IE Newsletter Institutional Ethnography Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Volume 18, No. 2 Spring/Summer 2021 LaNysha Adams Division Chair Edlinguist Solutions lanysha@edlinguist.com Gina Petonito Correspondence and Copy Editor gpetonito@gmail.com Jayne Malenfant Editor jayne.malenfant@mail.mcgill.ca On the Inside - Members News & Notes - On Finding and Losing a Mentor - Welcome New Members! -IE Workshops and Opportunities -SSSP Virtual Meeting, 2021 Hello Institutional Ethnographers: The current theme for many of our lives is Òon the horizonÓ for something better. Since early 2020, many of us have been coping or trying to cope, with the new world order. IÕd argue that with so many transitions - on, around, and off-planet earth - we are presented with many dynamic instabilities. In biology, the term Òdynamic instabilityÓ refers to two ends of a microtubule co-existing at the same time. This is how IÕve felt for much of the pandemic, in a world where I am vaccinated, but my two children in diapers are not, and where things are back to Ònormal,Ó yet they are forever changed. Our Annual Meeting will be virtual for the very first time. I am excited about the format and the ability to join in on sessions from home. While we will cancel the IE Workshop this year, we are actively recruiting members for next yearÕs planning committee. We can offer small stipends and honorariums for leaders in the field, which we will discuss at the business meeting at the end of this month. Last year, I organized monthly meetings from the summer to the end of the year so that we could connect, discuss IE research topics, and not have so much time lapse between meetings. I think this way of connecting in-between Annual Meetings could serve as a best practice and allow us to further collaborate (virtually) with other IE organizations and informal groups. IÕd be lying if I said I was not excited to see folks in person, though. So, I have some good news: for the Annual Meeting in 2022, SSSP will return to meeting fully in person in my hometown, Los Angeles, California. IÕm happy to turn the reigns over to Colin Hastings, our next IE Chair, at our IE Business Meeting at the end of the month. A major topic of discussion will be the IE Podcast, which has not quite made it from the idea phase into the action phase Ñ yet. Now that we have a Podcast Committee and a budget has been approved for costs associated with creating the podcast, we just need to meet, decide topics for our first couple of seasons and bring the IE Podcast to life. Many of us know our next IE Division Chair quite well, but for new members, please allow me to say a few words about him. Colin Hastings is a community-engaged researcher and educator blending the sociology of health, socio-legal studies, and media studies in his work. HeÕs published many studies about community-based HIV education, media representation of HIV criminal non-disclosure cases, and key trends and patterns in HIV criminalization in Canada. His dissertation project was an institutional ethnographic study of how news stories about HIV criminalization are produced in Canada. In 2016, Colin won the George W. Smith Student Paper Award for the paper he presented at the Annual Meeting in Seattle. In the IE Division, weÕre collectively on the horizon for intellectually engaging, supportive, and energetic meetings under ColinÕs leadership! Please join us on Saturday, July 31 at 11 AM Eastern to welcome Colin in his new role and to discuss important details for the next year's Annual Conference and potential meetings in-between. Onward and upward, LaNysha On Finding and Losing a Mentor by Cheryl Zurawski Back in June 2007, I made my first contribution to the IE Newsletter, writing about the way in which Alison Griffith gave my doctoral studies a boost by welcoming me into a course on institutional ethnography she had taught at York University the previous winter. Technology made it possible for me to join AlisonÕs classroom at a distance and for some much-needed grounding in a method of inquiry I was diligently but unsuccessfully (at least initially) trying to embrace. Thanks to Alison and her 12-week course, I was able to rework my dissertation proposal and move on to the next phase of my doctoral studies. By the time I defended my dissertation in May of 2012, the scholar who first supported me in her capacity as a professor had become a full-fledged mentor and an adjunct member of my supervisory committee. All I had to do was ask, and Alison was there for me. Whether it was something about IE that was a puzzle for me or simply a feeling of inadequacy that I needed to overcome, I always benefited from reaching out to Alison when I needed to. She had a knack for saying just the right thing to help me dig myself out of whatever analytical rabbit hole I had allowed myself to go down and knew just when the time was right for a well-meaning and well-deserved motivational kick in the pants. Over time, my academic association with Alison turned into a friendship. We invested time, whenever we could, to get to know each other and to share with each other parts of our lives that had nothing to do with the academy. So, now, I contribute to the IE Newsletter again, feeling an immeasurable sense of