to COVID-19 was the intensification of the use of digital media to deliver education. However, the results are paradoxical, since the digital revolution did not lead to improvement of the social quality of teachers’ working circumstances. We analyze “internal” or subjective oriented constitutional and “external” or objective orientated conditional factors related to teachers that determine the adaptation of digitalization, taking a social quality perspective. Through a case study in the most advanced educational hub of India—Delhi—we find that the digital revolution helped India to address the first-order problems in digital transformation, namely concerning objective infrastructural facilities. The second-order problems, particularly changing the subjective belief structures of teachers related to the integration of technologies, appear to remain a challenge. As India has recently adopted a new education policy (2020), the findings of our study have significant relevance to improving the accessibility and utilization of digital technology in educational spaces.

Cover The International Journal of Social Quality

In  The International Journal of Social Quality

Published (Print):
01 Dec 2022
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
51–71 (21 total)
Open access

Technological Inequality and Social Exclusion of Older People during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anna Tsetoura

Abstract

The digital transformation of contemporary societies may already have been seen by older people as an obstacle; during the pandemic, however, great emphasis was given to technology. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the phenomenon of social exclusion of older people, linked to their vulnerability and the “COVID circumstances” and shaped by the various measures imposed by different countries to limit physical contact, which led to technological inequality. The findings emphasize the isolation of the elderly and their non-use or insufficient use of health services and long-term care services. Further implications relate to socioeconomic costs arising from the inefficient treatment of their needs regarding their physical and “technological” vulnerability. The article concludes with considerations of the importance of distinct—both individually and collectively oriented—approaches to create better social conditions that will enhance technological equality for the elderly.

Cover The International Journal of Social Quality

In  The International Journal of Social Quality

Published (Print):
01 Dec 2022
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
72–93 (22 total)
Open access

Adapting to Crisis

Migration Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aydan Greatrick, Jumana Al-Waeli, Hannah Sender, Susanna Corona Maioli, Jin L. Li, and Ellen Goodwin

Abstract

This article draws on our experiences of carrying out PhD research on migration during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all involved with the University College London Migration Research Unit (MRU), and our PhD research explores the lived experiences of migrants and people affected by migration. This is the first of two articles in this issue of Migration and Society addressing the implications of COVID-19 on migration research from the perspective of postgraduate researchers. In this article, we firstly reflect on how “crises,” including the COVID-19 pandemic, inevitably shape contexts of migration research. We then share how COVID-19 has shaped our relationship to “the field” and our formal research institutions. Finally, we share how we have adapted our methodologies in response to COVID-19 and, considering the complex ethical and practical challenges posed by this context, reflect on what it means to make methodological “adaptations” in times of overlapping crises.

Cover Migration and Society

In  Migration and Society

Published (Print):
01 Jun 2022
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
115–123 (9 total)