A Feminist Post Transsexual Autoethnography

Download A Feminist Post Transsexual Autoethnography full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online A Feminist Post Transsexual Autoethnography ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

A Feminist Post-transsexual Autoethnography

Author : Julie Elizabeth Peters
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351212338
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (512 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Feminist Post-transsexual Autoethnography by : Julie Elizabeth Peters

Download or read book A Feminist Post-transsexual Autoethnography written by Julie Elizabeth Peters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gender as a social class along with its concomitant heteronormative gender coercion seem to be intransigent across time and cultures. But across these cultures we also see a degree of nonconforming behaviour which very often carries significant multi-dimensions of stigma and risk; because the exception proves the rule, an understanding of gender nonconformity sheds light on the normative operation of gender in society. A Feminist Post-transsexual Autoethnography attempts to demythologise trans and gender diversity by conducting an in-depth critical analysis of the life choices of the autoethnographic subject (the author), who was so uncomfortable with their culturally allocated masculinity that they chose to live an apparently normal female life. The research is post-transsexual in that the subject forgoes passing in their affirmed gender to ensure the integrity of the data. A Feminist Post-transsexual Autoethnography may primarily appeal to students and researchers interested in the Sociology of Gender and Sociology of Trans and Gender Diversity, as well as the broader areas of embodiment and power differentials based on gender, class, nationality, location, temporality, sexuality and gender (non)conformity. This insightful volume may also be of interest to those within the fields Health Promotion and Education, Human Rights, Social Justice and Equity or the Social and Cultural Anthropology of Gender.

An Autoethnography of Fitting In

Author : Phiona Stanley
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000472345
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis An Autoethnography of Fitting In by : Phiona Stanley

Download or read book An Autoethnography of Fitting In written by Phiona Stanley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Autoethnography of Fitting In: On Spinsterhood, Fatness, and Backpacker Tourism is a feminist narrative about the social rules of obedience and acquiescence to the norm – embodiment, heteronormativity, partnering – and about fitting in, or not, with those narratives. Phiona Stanley explores a period through her twenties and thirties, living and travelling alone, foreign to herself and the countries of her travel in all regards: white, cisgender, sometimes thin, sometimes fat, sometimes partnered. This fascinating volume uses these lived experiences, depicted through first-person narrative storytelling, as a prism through which to understand the subtle, social rules of gendered normative expectations. It draws on contemporary journals, letters, and photos, and features process-oriented sections that focus on the methodological possibilities these offer, and on questions of verisimilitude and subjectivity. Set in the context of transnational work in Qatar, China, and elsewhere, and "road status" as negotiated and performed among long-term backpacker tourists, this book serves as an exemplar of how autoethnography can illuminate socio-cultural normativities and their effects – which are rarely explicit, but which nevertheless have great potential to harm – while problematizing and rethinking the meanings and semantic boundaries of weight, queerness, and (hetero)normativity. Framed through reflexive autoethnography, with a strong focus on ethics and feminist theories, this book will appeal to students and researchers in autoethnography, qualitative methods, and gender and women's studies.

Symbiotic Autoethnography

Author : Liana Beattie
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350201618
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Symbiotic Autoethnography by : Liana Beattie

Download or read book Symbiotic Autoethnography written by Liana Beattie and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Autoethnography is generating increasing levels of interest in research circles, gaining popularity as an innovative and inciting qualitative approach. Drawing on the vast diversity of researchers' opinions on autoethnographic praxes, this book presents a cogent analysis of the ongoing debates in the field before moving on to the discussion of a new approach to both theorizing about and 'doing' autoethnography: a 'symbiotic autoethnography'. This approach synthesizes central aspects from the diversity of existing arguments into one adaptable 'framework' that combines key characteristic features of autoethnographic research. The author uses the concept of 'symbiosis' in its broader sense to denote close interdependence and interrelation between its suggested seven attributes, including temporality, researcher's omnipresence, evocative storytelling, interpretative analysis, political (transformative) focus, reflexivity and polyvocality. The book offers both experienced and novice researchers a theoretically informed multi-functional and multi-disciplinary methodological tool that can accommodate the dynamics of diverse personal experiences within a topography of specific professional, cultural and socio-political contexts.