gratitude for the gift of getting to study with and to know Alison Griffith. It has been over a year since her passing and I know I am not alone in continuing to miss her earthly presence. The lessons Alison taught so many of us Ðabout IE, about navigating the path towards a PhD and about supporting others even when you are struggling yourself Ð will never be forgotten. Image: The author Cheryl Zurawski with her mentor Alison Griffith and others Welcome New Members Seven new members have joined the IE Division since the publication of our last newsletter. Welcome all! Annette Cayas Michelle Delany Sophie Hickey Ellie Manzari Leni MjŒland Niamh Storey Adriana Angela Suarez Delucchi MembersÕ News and Notes Orla Meadhbh Murray published an article in 2020 titled: ÒText, process, discourse: doing feminist text analysis in institutional ethnographyÓ in International Journal of Social Research Methodology: DOI:Ê10.1080/13645579.2020.1839162 Caroline Cuit, Janet Rankin, and Natalie Armstrong published an article in March, 2021 titled: ÒTaking sides with patients using institutional ethnographyÓ in the Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Volume 10, Issue 1, ISSN:Ê2046-6749 Robert A Williams published a book in 2021 titled: Garrison State Hegemony in U.S. Politics: A Critical Ethnohistory of Corruption and Power in the WorldÕs Oldest ÔDemocracy,Õ published by Peter Lang. Of the book he says: I set to ethnographically understand sociocultural problems surrounding third party electioneering in USA. After former Republican Congressman Bob Barr's Libertarian Party-funded ouster from the U.S. Congress, scores of recently quit Republican Party migrants followed Barr in crashing the Libertarian Party (LP). Asking why this happened and what was its impact on U.S. electioneering are important questions. Their answers help to understand the relationship between radical movements, co-optations, and long-term social change. Most movement scholarship focuses on how the movements from below can yield concessions from the powerful. But often overlooked are the ways that co-optations can be used to limit the scope of change. To answer these questions, I spent two years buried in ethnographic observation in and around the LP of Ohio, garnering data from formal surveys, life histories, and participant observation as a candidate for state representative in the 2010 Ohio elections. My IE of the LP found that powerful figures of the major party duopoly decisively restrict the scope of long-term electoral change. You can find more information about the book here: https://www.peterlang.com/view/9781433183454/html/ch04.xhtml Opportunities for Senior IE Researchers A message from Sarah Murru, from IE Europe: Dear Colleagues, Following are two opportunities for experienced/senior IErs. The European Commission has opened the call for experts (to assist in the evaluation of grant applications, projects, and tenders, and to provide opinions and advice in specific cases). Here in Europe, we strongly need more Institutional Ethnographers in the pool of experts that support the EC to evaluate projects. IE is not a methodology that is recognized (or even known) in Europe as it is in North America so having IEers as experts in the EC database really represents a chance for us to see more IE research projects get funded and, hopefully, see our collective work with IE be enriched. This call is not reserved to EU nationals, all can participate.Ê Usually, they require a minimum of expertise, like a track record of at least three articles published in journals. Here you can find the link to the general call for expert: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/work-as-an-expert?fbclid=IwAR1CEzmw92it2glcavRGN0lX03FgTOisIhRT4u6CVHaJ8yLPIDGdFCsvgWw And here IS another call for evaluators for the COST Actions: https://www.cost.eu/who-we-are/working-with-us/participate-external-expert/?fbclid=IwAR1ZanXMi37CYN-h2SwkTecLDkvfbAB-bkVGGGEte_V1R9dNwIimKoa4QC0 I know that experts are paid about 50 euros for each project evaluated for the COST Actions. Please contact each program for more information. IE Workshop Three IEÕrs are sponsoring an IE Workshop online at the University of Southhampton in November and December of 2021. Below are the details: Introducing Institutional Ethnography: An Interdisciplinary Feminist Approach to Social Research Presenters: Dr Orla Murray, Dr Liz Ablett and Dr Adriana Suarez-Delucchi This workshop will introduce Institutional Ethnography (IE), an interdisciplinary feminist approach to social research that focuses on how texts and language organise our everyday lives. IE is not just a methodology, but a comprehensive feminist ontology of how the social world works which advocates using a form of standpoint to explore from specific perspectives. IE research Ôtakes sidesÕ, often researching as, with, and/or for, marginalised groups who are often made invisible by, or excluded from, organisations and institutions. The focus on texts Ð conceptualised as replicable materials objects that carry messages Ð allows IE researchers to ethnographically explore the organising power of language and institutions, made material in institutional texts which act as bridges between different people and places. The overall aim of the