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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 September 2020

Harry Wels

To further develop research methodologies for multi-species ethnographic fieldwork, based on researcher's experiences with multi-species fieldwork in private wildlife…

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Abstract

Purpose

To further develop research methodologies for multi-species ethnographic fieldwork, based on researcher's experiences with multi-species fieldwork in private wildlife conservancies in South Africa and inspired by San tracking techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflections on methodological lessons learnt during multi-species ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa. The approach is rather “Maanenesque” in telling various types of tales of the field. These tales also implicitly show how all-encompassing ethnographic fieldwork and its accompanying reflexivity are; there is never time for leisure in ethnographic fieldwork.

Findings

That developing fieldwork methodologies in multi-species ethnographic research confronts researchers with the explicit need for and training in multi-sensory methods and interpretations, inspired by “the art of tracking” of the San.

Originality/value

Comes up with a concrete suggestion for a sequence of research methods for multi-species ethnography based on the trials and tribulations of a multi-species ethnographer's experiences in South Africa and inspired by San tracking techniques.

Details

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6749

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2020

Michelle Westerlaken

This paper articulates a counter-concept to the notion of speciesism with the aim to encourage thinking beyond critique, towards imagining what non-speciesist worlds can actually…

640

Abstract

Purpose

This paper articulates a counter-concept to the notion of speciesism with the aim to encourage thinking beyond critique, towards imagining what non-speciesist worlds can actually look like.

Design/methodology/approach

By using the concept of “multi-species-isms” (or “multispecies”, as a simpler adjective), and linking it to feminist and relational ethics of “care”, the paper seeks to unite perspectives from both Critical Animal Studies as well as feminist, posthumanist theories. Already existing traces of multi-species-isms that exemplify different forms of multispecies care are visualised through annotated illustrations that accompany the text. These traces offer a cue for negotiating multispecies worlds without attempting to define their content in all too definite forms.

Findings

Rather than focusing on critiquing oppressive structures, the paper contributes narratives of multispecies worlds that inspire further imagination towards the positive ingredients of such worlds and show more concretely how multispecies care is practised in everyday life.

Social implications

These insights frame a starting point for a repertoire that shows the numerous ways in which multispecies relationships between humans and other animals are already given form.

Originality/value

By articulating the actual ingredients of multi-species-isms, rather than focusing on what they are not, the paper seeks to advance a move towards adding multispecies possibilities that can be especially helpful for those researchers, designers and activists concerned with imagining alternative futures.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 November 2014

Nik Taylor and Lindsay Hamilton

The last few decades have seen the rise of a new field of inquiry – human–animal studies (HAS). As a rich, theoretically and disciplinarily diverse field, HAS shines a light on…

Abstract

Purpose

The last few decades have seen the rise of a new field of inquiry – human–animal studies (HAS). As a rich, theoretically and disciplinarily diverse field, HAS shines a light on the various relations that humans have with other animals across time, space and culture. While still a small, but rapidly growing field, HAS has supported the development of multiple theoretical and conceptual initiatives which have aimed to capture the rich diversity of human–animal interactions. Yet the methodologies for doing this have not kept pace with the ambitions of such projects. In this chapter, we seek to shed light on this particular issue.

Design/methodology/approach

We consider the difficulties of researching other-than-human beings by asking what might happen if methods incorporated true inter-disciplinarity, for instance if social scientists were able to work with natural scientists on multi-species ethnographies. The lack of established methodology (and the lack of cross disciplinary research between the natural and social sciences) is one of the main problems that we consider here. It is an issue complicated immensely by the ‘otherness’ of animals – the vast differences in the ways that we (humans) and they (animals) see the world, communicate and behave. This chapter provides the opportunity for us to consider how we can take account of (if not resolve) these differences to arrive at meaningful research data, to better understand the contemporary world by embarking upon more precise investigations of our relationships with animals.

Findings

Drawing upon a selection of examples from contemporary research of human–animal interactions, both ethnographic and scientific, we shed light on some new possibilities for multi-species research. We suggest that this can be done best by considering and applying a diversity of theoretical frameworks which deal explicitly with the constitution of the social environment.

Originality/value

Our methodological exploration offers the reader insight into new ways of working within the template of human animal studies by drawing upon a range of useful theories such as post-structuralism and actor network theory (ANT) (for example, Callon, 1986; Hamilton & Taylor, 2013; Latour, 2005; Law, Ruppert, & Savage, 2011) and post-humanist perspectives (for example, Anderson, 2014; Haraway, 2003; Wolfe, 2010). Our contribution to this literature is distinctive because rather than remaining at the philosophical level, we suggest how the human politics of method might be navigated practically to the benefit of multiple species.