The Creative Qualitative Researcher

Author : Ronald J. Pelias
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429614519
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Creative Qualitative Researcher by : Ronald J. Pelias

Download or read book The Creative Qualitative Researcher written by Ronald J. Pelias and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-29 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Creative Qualitative Researcher is designed to help readers see the range of possibilities of creative scholarship. The phrase "creative qualitative researchers" points toward scholars who call upon their literary skills to evoke the emotional and intellectual complexity of their subjects; who deploy their vulnerable, relational, and reflexive selves to expose and change problematic cultural practices; and who engage their embodied ideological and ethical sensibilities as researchers. Part I introduces chapters on four qualitative methods: autoethnography, performative writing, narrative inquiry and poetic inquiry. Each of these four method chapters presents the method written in the style it features, provides writing prompts for exploring the chapter’s themes, and offers written examples of the method. Part II, divided into four chapters, aims to develop creative qualitative research skills relevant to the methods discussed in Part I. Chapter 5 discusses empathy and ethics; Chapter 6 is a primer on creative writing; Chapter 7 identifies some alternative ideas for using the words of others; and Chapter 8 focuses on collaborative improvisation to compose scholarly work. Each of the chapters in Part II includes a large number of writing exercises, prompts and strategies to assist scholars in becoming better creative researchers. By the end of the book, readers will know what creative research might entail and will have a clear understanding of the methods. Working with the various writing strategies, readers will see the potential of creative research and gain skills for its use.

The Handbook of Applied Communication Research

Author : H. Dan O'Hair
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119399874
Total Pages : 1100 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (193 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Handbook of Applied Communication Research by : H. Dan O'Hair

Download or read book The Handbook of Applied Communication Research written by H. Dan O'Hair and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-04-24 with total page 1100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative survey of different contexts, methodologies, and theories of applied communication The field of Applied Communication Research (ACR) has made substantial progress over the past five decades in studying communication problems, and in making contributions to help solve them. Changes in society, human relationships, climate and the environment, and digital media have presented myriad contexts in which to apply communication theory. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research addresses a wide array of contemporary communication issues, their research implications in various contexts, and the challenges and opportunities for using communication to manage problems. This innovative work brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of notable international scholars from across disciplines. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research includes discussion and analysis spread across two comprehensive volumes. Volume one introduces ACR, explores what is possible in the field, and examines theoretical perspectives, organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, and media, data, design, and technology. The second volume focuses on real-world communication topics such as health and education communication, legal, ethical, and policy issues, and volunteerism, social justice, and communication activism. Each chapter addresses a specific issue or concern, and discusses the choices faced by participants in the communication process. This important contribution to communication research: Explores how various communication contexts are best approached Addresses balancing scientific findings with social and cultural issues Discusses how and to what extent media can mitigate the effects of adverse events Features original findings from ongoing research programs and original communication models and frameworks Presents the best available research and insights on where current research and best practices should move in the future A major addition to the body of knowledge in the field, The Handbook of Applied Communication Research is an invaluable work for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars.

Gender Futurity, Intersectional Autoethnography

Author : Amber L. Johnson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 100006817X
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Gender Futurity, Intersectional Autoethnography by : Amber L. Johnson

Download or read book Gender Futurity, Intersectional Autoethnography written by Amber L. Johnson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-07 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gender Futurity, Intersectional Autoethnography showcases a collection of narrative and autoethnographic research that unpacks the complexity of gender at its intersections, i.e. by ability, race, sexuality, religion, beauty, geography, spatiality, community, performance, politics, socio-economic status, education, and many other markers of difference. The book focuses on gender as it is lived, chaperoned, and chaperones other social identity categories. It tells stories that reveal problematic gender binaries, promising gender futures, and everything in between—they ask us to rethink what we assume to be true, real, and normal about gender identity and expression. Each essay, written by both gender variant and cisgender scholars, explores cultural phenomena that create space for us to re-imagine, re-think, and create new ways of being. This book will be useful for undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional degree students, particularly in the fields of gender studies, qualitative methods, and communication theory.

Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health

Author : Damien W. Riggs
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000813053
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health by : Damien W. Riggs

Download or read book Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health written by Damien W. Riggs and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-22 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on reproductive and sexual justice, this important book explores in detail both the challenges that trans people face when negotiating reproductive and sexual health in restrictive social contexts, and their agency in advocating for change. Chapters cover a breadth of topics such as intimacy, sexual violence, reproductive intentions, sexuality education, oncology, and pregnancy, introducing readers to the latest research in the field as well as key emerging concepts. The authors identify core principles for trans reproductive and sexual justice, providing a broad overview of what is currently succeeding and what can be built on going into the future. Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health offers a comprehensive exploration that is essential reading for academics and students in psychology, sociology, gender studies, and related areas, as well as clinicians and policy makers, offering direct implications for professional audiences working in health and social care.

Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements

Author : Elizabeth Evans
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000747409
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements by : Elizabeth Evans

Download or read book Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements written by Elizabeth Evans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the ways in which feminist and queer activists confront privilege through the use of intersectionality, this edited collection presents empirical case studies from around the world to consider how intersectionality has been taken up (or indeed contested) by activists in order to expose and resist privilege. The volume sets out three key ways in which intersectionality operates within feminist and queer movements: it is used as a collective identity, as a strategy for forming coalitions, and as a repertoire for inclusivity. The case studies presented in this book then evaluate the extent to which some, or all, of these types of intersectional activism are used to confront manifestations of privilege. Drawing upon a wide range of cases from across time and space, this volume explores the difficulties with which activists often grapple when it comes to translating the desire for intersectionality into a praxis which confronts privilege. Addressing inter-related and politically relevant questions concerning how we apply and theorise intersectionality in our studies of feminist and queer movements, this timely edited collection will be of interest to students and scholars from across the social sciences and humanities with an interest in gender and feminism, LGBT+ and queer studies, and social movement studies.

Borderlands in European Gender Studies

Author : Teresa Kulawik
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000707482
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Borderlands in European Gender Studies by : Teresa Kulawik

Download or read book Borderlands in European Gender Studies written by Teresa Kulawik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-23 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging persistent geopolitical asymmetries in feminist knowledge production, this collection depicts collisions between concepts and lived experiences, between academic feminism and political activism, between the West as generalizable and the East as the concrete Other. Borderlands in European Gender Studies narrows the gap between cultural analysis and social theory, addressing feminist theory’s epistemological foundations and its capacity to confront the legacies of colonialism and socialism. The contributions demonstrate the enduring worth of feminist concepts for critical analysis, conceptualize resistance to multiple forms of oppression, and identify the implications of the decoupling of cultural and social feminist critique for the analysis of gender relations in a postsocialist space. This book will be of import to activists and researchers in women’s and gender studies, comparative gender politics and policy, political science, sociology, contemporary history, and European studies. It is suitable for use as a supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in a range of fields.

Prudish Nation

Author : Paul Dalgarno
Publisher : Black Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1743823207
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (438 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Prudish Nation by : Paul Dalgarno

Download or read book Prudish Nation written by Paul Dalgarno and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2023-06-03 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interviewing more than 30 Australia-based authors and thinkers while examining his own journey towards being openly non-monogamous, Poly author Paul Dalgarno pulls together social history and illuminating first-hand accounts of what it means to have 'unconventional' relationships – with others and even with ourselves – in 21st-century Australia. Do authors such as Christos Tsiolkas, Dennis Altman and Andrea Goldsmith think we're more tolerant than we once were? Are writers such as Lee Kofman, Rochelle Siemienowicz and Jinghua Qian optimistic about the future? Do terms such as LGBTQIA+ help or hinder meaningful progress? How does transitioning now compare to transitioning in the 1990s? How does 'queerness' affect notions of parenthood? Do therapists and psychologists still operate from a straight-white-male perspective and how can new practitioners such as popular psychologist and author Chris Cheers change that? Entertaining, insightful, funny and thought-provoking, Prudish Nation adjusts the country's bedside lamp to show us a little more clearly who and what we really are.