workshop is to provide attendees with a comprehensive overview of institutional ethnography as an approach and the opportunity to translate their own research ideas and projects into an IE research proposal or small piece of text-focused analysis. This hands-on workshop is suitable for students, academics, and anyone else interested in feminist methodologies, text and discourse analysis, and institutional or organisational ethnographies. No prior training in, or knowledge of, IE is required. The course covers: * An overview of the work of feminist sociologist, Dorothy Smith, who developed Institutional Ethnography * Three Institutional Ethnography case studies from Sociology and Human Geography * Three text and discourse analysis methods within the Institutional Ethnography approach * How to translate your research ideas or projects into an Institutional Ethnography proposal/plan By the end of the course participants will: * understand of the origin and development of Institutional Ethnography * know how to use Institutional Ethnography to analyse texts, processes, and discourses * have an outline of how their research ideas could become an Institutional Ethnography project The course is aimed at academics, students, any other qualitative researchers or policymakers interested in analysing organisational processes.ÊÊParticipants must have at least some experience in qualitative research methods, but no experience of Institutional Ethnography is required. Fees: The fee per teaching day is: ¥ £30 per day for students registered at UK/EU University. ¥ £60 per day for staff at UK/EU academic institutions, UK/EU Research Councils researchers, UK/EU public sector staff and staff at UK/EU registered charity organisations and recognised UK/EU research institutions. ¥ £100 per day for all other participants. In the event of cancellation by the delegate a full refund of the course fee is available up to two weeks prior to the course. NO refunds are available after this date. If it is no longer possible to run a course due to circumstances beyond its control, NCRM reserves the right to cancel the course at its sole discretion at any time prior to the event. In this event, every effort will be made to reschedule the course. If this is not possible or the new date is inconvenient a full refund of the course fee will be given. NCRM shall not be liable for any costs, losses or expenses that may be incurred due to a course cancellation, including but not limited to any travel or accommodation costs. The University of SouthamptonÕs Online Store T&Cs also continue to apply. For more information please contact Jacqui Thorp, Training and Capacity Building Co-Ordinator, National Centre for Research Methods, University of Southampton; Email:Êjmh6@soton.ac.uk Or consult their website: https://go.soton.ac.uk/dio SSSP 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting Image: Computer with Zoom sitting on a desk with a coffee cup Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash Image: Person typing on a computer holding their phone Photo byÊChristina @ wocintechchat.comÊonÊUnsplash IE Sessions Wednesday, August 4; 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 002: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Women and Justice: Rehabilitation, Resistance, Reflexivity, and the Self in Institutional Spaces Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change; Institutional Ethnography Organizers: Ebonie L. Cunningham Stringer, Penn State Berks; Jayne Malenfant, McGill University; Diana Therese Montejo Veloso, De La Salle University Presiders/Discussants: Diana Therese Montejo Veloso, De La Salle University; Jayne Malenfant, McGill University Description: This session explores women and femmes' reactions, resistance, andÊresilience in relation to their education, victimization and interactions with police and correctional institutions. Papers: ÒÔIÕm Going to Whip Me an OfficerÕs A** before the Day is OverÕ: Black Female Resistance behind Bars,Ó BritanyÊJ.ÊGatewood, Albany State University ÒUndergraduate Student Perspectives on Gender and Social Support for Criminal Justice Careers,Ó EbonieÊL.ÊCunningham Stringer, SalvatoreÊC.ÊDeFeo and GenesisÊDel PilarÊMunoz Arias, Penn State Berks ÒReimagining Access to Justice through the Eyes of Rural Domestic Violence Survivors,Ó FrankÊDonohue, University of California, Irvine and AmyÊM.ÊMagnus, California State University, Chico ÒSouth African WomenÕs Perceptions and Interactions with the South African Police Service,Ó AlexandraÊHiropoulos, California State University, Stanislaus ÒStruggling for Safety: Survival Strategies of Incarcerated Transgender Women,Ó JossÊT.ÊGreene, Columbia University ÒStudying Gendered Abuse while being Abused: Reflections on Exit, Emotions, and Responsibility,Ó AshleighÊE.