Category Archives: News

Savannah Shange’s “Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco” explores how educational policies in San Francisco that aim to improve racist teaching practices exacerbate the issue. She explains how the city’s progressive approach fails to address the root … Continue reading →

I enjoyed reflecting on the theme of care in Delivering Health: Midwifery and Development in Mexico. I think something to take away from this reading is that it is important to expand the way we think about care. Systems of … Continue reading →

Methodologically, I thought Dixon did a great job of utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to her ethnography. In the introduction, I loved how Dixon took the time to differentiate her work from relevant literature, such as the work of Rosalynn A. … Continue reading →

An aspect of Chapter 3 which I found quite interesting was Lydia Dixon’s identification of infrastructure as a limiting and discriminating factor for widespread healthcare access in Mexico. Although Mexican programs such as Seguro Popular increased “access” to healthcare for … Continue reading →

I find it interesting that Thomas intent was originally to not write about violence. In an effort to work in opposition to prominent narratives around Jamaica and the people who live there, she focused greatly on things outside of violence, … Continue reading →

The first thing that caught my eye in the introduction was the way Dr. Carwil Bjork-James framed his context. The way he was able to capture the historical transition in the environment of the city was especially effective to me … Continue reading →

Dr. Bjork-James begins chapter 5 by discussing the implications of race and space in Bolivia. I think often space and race aren’t considered as contributing aspects of resistance that amplify each other. Race and space are intrinsically connected, especially in … Continue reading →

I found Dr. Bjork-James focus on the common spaces and practices created through social movements interesting. Focusing on common spaces enables him to see how race and class affect social movement mobilization and decision making. He explores questions such as … Continue reading →

Dr. Carwil Bjork-James, in The Sovereign Street: Making Revolution in Urban Bolivia, highlights several protest movements in Bolivia. He considers how physical space impacts movements and forces conversations. Similarly, I was particularly intrigued in how he placed the Bolivian protests … Continue reading →

After reading The Sovereign Street: Making Revolution in Urban Bolivia, a major theme that I engaged the most with was the relationship between social roles, landscapes, and the capacity for protest actions. The ingenuity of the Bolivian people within urban … Continue reading →

One aspect I noticed right away was that Thomas highlights the powerful nature of ethnography in her storytelling at the beginning of the chapter. As she recounts two of many incidents involving gun violence and civilians, Thomas is able to … Continue reading →

Immediately, I am compelled by Thomas’ stylistic choices within her writing as well as the framework she has decided to adopt for her research. She herself states that “using reparations as a framework for thinking about contemporary problems also requires … Continue reading →

Thomas’s work really stood out to me and I loved how she built such a strong foundation in her ethnography by considering so much history, many social factors, and the role that violence so often has to play in anthropological … Continue reading →

Overall, Thomas does a great job of positioning the research in a broader systemic context. Thomas considers the systematic causes of violence in Jamaica, such as neoliberalism, slavery, and other historical factors. While I do like her positioning of violence … Continue reading →

One piece of Thomas’ approach to this ethnography that struck me as interesting was her position of authority on the topic due to her background. She lived in Jamacia before and comes from a Jamaican background, meaning that she holds … Continue reading →

Out of both readings, I was most drawn to Bernard’s section on response rate. Bernard advocates for Dillman’s method when mailing a research survey in the United States. I found the steps in his method fascinating, as details down to the … Continue reading →