Paper short abstract:

This paper reflects on the opportunities provided by ethnography to social work intervention and on the resistance institutions may develop to the critical stances generated by in-depth reflexive observation of intervention processes.

Paper long abstract:

When considering social work intervention, ethnography rightly presents a double feature: (i) as an operative instrument of social worker (since it deems to be used in data collection for social diagnosis; allows a closer connection between social workers and their clients and/or communities; permits a more intricate knowledge of institutional dynamics; it also may contribute to intervention assessment through the collection and analysis of qualitative indicators) and (ii) useful in the context of problem definition as well as for reflecting about the social issues subject of intervention.

In either case, ethnography entails the dismounting of institutional processes, intervention frames and goals - a condition not always welcome by institutions devoted to social intervention, since it leads to the adoption of critical stances about current proceedings and, eventually, to redefine operational trends. As such, in between the ideal presentation of ethnography and its practical appropriation in social work intervention lays a paradox. This paper explores such paradoxical circumstances, drawing from the supervision of two social work training internships in distinct Portuguese NGO's (AMI's homeless street social work team, in Oporto, and Mundos de Vida's residence for the elderly, in Vila Nova de Famalicão). Both experiences offer an opportunity to think about the ways ethnography provides critical reflections on social work intervention processes and how it can participate in the formulation or redefinition of social work operative devices.

Paper short abstract:

This paper intends a critical reflection on some aspects of the links between social research and public policy--in other words, the extent of the “applicability” of social and ethnographic knowledge outside academic circles.

Paper long abstract:

This paper intends a critical reflection on some aspects of the links between social research and public policy--in other words, the extent of the "applicability" of social and ethnographic knowledge outside academic circles. This subject is already established in social sciences, recently gaining a new momentum. Thus, we expect to contribute to both the debate on professional practice which is linked to processes we generically call social management and social intervention and the dialogue between ethnographic production and issues on the public agenda. To that end, we resort to a series of empiric experiences which allow us to reach provisional results and which brings forward new challenges regarding how we "do" ethnography at the crossroads where we stand in the present.

Paper short abstract:

At a time when Europe is turning back to repressive measures in relation to sex work, ethnography can bring us sex workers's perspectives contributing to present their claims. Moreover, it might challenge the stereotyped view of sex workers and be a contribution to support their rights.

Paper long abstract:

Sex work is often seen in a stereotyped way and sex workers presented as helpless victims. The discussion of this phenomenon is very biased and underpinned by moral issues. Moreover, people who sell sex are subject to stigma and prejudice which justifies dehumanizing attitudes towards them. Ethnography, to the extent that it tries to obtain an inside view of this phenomenon, shows sex workers' perspectives about themselves and their work.

In Portugal there is not any collective representative of sex workers and of presentation of their claims. But, at a time when several countries in Europe are returning to abolitionism, pursuing customers and restricting the work of those in prostitution, and when anti-prostitution feminist lobbies are campaigning against commercial sex, the view of sex workers about themselves, their work and the legislation can be crucial to the public debate on these issues.

In this way, ethnography can be a reflexive instrument contributing to this debate and to the redefinition of sex work as a work, and not a social problem that must be eliminated. Also, the committed researcher must support labour rights and social respect for sex workers in the public discussion agenda.

Paper short abstract:

Having a child hospitalized is a stressful event for parents. Mothers often experience anxiety and depression during this time. This paper is about Mothers who are also women and work. How can they manage to be successful in this contemporary society. Ethnography can bring “insights”.

Paper long abstract:

Mothers have an important role in the promotion of their children's health. Having a child hospitalized is a stressful event for these caregivers and they often experience anxiety and depression during this time. Providing information about needs, intervention strategies that a health worker (e.g. social workers) can perform to reduce anxiety, stress and even pain brought as a result of the impact of a disease and child hospitalization.

This paper is about Mothers who are also women and work. How can they manage to be successful in this contemporary society and in what way can this triple role play affect their daily lives.

Ethnography about everyday lives of these mothers gives us the information that "knowing does not mean understanding or comprehending" but can be used as reflective instrument to a definition of a social problem.

Paper short abstract:

In France, the cancer announcement device appeared in 2006, built on a specific nurse work. In 2012, an ethnographic study explored a hospital situation to propose recommendations on practices. The results have echoes on the institution organisation dependent on the national cancer politic.

Paper long abstract:

In 2003, the French National Institute of Cancer (INCa) develops its first « cancer plan » whose mission is to define procedures for improving quality health care and research directions. One of its measures establishes a cancer announcement process which is centred on a specific nurse work. In 2006, this process was introduced in a University Teaching Hospital (UTH) of Aquitaine.

In 2011, these cancer announcement nurses (CAN) brought out their role and their practices, and claimed a own identity and a social recognition. As a response, in January 2012, an ethnographic study has been realized, focused on the nurses' practices and representations of the announcement work.

First, the UTH expected recommendations to improve the process and the implanting, because the UTH groups together different health services, all not dedicated to cancer: a lot of disparities in the implanting of the process emerge detailed by the observational study.

Secondly, through the interview with each of the 33 CAN in place, it appears that the implanting of the process and its perpetuation depend on the nurse's identity as a CAN and the UTH policies about the health service. Its identity comes out (1) by training, where a standard nurse is transformed in a CAN (2) through different definition of cancer announcement and its practices: "human" part of nurse work opposed to a tailored announcement.

As a conclusion, the ethnological problematic is to make visible and comprehensible this hybrid identity to connect the nurses and the UTH by recommendations acceptable by all.

Paper short abstract:

From the ethnographic work done in the central old district of Porto, two modes of expression of fear of crime emerge - respect and trust. They are very distinct from those apprehended by crime surveys. Some implications for public policy are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Baixo'street, where ethnographic work was done, is a seam between the historical district and downtown of Porto. The neighborhood faces certain circumstances that may shape how (in)security is locally lived - desertification, aging, poverty, prostitution, drug commerce, stigmatization. The place bears yet a double symbolic meaning. In the imaginary of the city it is a dangerous spot and their dwellers, especially the older, are portrayed as prisoners of fear. If those circumstances evoke a myriad of «social problems», the object under study - fear of crime - has been, since its debut in the criminological debate, a subject of a political tone and indeed very appellative from a mediatic perspective.

I begin with the efforts made in order to outline, first, the object and then the observation unit that, in anthropology, so frequently overlap. Other forms of saying (in)security seem to arise. One that might reflect the popularity with which the subject is usually treated by the media. Others may correspond to ways (in)security is said and lived locally. Respect and trust are dimensions that emerge in the everyday microsocial relations, pointing to modes of native fear expression and experience, captured in the fieldwork. These are distinct from those apprehended by classical instruments, like crime surveys, that tend to undervalue the experienced side of fear. Finally, this may entail implications for public policy, namely the relations between the locals and the law enforcement authorities and some initiatives targeted to reduce the fear of crime among the population.