ÊMcKinzie, Middle Tennessee State University ____________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, August 4; 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM Session 010: Health Services and Health Policies: Transforming Institutions Sponsors: Institutional Ethnography; Society and Mental Health Organizers: Cathy Ringham, University of Calgary; Janet Rankin, University of Calgary Presider: Janet Rankin, University of Calgary Discussant: To Be Announced Description: This session will offer opportunities for attendees and presenters to discuss the papers using the cohesion that institutional ethnography offers. Not all the papers are characterized as IE, but they all have Òinstitutional practicesÓ as the central focus of analysis. Broadly, the papers offer insight into how ruling relations are not bounded by international borders or different practices enacted within publicly or privately insured health care systems Ð although, of course, there are important distinctions. Each of the papers expose the local work of people in organizations Ð interesting detail about who is doing what and how those practices enact relations of ruling. Within each unique focus of study, the papers show how the social organization of broad ideologies of economics, efficiencies, marginalized populations, and so-called accountabilities play out in the lives of ÒordinaryÓ peopleÕs health and fitness Ð how suffering and marginalization is a socially organized phenomenon. Papers: Ò(In/Ex)clusive Fitness Cultures: An Institutional Ethnography of Group Exercise for Older Adults,Ó KelseyÊA.ÊHarvey and MeridithÊGriffin, McMaster University ÒExploring End-of-life for Persons Experiencing Homelessness in Calgary, Canada: An Institutional Ethnographic Approach,Ó CourtneyÊR.ÊPetruik, University of Calgary ÒPainful Places: Medicare Fails Homebound Patients with Substance Abuse Disorders,Ó WilliamÊD.ÊCabin, Temple University ÒThe Social Organization of Opioid Agonist Therapy in Ontario,Ó LeighaÊComer, York University ________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, August 5; Time: 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM THEMATIC Session 037: Institutional Ethnography in Support of Decolonization Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Health Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Cheryl Zurawski, Canadian Association of Independent Scholars Description: This session draws attention to institutional ethnography (IE) as a method of inquiry in support of decolonization. The session does not adopt a one-size-fits-all definition of decolonization. Indeed, there are many visions for and conceptions of a project that is messy, dynamic, contested and unsettling. There is also diversity across the papers. Variously, each describes and discusses empirical work done in different settings, in different countries and with different people - Indigenous and non-Indigenous. What is common across the papers, however, are the illustrative and educative examples presenters give to underscore how IE is and can be used to change the order and organization of the everyday world. Such change is necessary to make decolonization happen. Papers: ÒÔNot Everything Should be ConsultedÕ: Exploring Colonial Ruling Relations in Planning Practice,Ó MagdalenaÊUgarte, Ryerson University ÒDecolonizing Elderly Care in Daily Textual Practices,Ó FrankÊWang, National Chengchi University ÒUsing Institutional Ethnography to Interrogate and Map the Everyday Work of Hospital Staff Trying to Meet the Actual Needs of First Nations Peoples,Ó SophieÊHickey, Molly Wardaguga Research Centre at Charles Darwin University ÒCan Institutional Ethnography Contribute to Decolonizing Academic Knowledge Production When it Has Been Created and Developed Mainly in the Global North?Ó AdrianaÊAngelaÊSuarez Delucchi, University of Bristol ________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, August 5; 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM THEMATIC SESSION 046: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Institutional Ethnography as an Alternative Revolutionary Sociology around the World Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Organizers: Ann Christin E. Nilsen, University of Agder; LaNysha T. Adams, Edlinguist Solutions Presider/Discussant: Matthew Strang, York University Papers: ÒObfuscatory and Balanced Work: How Grassroots Bureaucrats Deal with the Conflict between Formal and Informal Rules,Ó ChangÊLiu, University of Notre Dame ÒInvisible Work and Hidden Labour in OntarioÕs Public Education: A Decolonizing Institutional Ethnography of Mothering and TeachersÕ Work,Ó RashmeeÊKarnad-Jani, University of Toronto ÒPersonal Knowledge Management and Institutional Ethnography,Ó EleniÊKariki, Queen's University and LaNyshaÊT.ÊAdams, Edlinguist Solutions ÒSurviving Austerity: Exploitation, Extraction, and Resistance in the Contemporary American Prison,Ó TommasoÊBardelli, New York University and ZachÊGillespie, New York University - Prison Education Program ÒInstitutional Ethnography in the Nordic Region: A ÔHybridÕ Approach,Ó Ann ChristinÊE.ÊNilsen, University of Agder and LundÊW.B.ÊRebecca, University of Oslo ________________________________________________________________________ Friday, August 6; 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 065: New Directions in the Social Organization of Knowledge Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Organizers: Lauren E. Eastwood, SUNY College at Plattsburgh; Naomi Nichols, Trent University Presider: Naomi Nichols, Trent University Papers: ÒIntellectual Labor, Community-engaged Scholarship and the Objectification of Everyday Life,Ó NaomiÊNichols, Trent University ÒRevisiting the Ruling Relations,Ó MarjorieÊL.