Details

Big Data? Qualitative Approaches to Digital Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-050-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2005

P.R. Ess and C.B. Allen

A computational fluid dynamics code for the calculation of laminar hypersonic multi‐species gas flows in chemical non‐equilibrium in axisymmetric or two‐dimensional configuration…

1404

Abstract

Purpose

A computational fluid dynamics code for the calculation of laminar hypersonic multi‐species gas flows in chemical non‐equilibrium in axisymmetric or two‐dimensional configuration on shared and distributed memory parallel computers is presented and validated. The code is designed to work efficiently in combination with an automatic domain decompositioning method developed to facilitate efficient parallel computations of various flow problems.

Design/methodology/approach

The baseline implicit numerical method developed is the lower‐upper symmetric Gauss‐Seidel scheme, which is combined with a sub‐iteration scheme to achieve time‐accuracy up to third‐order. The spatial discretisation is based on Roe's flux‐difference splitting and various non‐linear flux limiters maintaining total‐variation diminishing properties and up to third‐order spatial accuracy in continuous regions of flow. The domain subdivision procedure is designed to work for single‐ and multi‐block domains without being constrained by the block boundaries, and an arbitrary number of processors used for the computation.

Findings

The code developed reproduces accurately various types of flows, e.g. flow over a flat plate, diffusive mixing and oscillating shock induced combustion around a projectile fired into premixed gas, and demonstrates close to linear scalability within limits of load imbalance.

Research limitations/implications

The cases considered are axisymmetric or two‐dimensional, and assume laminar flow. An extension to three‐dimensional turbulent flows is left for future work.

Originality/value

Results of a parallel computation, utilising a newly developed automatic domain subdivision procedure, for oscillating shock‐induced combustion around a projectile and various other cases are presented. The influence of entropy correction in Roe's flux‐difference splitting algorithm on diffusive mixing of multi‐species flows was examined.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2019

Matthew Adams

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a meaningful response to recent calls to “indigenize” and “decolonize” the Anthropocene in the social sciences and humanities; and in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a meaningful response to recent calls to “indigenize” and “decolonize” the Anthropocene in the social sciences and humanities; and in doing so to challenge and extend dominant conceptualisations of the Anthropocene offered to date within a posthuman and more-than-human intellectual context.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops a radical material and relational ontology, purposefully drawing on an indigenous knowledge framework, as it is specifically exemplified in Maori approaches to anthropogenic impacts on species and multi-species entanglements. The paper takes as its focus particular species of whales, trees and humans and their entanglements. It also draws on, critically engages with, and partially integrates posthuman and more-than-human theory addressing the Anthropocene.

Findings

The findings of this study are that we will benefit from approaching the Anthropocene from situated and specific ontologies rooted in place, which can frame multi-species encounters in novel and productive ways.

Research limitations/implications

The paper calls for a more expansive and critical version of social science in which the relations between human and more-than-human becomes much more of a central concern; but in doing so it must recognize the importance of multiple histories, knowledge systems and narratives, the marginalization of many of which can be seen as a symptom of ecological crisis. The paper also proposes adopting Zoe Todd’s suggested tools to further indigenize the Anthropocene – though there remains much more scope to do so both theoretically and methodologically.

Practical implications

The paper argues that Anthropocene narratives must incorporate deeper colonial histories and their legacies; that related research must pay greater attention to reciprocity and relatedness, as advocated by posthuman scholarship in developing methodologies and research agendas; and that non-human life should remain firmly in focus to avoid reproducing human exceptionalism.

Social implications

In societies where populations are coming to terms in different ways with living through an era of environmental breakdown, it is vital to seek out forms of knowledge and progressive collaboration that resonate with place and with which progressive science and humanities research can learn and collaborate; to highlight narratives which “give life and dimension to the strategies – oppositional, affirmative, and yes, often desperate and fractured – that emerge from those who bear the brunt of the planet’s ecological crises” (Nixon, 2011, p. 23).

