Vital Signs: Paper Session 5a
Thursday 11 September, 9.30-11.00am, Room G32
5a. Real lives in the street
‘Sea food and stratification in East London’ – Alex Rhys-Taylor (Goldsmiths College, University of London)
In this paper I will look at sea-food sold on the streets of contemporary London (shell fish, herrings and jellied eels in particular) as a means of exploring the shifting social formations of East London.
The paper emanates from a 'participant observation' based project conducted at a sea-food stand at a market in East London between 2007 and 2008. In addition to the ethnographic data however, the project also incorporates a geological, biological and historical contextualisation, as means of elaborating the dynamic material processes involved in the consumption of sea food within particular urban sites.
'Soundscapes and urban design: Taking professionals out of the office' - Dr Mags Adams (University of Salford)
This paper will reflect on the value to professionals working in the area of urban design, planning, noise management, acoustics, of coming out of the office to experience the reality of urban soundscapes at street level. It will discuss the development of a process map for understanding the locations in the urban decision making process where the concept of soundscapes might be usefully considered.
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‘Knocking on doors: Recruitment and enrichment in a qualitative interview based study’ – Katherine Davies (Real Life Methods, University of Manchester)
Door knocking as a method of recruiting participants has practical advantages for the qualitative researcher – face-to-face contact, greater control, no need for a gate keeper – and can be a highly fruitful method of building a sample. It can also be a way of unleashing the ‘ethnographic imagination’ in an interview based study – incorporating analyses of the sensory, of place and space and community interactions into a study that would otherwise take place behind closed doors.
This paper will discuss what can be gained from door knocking as a recruitment strategy.
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