ÊDeVault, Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University ÒReflections on Institutions, Social Relations, and the ÔRelationalÕ in IE,Ó EricÊMykhalovskiy, York University and ColinÊHastings, Concordia University ÒThe Commodification of Lived Experience in Homelessness Research & Advocacy,Ó JayneÊMalenfant, McGill University and CharlotteÊSmith, Carleton University ÒHacking Impact Evaluation (Before it Completely Hacks Us): An Attempt to Create Praxis Pocket-knives,Ó MaximeÊGoulet-Langlois, McGill University, BiancaÊLalibertŽ, UniversitŽ du QuŽbec ˆ MontrŽal and NaomiÊNichols, Trent University ________________________________________________________________________ Friday, August 6; 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM THEMATIC SESSION 073: Concluding Thoughts Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Organizers & Presiders: Paul C. Luken, University of West Georgia; Suzanne Vaughan, Arizona State University Description: The Palgrave Handbook of Institutional Ethnography (2021) edited by Paul C. Luken and Suzanne Vaughan (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030542214) is a collection that brings together the current analytical thinking and research work conducted by institutional ethnography scholars and activists across a range of geographical and contextual settings. Yet, the handbook is missing a conclusion. Because a single conclusion would have been insufficient for this sociology which now influences so many disciplines and professions and which appeals to activists as well as academics, many concluding chapters are needed to best represent the volume.ÊThis session is a step toward addressing that necessity. Using the handbook as a springboard, this panel brings together scholars variously situated with respect to geography, discipline, and relationship to institutional ethnography to present their ideas about the present state and possible future directions of institutional ethnography. In other words, they will share their thoughts on what could be in the final chapter. Panelists: Marie Campbell, University of Victoria Nancy A. Naples, University of Connecticut James Reid, University of Huddersfield Emily Springer, Arizona State University ________________________________________________________________________ Saturday, August 7; 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 099: Reflexivity and the Self in Institutional Spaces Sponsors: Gender; Institutional Ethnography Organizer, Presider & Discussant: îrla Meadhbh Murray, Imperial College London Description: This session focuses on Institutional Ethnography research, exploring researcher self-reflexivity when doing Institutional Ethnography research and how people reflexively navigate institutions, specifically how regulatory texts and discourses organize people's self-labelling and activities. This session has four papers and a discussant, with presentations on: donor philanthropy in the US, single parenting in Europe, map-making in Institutional Ethnography, and racial self-identifications on official forms. Papers: ÒAn Institutional EthnographerÕs Sensibility and Map Making the Social under Duress,Ó BrendaÊSolomon, The University of Vermont ÒDonor Intent and the Reproduction of Ruling Relations in Community Philanthropy through Legal Texts and Professional Standards,Ó FrankÊRidzi, Le Moyne College and Central New York Community Foundation ÒPolitical Party Affiliation and the Shaping of Multiracial Identity,Ó SarahÊE.ÊCastillo, University of Tennessee, Knoxville ÒReflexivity, Responsibilities, and Self: Analyzing the Legal Transition from Double to Single Parenthood and Suggesting Changes in Policy,Ó MorenaÊTartari, University of Antwerp ________________________________________________________________________ Saturday, August 7; 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 113: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Covid-19, Disability, & the Politics of Education Sponsors: Disability; Educational Problems; Institutional Ethnography Organizers: Kyla Walters, Sonoma State University; Heather Sue McDonald Rosen, University of Georgia; Rashmee Karnad-Jani, University of Toronto Presider/Discussant: Heather Sue McDonald Rosen, University of Georgia Description: Presenters in this session will engage in a timely conversation about educational problems and potential solutions, with an emphasis on higher education.Ê Papers: ÒKeeping Sociologists in the Conversation: The Many Pandemics of Higher Education,Ó HeatherÊE.ÊDillaway, Wayne State University ÒSituation of Learning and Teaching during Covid-19 Pandemic in Iran,Ó FarzanehÊEjazi, Shahed University ÒThe Social Organization of Post-secondary StudentsÕ Accommodation Practices during Covid-19 and the Work of Disability,Ó ElizabethÊBrule, Queen's University ÒAn Intersectional Analysis of Higher Education Careers in the Context of Covid-19: Differential Impacts by Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Indigeneity,Ó NoreenÊKohl, NathalieÊP.ÊRita and MarinaÊKarides, University of Hawaii at Manoa ÒUnderstanding How to Create Student Bonding in Addressing Retention and Student Success,Ó GiovannaÊFollo and AshleyÊHall, Wright State University and DianeÊHuelskamp, Wright State University - Lake Campus