New Directions in Queer Oral History

Author : Clare Summerskill
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000569268
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis New Directions in Queer Oral History by : Clare Summerskill

Download or read book New Directions in Queer Oral History written by Clare Summerskill and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04-25 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive international collection reflects on the practice, purpose, and functionality of queer oral history, and in doing so demonstrates the vibrancy and innovation of this rapidly evolving field. Drawing on the roots of oral history’s original commitment to "history from below" queer oral history has become an indispensable methodology at the heart of queer studies. Expanding and extending the existing canon, this book offers up key observations about queer oral history as a methodology, and how it might be advanced through cutting edge approaches. The collection contains a mix of contributions from established scholars, early career researchers, postgraduate students, archivists, and activists, ensuring its accessibility and wide appeal. The go-to reference for queer oral history for scholars, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and community-engaged practitioners, New Directions in Queer Oral History advances rigorous methodological and theoretical debates and constitutes a significant intervention in the world of oral history.

Mobile Subjects

Author : Aren Z. Aizura
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 1478002646
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (78 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Mobile Subjects by : Aren Z. Aizura

Download or read book Mobile Subjects written by Aren Z. Aizura and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-23 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first famous transgender person in the United States, Christine Jorgensen, traveled to Denmark for gender reassignment surgery in 1952. Jorgensen became famous during the ascent of postwar dreams about the possibilities for technology to transform humanity and the world. In Mobile Subjects Aren Z. Aizura examines transgender narratives within global health and tourism economies from 1952 to the present. Drawing on an archive of trans memoirs and documentaries as well as ethnographic fieldwork with trans people obtaining gender reassignment surgery in Thailand, Aizura maps the uneven use of medical protocols to show how national and regional health care systems and labor economies contribute to and limit transnational mobility. Aizura positions transgender travel as a form of biomedical tourism, examining how understandings of race, gender, and aesthetics shape global cosmetic surgery cultures and how economic and racially stratified marketing and care work create the ideal transgender subject as an implicitly white, global citizen. In so doing, he shows how understandings of travel and mobility depend on the historical architectures of colonialism and contemporary patterns of global consumption and labor.

The Reproductive Body at Work

Author : Verena Namberger
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429675887
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Reproductive Body at Work by : Verena Namberger

Download or read book The Reproductive Body at Work written by Verena Namberger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-11 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transnational industry surrounding assisted reproductive technology and regenerative medicine is based on the unacknowledged labour of gamete providers, surrogates and research subjects, and benefits from low labour costs in ‘enabling’ sectors such as logistics and transport. This finding calls for a comprehensive analysis of how the contemporary intersection of neoliberal capitalism and the life sciences - in short, the bioeconomy - capitalises on the body and its (re)productive capacities. The Reproductive Body at Work uptakes this challenge as it explores the relations between value production, labour and the body in one particular realm of the global bioeconomy: the South African bioeconomy of ‘egg donation’. It highlights different forms and dimensions of unacknowledged or precarious human labour that are constitutive for the procurement, brokering and circulation of oocytes as valuable resources. The analysis illustrates that the respective organisation of value and labour renegotiate what ‘the’ (re)productive body can do, which status and roles it is ascribed, which cultural and economic values it signifies and how it is experienced and enacted within a matrix of intersectional power relations. A theoretically profound contribution to the interdisciplinary debate on ‘New materialism’, The Reproductive Body at Work will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as gender studies, medical anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political economy and science and technology studies.

