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- All Subjects: Cultural Anthropology
- Genre: Masters Thesis
A bilingual, bicultural interpreter and researcher navigates blurry boundaries and intersectionality
Description
A researcher reflects using a close reading of interview transcripts and description to share what happened while participating in multiple roles in a larger ethnographic study of the acculturation process of deaf students in kindergarten classrooms in three countries. The course of this paper will focus on three instances that took place in Japan and America. The analysis of these examples will bring to light the concept of taking on multiple roles, including graduate research assistant, interpreter, cultural mediator, and sociolinguistic consultant within a research project serving to uncover challenging personal and professional dilemmas and crossing boundaries; the dual roles, interpreter and researcher being the primary focus. This analysis results in a brief look at a thought provoking, yet evolving task of the researcher/interpreter. Maintaining multiple roles in the study the researcher is able to potentially identify and contribute "hidden" knowledge that may have been overlooked by other members of the research team. Balancing these different roles become key implications when interpreting practice, ethical boundaries, and participant research at times the lines of separation are blurred.
ContributorsHensley, Jennifer Scarboro (Author) / Tobin, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Artiles, Alfredo (Committee member) / Horejes, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the month following childbirth is an important period marked by an imbalance of two opposing forces that together make up one’s health and wellbeing. A set of specialized practices called zuoyuezi (sitting the month) aid both the woman’s recovery and restoration of the balance, and require the help of someone else, usually the woman’s mother or mother-in-law. While studies conducted on the practice’s psychosocial and physical benefits have produced varied results, zuoyuezi continues to persist in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Since the late twentieth century, professional zuoyuezi centers have become very popular as a commercial health care business. While the month experiences of Taiwanese and Chinese women have been widely studied, there is little research on physicians’ opinions regarding the practice, especially in Western medical settings. Taiwanese physicians, who have been trained in the Western medical tradition, present interesting case studies as both experts in Western medicine and citizens in traditional Taiwanese society. The purpose of this project is to observe how Taiwanese physicians negotiate primarily cultural practices with their professional training, and whether there is a conflict between physicians’ beliefs about zuoyuezi and physicians’ personal experiences with the practice. Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews of Taiwanese physicians were conducted at two sites in Taiwan regarding their perspective and understanding of zuoyuezi and their personal experiences with it. Following qualitative analysis, the findings showed that physicians used their Western medical training to explain the traditional worldview that holds zuoyuezi. Secondly, physicians acknowledged the benefits of zuoyuezi and the influence of culture as two primary factors in its continued existence. Finally, physicians incorporated zuoyuezi into their personal lives while modifying the traditional practices. Overall, Taiwanese physicians did not appear to have direct conflict with the cultural practice, zuoyuezi, using their medical expertise to rationalize its existence while becoming active participants and co-creators in the practice.
ContributorsChou, Cecilia (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017