SAGE journal articles and other additional readings have been carefully selected by the author to accompany each chapter. Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Article 1.1

Backstrom, L. (2016). Embodied resocialization at a children’s weight loss camp. Ethnography, 17, 539-558. 

Abstract:
This paper examines the content and processes of embodied resocialization that occur at a children’s weight loss camp. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data, I provide the children’s accounts of their decision to attend camp. In addition to teaching the children to implement body projects through strategic and embodied means, the structured environment at camp allowed for the recalibration of the campers’ habits. Social control supported weight loss at camp but ultimately created problems for effective resocialization. This paper contributes to a better understanding of processes of embodied resocialization and the tension between self-control and social control when resocialization occurs in an immersive environment for a short period of time.

Article 1.2

Corman, M. (2016). Street medicine – Assessment work strategies of paramedics on the front lines of emergency health services. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 1-24. doi:10.1177/0891241615625462. 

Abstract:
This article is based on an institutional ethnographic inquiry into the work of paramedics and the institutional setting that organizes and coordinates their work processes in a major city in Canada. Drawing on more than two hundred hours of observations and more than one hundred interviews with paramedics (average length of 18 minutes) and other emergency medical personnel, this article explores the standard and not so standard work of paramedics as they assess and care for their patients on the front lines of emergency health services. The multiplicity of interfacing social, demographic, locational, and situational factors that shape and organize the work of paramedics are analyzed. In doing so, this article provides insights into the complex work of an understudied yet ever-important profession in health care.

Article 1.3

Garcia, A., Standlee, A., Bechkoff, J., & Cui, Y. (2009). Ethnographic approaches to the Internet and computer-mediated communication. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38, 52-84. 

Abstract:
In this article we review ethnographic research on the Internet and computer-mediated communication. The technologically mediated environment prevents researchers from directly observing research participants and often makes the interaction anonymous. In addition, in the online environment direct interaction with participants is replaced by computer screen data that are largely textual, but may include combinations of textual, visual, aural, and kinetic components. We show how the online environment requires adjustments in how ethnographers define the setting of their research, conduct participant observation and interviews, obtain access to settings and research subjects, and deal with the ethical dilemmas posed by the medium.