Unsustainable Institutions of Men

Author : Jeff Hearn
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351606212
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Unsustainable Institutions of Men by : Jeff Hearn

Download or read book Unsustainable Institutions of Men written by Jeff Hearn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-20 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How are men, masculinities and gender power implicated within global institutions? How are global institutions to be understood in terms of men, masculinities and gender power? What are men up to in such arenas as: global finance, corporate law, military intelligence, world sporting bodies and nationalist politics? Unsustainable Institutions of Men examines men’s dealings in transnational processes across the economy, politics, technologies and bodies. In exploring the men’s domination of institutions in national and transnational realms this volume underpins a novel approach built around multiple "dispersed centres" of men’s power. Indeed, in critical discussions of men and masculinities there has been a gradual shift in focus from the local, so-called ‘ethnographic moment’, to a broader view encompassing several dynamics (e.g. global, transnational, international, postcolonial and the global north-south). Building on this conceptual move, Unsustainable Institutions of Men focuses on pinpointing masculine actions and influences that support and enact transnational processes, disclosing those connections and examining institutional alternatives which could contribute to more inclusive and democratic transnational dialogues. Comprised of a range of international contributions, Unsustainable Institutions of Men will appeal to students, researchers, experts and activists seeking to understand the deep structural conditions of contemporary globalized threats, created by old and new patterns of gender power and transnational patriarchies.

Undoing Privilege

Author : Professor Bob Pease
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1913441156
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (134 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Undoing Privilege by : Professor Bob Pease

Download or read book Undoing Privilege written by Professor Bob Pease and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For every group that is oppressed, another group is privileged. Here, Bob Pease argues that privilege, as the other side of oppression, has received insufficient attention in both critical theories and in the practices of social change. As a result, dominant groups have been allowed to reinforce their dominance. The second edition of Undoing Privilege extensively revises the six sites of privilege from the first edition: Western dominance, class elitism, white and patriarchal privilege and heterosexual and able-bodied privilege to reflect policy shifts and new social movement initiatives as well as the latest research and resources. This edition also includes four new chapters on anthropocentrism, cisgender privilege, adultism and Christian privilege. Pease points out that while the vast majority of people may be oppressed on one level, many are also privileged on another. He demonstrates how members of privileged groups can engage critically with their own dominant position, and explores the potential and limitations of them forming relations of solidarity against oppression and their unearned privilege. The second edition includes new theoretical developments in privilege theory, collective responsibility, complicity in systemic injustice and allyship. It is an essential book for all who are concerned about developing theories and practices for a socially just world.

Gendered Power and Mobile Technology

Author : Caroline Wamala Larsson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351708139
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (517 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Gendered Power and Mobile Technology by : Caroline Wamala Larsson

Download or read book Gendered Power and Mobile Technology written by Caroline Wamala Larsson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mobile phones are widely viewed as the information and communication technology that holds the most promise for bridging global digital divides. Gendered Power and Mobile Technology uses empirical research to focus on changing intersections between technology, gender and other categories of social and cultural power difference (such as age, race, class, and ethnicity) in the use of mobile communication technologies. Asking how these intersections can inform development discourse, practice, and research, this volume seeks to rectify the lack of attention to the Global South, calling for more sensitivity to the contexts and consequences of mobile phone use. Indeed, drawing on case studies from Ecuador, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, and Uganda, this book engages with the intersectionality paradigm to tease out the complexities of using mobile technologies for development purposes. Gendered Power and Mobile Technology will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as media studies, development studies, gender and technology, feminist technoscience, anthropology, and sociology.

Principles, Approaches and Issues in Participant Observation

Author : Danny L. Jorgensen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000031241
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Principles, Approaches and Issues in Participant Observation by : Danny L. Jorgensen

Download or read book Principles, Approaches and Issues in Participant Observation written by Danny L. Jorgensen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a succinct, student-friendly outline of the principles, approaches, and issues in participant observation. An examination of these basic tenets is important for clarifying the philosophical rationale for conducting participant observation, making important research decisions, and appreciating the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches within the method. Participant observation as a formal means of inquiry is developed in close relation with the competing approaches of reality (ontology), truthfully apprehending reality (epistemology), and formal research (methodology). In this volume Jorgensen discusses the resulting methodologies of positivism, humanism, and most recently postmodernism in relation to principles, approaches, and issues in participant observation. Specific features of participant observation, as exemplified in a wide range of classic and contemporary studies, are examined by way of these methodological approaches along with the troublesome complexities of values, politics, ethics, and contemporary debates over appropriate representations of the resulting findings about human life. This concise primer is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines such as anthropology, religious studies, sociology and nursing.