Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research Event

(E-mail memo: Oct. 4, 2005)

Oct. 20 (Thurs.), 2005, 4:00-5:45PM, Berger Gallery, 207 College Hall, Duquesne University.

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Agenda: Two person panel on "Culture and Identity."

* Dr. Leswin Laubscher (Psychology), Psychology discovers Ethnography.

Abstract: Recent pressures to (re)orient psychology to the importance of culture in the making of mind led to an increasing interest in ethnography as a research method. For cultural psychologists, however, this is an interpretative and postmodern ethnography, drawing on the legacies of Clifford Geertz and James Clifford, central assumptions of which are briefly examined.

* Kathleen Roberts (Communication and Rhetorical Studies), Rethinking Alterity in Ethnography: Some Contributions from Communication Studies

Abstract: Some of ethnography's recent innovations -- such as native ethnography and autoethnography -- are rooted in current questions of alterity. Insofar as alterity is both existential and intercultural, our practice of ethnography can be enhanced by careful attention to the multiple levels of cultural identities present in the ethnographic process. This paper examines theories of identity and cultural adaptation from Communication Studies in an attempt to broaden opportunities for rich ethnographic studies

Minutes

Dr. Leswin Laubscher (Psychology), "Psychology discovers Ethnography," and Dr. Kathleen Glenister Roberts (Communication and Rhetorical Studies), "Rethinking Alterity in Ethnography: Some Contributions from Communication Studies," presented the papers just attributed to them, constituting a panel on "Culture and Identity." Thirty-five persons attended the event and, following the two presentations, discussed with them the issues of the researcher's assumptions regarding culture and identity. The exchange was lively and informative.