Alexander Rödlach - Böcker

This volume expands conversations about participatory, community-engaged, and action-oriented research that inspires social change.The authors contend that long-term community partnerships, inspired by solidarity and characterized by equality and reciprocity, result in a deep understanding of community concerns and increase the likelihood that research findings will have an impact on both the community partners and the broader society. Such research relationships, the authors maintain, are best understood as accompaniment. This book recognizes the potential as well as constraints of conceptualizing research as accompaniment and emphasizes that this approach is both a continuum and a process.Suitable for students and scholars of ethnographic and qualitative methods (and professionals using those methods, such as those in non-government organizations), it will appeal to those interested in research with communities in a wide variety of social science and other disciplines, including anthropology, nursing, and public health, amongst others.

This volume expands conversations about participatory, community-engaged, and action-oriented research that inspires social change.The authors contend that long-term community partnerships, inspired by solidarity and characterized by equality and reciprocity, result in a deep understanding of community concerns and increase the likelihood that research findings will have an impact on both the community partners and the broader society. Such research relationships, the authors maintain, are best understood as accompaniment. This book recognizes the potential as well as constraints of conceptualizing research as accompaniment and emphasizes that this approach is both a continuum and a process.Suitable for students and scholars of ethnographic and qualitative methods (and professionals using those methods, such as those in non-government organizations), it will appeal to those interested in research with communities in a wide variety of social science and other disciplines, including anthropology, nursing, and public health, amongst others.

While the world’s refugee population reaches record high numbers, countries offering third-country resettlement are increasingly shifting toward policies of exclusion and austerity. This edited volume envisions a more humane future for refugee resettlement. Combining anthropology with a variety of professional perspectives (education, health care, theology, administration, politics, and social work) ethnography is used to demonstrate the efficacy of programs and interventions that create and nurture social capital in culturally specific and accessible ways. The contributors present case studies of resettlement in the United States, England, Australia, and Canada and contend that social networks have an essential role—are the crux—in the reconfigurations of refugee well-being, belonging, and place-making vis-à-vis the bureaucratic limitations of state and institutional factors. This book includes short contributions from refugees, representatives of resettlement organizations, and government officials, including Jhuma N. Acharya, Bimala Bastola, Khada Bhandari, Kiri Hata, Govin Magar, Madhu Neupane, Natacha Nikokeza, Angela K. Plummer, Lance Rasbridge, Chris Sunderlin, David Thatcher, and John Tluang.

A witch's curse, an imperialist conspiracy, a racist plot—HIV/AIDS is a catastrophic health crisis with complex cultural dimensions. From small villages to the international system, explanations of where it comes from, who gets it, and who dies are tied to political agendas, religious beliefs, and the psychology of devastating grief. Frequently these explanations conflict with science and clash with prevention and treatment programs. In Witches, Westerners, and HIV Alexander Rödlach draws on a decade of research and work in Zimbabwe to compare beliefs about witchcraft and conspiracy theories surrounding HIV/AIDS in Africa. He shows how both types of beliefs are part of a process of blaming others for AIDS, a process that occurs around the globe but takes on local, culturally specific forms. He also demonstrates the impact of these beliefs on public health and advocacy programs, arguing that cultural misunderstandings contribute to the failure of many well-intentioned efforts. This insightful book provides a cultural perspective essential for everyone interested in AIDS and cross-cultural health issues.

A witch's curse, an imperialist conspiracy, a racist plot—HIV/AIDS is a catastrophic health crisis with complex cultural dimensions. From small villages to the international system, explanations of where it comes from, who gets it, and who dies are tied to political agendas, religious beliefs, and the psychology of devastating grief. Frequently these explanations conflict with science and clash with prevention and treatment programs. In Witches, Westerners, and HIV Alexander Rödlach draws on a decade of research and work in Zimbabwe to compare beliefs about witchcraft and conspiracy theories surrounding HIV/AIDS in Africa. He shows how both types of beliefs are part of a process of blaming others for AIDS, a process that occurs around the globe but takes on local, culturally specific forms. He also demonstrates the impact of these beliefs on public health and advocacy programs, arguing that cultural misunderstandings contribute to the failure of many well-intentioned efforts. This insightful book provides a cultural perspective essential for everyone interested in AIDS and cross-cultural health issues.