CRIA (Centre for Research in Anthropology)

This article presents a quantitative
and qualitative analysis of “journalistic” photographs
in the daily press of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It seeks to
examine the representations of the bodies of adult subjects in
the mass media in order to identify the strategies used in the
construction of models of social order and of identity. These
are correspondingly in the constitution/reproduction of dominant
Bengali culture. Taking as the starting point the examination
of the photographic images published in the daily press,
we proceed to triangulate them with images produced by other
representational mediators that were collected during fieldwork
in the region

Este artigo pretende analisar os modos de desempenho das narrativas de viagem
sobre a Índia, os significados que traduzem e transportam e o seu impacte ao
nível das percepções e práticas discursivas no encontro do turismo internacional
em Kolkata (capital do estado de West Bengal, Índia). Através da abordagem
do estilo de narrativa verbal utilizado pelos turistas “ocidentais” que contactei
nesta cidade entre 2004 e 2007, foi revelada uma característica transversal
aos seus relatos: a tentativa de aproximação às técnicas estilísticas do género
literário indexado às narrativas de viagem, fazendo recurso de réplicas de estilo,
termos, conteúdos manifestos e significados, de forma cumulativa.

Synopsis:
There is no such thing as the story of a place. There are as many stories as storytellers.
In this film, stories of the city of Kolkata (capital of the state of West Bengal, India) are told through the eyes and voices of several residents and international tourists from different countries visiting this place. The film explores the multiplicity of stories/ representations of this city and its people, generated through photovoice and multivocal techniques. Tourists as well as residents were endowed with photographic cameras to capture still images of the city and give their voices to tell the stories of the photographs taken. We handed out photographic cameras among tourists and residents and invited them to give us their vision of the city. Besides the stories drawn from the photographs, one of the residents opted to tell his stories through poetry while two young musicians chose to express their city through a baul song.

Synopsis:
This movie is the outcome of a desire to revive an idea from the film Photo Wallahs (1991) by Judith and David MacDougall. The idea of giving international exposure to commonly voiceless people, letting them construct audiovisual meanings at their will, was so appealing, that we have decided to develop it into a short film on its own.
We made a placard sign written in Bangla and Hindi, installed it at different public locations around Kolkata (capital of West Bengal, India) on different times and waited with the equipment prepared in a fixed shot…

This book is based on the author’s research study Cameras and Tourism in Kolkata: Representations through Photovoice (2009), which explores the intimate link between Images and Tourism phenomena. It focuses on the analysis of international tourism encounters in Kolkata (Calcutta), in the state of West Bengal, India, by examining the role played by (visual and textual) images as mediators of the Host-Guest relationship. The author used a combined methodology of visual participatory techniques and ethnographic fieldwork methods. Given the amplitude of the phenomena analysed and the chosen approach, this book transcends the possibility of a specific classification. It moves in and through the domains of visual anthropology, tourism, West versus East, travel narratives, India and Bengal universes. It proposes to break through interdisciplinary boundaries, promoting the integrated questioning of objects such as identity representations, mass media, discourse, space, body, eating and dress.

Baul é um sistema filosófico-prático de yoga com pelo menos 500 anos de história bengali que busca o estado de perfeição de união humano-divino através da prática continuada (sahaja sadhana) assente na relação de transmissão mestres-discípulo. Atualmente, os seus praticantes concentram-se sobretudo em Bengala Ocidental, Índia e em Bangladesh, são designados Baul ou Fakir e identificados primariamente pela sua prática musical de canções baul. Em 2008, por proposta do Bangladesh, as “canções baul” foram inscritas na Lista Representativa do Património Cultural Imaterial da Humanidade pela UNESCO. Nos últimos anos, as medidas promocionais e incentivos à sua divulgação fizeram multiplicar exponencialmente os conteúdos mediáticos baul no Bangladesh e na Índia, mas também entre o público internacional, sobretudo via internet, acelerando a sua transformação e das suas canções em produtos culturais consumíveis por um público alargado. Argumentam vários baulfakir que ao serem destacadas do restante sistema de sahaja sadhana e instrução baul, as canções são desprovidas de propósito e de sentido ou, pior, adquirem significados enganosos, particularmente nos casos em que usam linguagem dirigida a estádios de conhecimento mais avançados. Uma vez que a renúncia a raciocínios fraudulentos e argumentação enganosa constituem um alvo primário do sistema filosófico-prático baul, é inaceitável, para muitos baul-fakir, que as suas canções possam ser apropriadas ou ditas sem a orientação de mestres conhecedores.

Background Cohort studies represent a strong methodology for increasing one’s understanding of human life-course development and etiological mechanisms. Retention of participants, especially during long follow-up periods, is, however, a major challenge. A better understanding of the motives for participation and attrition in cohort studies in diverse sociogeographic and cultural settings is needed, as this information is most useful in developing effective retention strategies. Objective This study aims to improve our understanding of participation and attrition phenomena in a European cohort study of very preterm/very-low-birth-weight (VPT/VLBW) infants from various sociogeographic and cultural settings to better understand variability and ultimately contribute to developing novel and more “in-context” strategies to improve retention. Methods This study uses a triangulation of multisituated methods to collect data on various cohorts in the Research on European Children and Adults B...

Background Retention of participants in cohort studies is a major challenge. A better understanding of all elements involved in participation and attrition phenomena in particular settings is needed to develop effective retention strategies. The study aimed to achieve an in-depth understanding of participant retention in longitudinal cohorts focusing on participants’ and researcher’s perspectives, across three diverse socio-geographic and cultural settings. Methods This study used a triangulation of multi-situated methods to collect data on cohort studies of children born with less than 32 weeks of gestation in Denmark, Italy and Portugal. It included focus groups and individual semi-driven interviewing with involved key actors (i.e. parents, staff, healthcare professionals, researchers) and a collaborative visual methodology. A purposive sample of 48 key actors (n = 13 in Denmark; n = 13 in Italy; n = 22 in Portugal) was collected. A triangulation of phenomenological thematic analy...