Originality/value

The paper is original in approaching the specific and situated application of indigenous ontologies in some of their grounded everyday social complexity, with the potential value of opening up the Anthropocene imaginary to a more radical and ethical relational ontology.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 19 May 2021

Erika Cudworth, Will Boisseau and Richard J. White

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Article
Publication date: 31 March 2020

Zoei Sutton

The purpose of this paper is to make a case for the political use of methods to shape posthumanist futures that are for animals. It makes this case by drawing on findings from…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to make a case for the political use of methods to shape posthumanist futures that are for animals. It makes this case by drawing on findings from qualitative research on the lived experience of navigating human–pet relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The argument in this paper draws on qualitative data from interviews and observations with human participants and “their” companion animals to demonstrate that centring animals in research highlights new data and encourages participants to challenge anthropocentric narratives of pet relationships.

Findings

The findings of this project indicate that using animal-inclusive research methods is effective in centring non-human animals in discussions and providing new insights into human–animal relations that can inform and move towards critical posthumanist futures.

Research limitations/implications

If the central argument that methods play an important role in shaping social worlds is accepted then human–animal studies scholars may need to think more carefully about how they design, conduct and frame research with non-human animals.

Practical implications

If the argument for centring companion animals in research is taken seriously, then those working with humans and companion animals in the community might significantly alter their methods to more meaningfully engage with non-human animals' experiences.

Originality/value

Current research has concerned itself with the challenge of how to understand animals' experiences through research. There has been little consideration of how multi-species research reflects and shapes social worlds and how methods might be considered a fruitful site of transforming relations and pursuing posthumanist futures.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 January 2009

Jiacheng Zhang and Kazimierz Adamiak

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel numerical algorithm, which can be used to simulate the stationary electric corona discharge in oxygen including some number of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel numerical algorithm, which can be used to simulate the stationary electric corona discharge in oxygen including some number of ionic species and ionic reactions.

Design/methodology/approach

Differential equations governing distribution of the electric field and space charge density for all ionic species have been solved using different numerical techniques: finite element method, method of characteristics (MoC) and donor‐cell method (DCM). Triangular discretization with linear interpolation of solution has been used.

Findings

Thickness of the ionisation layer in oxygen under normal conditions is in the order of a few hundred micrometers. Most electrons are attached to the neutral oxygen molecules forming negative ions in the drift zone. The current density on the ground plate basically follows the Warburg curve, but the DCM predicts a smooth current density distribution, while in the MoC the current density abruptly drops to zero at some radial distance.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to solve this problem in the 2D point‐plane configuration. The results can lead to better understanding of all processes occurring in the corona discharge and provide information about density and distribution of different ionic species and current densities.

Details

COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0332-1649

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 June 2011

A. Hasan, S. Guo and M. Wahab

Performance prediction of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied using a multiphysics-based numerical simulation. The simulated geometry was a simple…

Abstract

Performance prediction of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been studied using a multiphysics-based numerical simulation. The simulated geometry was a simple channel, in which the multi species transportation in the porous electrodes and the coupled electrical current and potential distributions were modeled. The 3D simulations provide the cell performance curve and the fuel/oxidant concentration distributions along the feeding channel. To obtain the detailed flow field in the porous gas diffusion layer, a 2D simulation was also performed. The simulations were compared with the available experimental data for a single channel PEMFC and the comparisons are favorable.

Details

World Journal of Engineering, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1708-5284

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 September 2016

Liv Nyland Krause

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the phenomenon of innovation in a particular setting in Japan, and more specifically to trace a local initiative toward the creation of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the phenomenon of innovation in a particular setting in Japan, and more specifically to trace a local initiative toward the creation of an “innovation ecosystem” in a large city and its surrounding region in Western Japan, with the aim of fostering entrepreneurship and economic revitalization.

Methodology/approach

The analysis in this chapter is based on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant-observation in meetings and events held to promote entrepreneurship and collaboration in the region, as well as interviews with city officials, managers, and entrepreneurs related to the activities of the creation of the “innovation ecosystem.”

Findings

In the chapter, I show how the emergence of the ecosystem metaphor for business innovation informs practices and imaginaries in which relations, co-creation, and natural growth become central as models of and for innovation processes in a context of crisis, in ways that generate not only innovation but the ecosystem itself.

Originality/value

The chapter provides historical and social context to the metaphor of the innovation ecosystem that is receiving increasing interest globally, and provides insights into how innovation activities and the enacting of the “innovation ecosystem” take place in practice.

Details

The Economics of Ecology, Exchange, and Adaptation: Anthropological Explorations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-227-9

Keywords

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