Reading :: An Ethnography of Global Landscapes and Corridors

An Ethnography of Global Landscapes and Corridors

Edited by Loshini Naidoo

I forget how I ran across this book, but I think I downloaded the PDF through UT Libraries. And although I’m glad I did download and read it, it’s a little far afield of my work, so I’m not sure I will use it a lot.

The book is an edited collection that considers the methodology of ethnography as it has been picked up in various fields and disciplines, both in traditional and digital settings. Across 14 chapters, the contributors consider field notes, fieldwork, focus groups, material culture, food, and visual mapping, among other topics.

For me, a few chapters stood out. 

I appreciated Naidoo’s introduction to ethnography as method; for me, this overview helped me understand the sweep of ethnography and its many permutations, and it set up the rest of the collection well. For someone who wants to understand ethnography in broad terms, this seems like a good beginning.

I also liked Demant’s chapter on focus groups. By understanding a focus group as an artificial situation, Demant explores using focus groups as social experiments, providing different data than what observations or individual interviews would produce. 

And Vinck’s chapter “Accessing Material Culture by Following Intermediary Objects” was intriguing in that it is mobilized within science and technology studies, using the concept of intermediary objects to explore how they stabilize practice across networks of linked activities. The particular case is that of scientific cooperation networks.

These chapters are very different, highlighting both the strength (diversity) and weakness (the possibility of incoherence) in a collection like this. Still, I thought the collection held together pretty well, and I think I’ll come back to it as I think through methodological questions in my own work. If you similarly want to think through ethnography as a method, definitely pick it up. 

Reading:: Appropriating Technology

Appropriating Technology: How We Make Digital Tools Our Own

By Pierre Tchounikine

I won’t go into too much detail on this review, since I had the good fortune to review the manuscript and blurb the book — but if the book’s premise interests you, follow the link and click on “Open Access” to download it as a free PDF!

In the preface, Tchounikine explains: "Appropriation is the process by which technologies become instruments for us—that is, basic means, basic resources that we use without any conscious explicit effort in the course of our personal and professional activities." (p.vii). He understands appropriation as a "constructive and developmental process" that involves an interplay among "psychological, social, and technical dimensions." Although he draws on established concepts such as affordances, he mainly relates three frameworks: structuration, activity theory, and genre theory (pp.20-21). In relating these, he takes an emancipatory perspective (p.30). 

In doing so, he considers what it means to work with technology from a social and cognitive perspective and with multiple mediators.

For those who conduct research using these frameworks, Chapters 3 and 4 are of special interest. In Ch.3, he reviews activity theory and specifically considers mediation by an ecology of artifacts. In Ch.4, he considers users in terms of individual development, bringing in genre and ZOPED. 

The book is very HCI-ish in the same sense that Kaptelinin & Nardi's joint work is — it sets up a larger question, draws on different frameworks, then moves to accessible research accounts to illustrate and deepen the points. I personally like this style quite a bit. I also appreciated how the book focused on individual development — although many of us have tended to push for a more collective perspective on technology use, especially those of us influenced by Yrjo Engestrom’s work, individual development is still important, especially in thinking through how people appropriate a technology that they use across encounters, organizations, and activities. 

If you’re interested in how we use technologies, or just in how people pick up new time management tools, definitely pick up (or download) this book. 

Reading :: Cultural Entrepreneurship

 Cultural Entrepreneurship: A New Agenda for the Study of Entrepreneurial Processes and Possibilities

By Michael Lounsbury and Mary Ann Glynn

I have been aware of Lounsbury and Glynn’s work, but seeing a cite to this book in a professional communication manuscript spurred me to finally get a copy of this book. The book is an “elements” book, just 87 pages with references, and I ended up reading it in one sitting. It was worth it, and I’ll be returning to it as I continue to think through entrepreneurship.

The book overviews cultural entrepreneurship scholarship. In doing so, it pulls together diverse scholars’ works, helping us to see a larger body of scholarship emerging. In this scholarship’s understanding, “all forms of entrepreneurial action are fundamentally constituted by similar kinds of cultural processes” and “at the core of all entrepreneurial initiatives is a process of meaning-making” to construct organizational identity (p.1, their emphasis). This view of entrepreneurship is shared by scholars from various fields — they mention rhetoric among others — and they worry about fragmentation of scholarship, so they hope this book will yield a “more synthetic conversation” (p.3). They now define cultural entrepreneurship as “the processes by which actors draw upon cultural resources … to advance entrepreneurship or to facilitate organizational or institutional innovation” (p.3). 

They point out three biases in entrepreneurship scholarship: (1) the start-up bias (which equates entrepreneurship solely with new ventures), (2) the opportunity-discovery bias (“the overly narrow explanatory focus on the psychological or cognitive aspects of opportunity discovery”), and (3) the sole-individual bias (the focus on individuals rather than teams) (p.5). And they approve of shifts toward institutional logics, practice theories, and process approaches, all of which involve make culture more central and use flatter ontologies (p.9). Later in the book, they approve of relational ontologies for exploring identity dynamics in organizations (p.26).

Studying entrepreneurial possibilities from a cultural perspective, they say, provides a way forward for those who have argued about entrepreneurial opportunities: Are they discovered (existing in the world, waiting to be found) or created (endogenously, by the entrepreneurs themselves) (p.37)? The authors see this divide as reproducing “the unhelpful structure-versus-agency dualism” (p.38). Seeing this as a false choice, they propose “a cultural ecology of entrepreneurial possibilities, i.e., a system of interconnected options generated by the interaction of a community with its environment” (pp.38-39). They propose that “possibilities for entrepreneurial action exist at the interstices of distinct identity positions in and around institutional fields where novel entrepreneurial identities and practices may be constructed” (p.39). 

Overall, I found this book very helpful. As an overview, it does the work of a really good bibliographic essay: Drawing different scholars’ work into a larger conversation so that latecomers like myself can understand the conversation, players, and stakes. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship as a cultural practice, definitely pick it up. 

Reading :: Anthropology and Social Theory

Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject

By Sherry B. Ortner

I’m not an anthropologist, so I’m not familiar with Sherry Ortner, but she is evidently well-known and well-cited in anthropological circles. When I picked this book up used, probably five years ago, I was interested in an anthropological take on culture, especially from a practice theory perspective. Ortner has spent a lot of time thinking about this connection, and in the introduction and six essay chapters, she brings together a wide range of citations to think through this relationship.

In the introduction, Ortner meditates on her history in the field as she wrestled with the concept of culture in terms of practice theory. She reviews this development within historical shifts in anthropology, including power theory, the historic turn, and perhaps most importantly, “the reinterpretation(s) of culture” — her focus in this volume (p.3). The problem with “culture” is that in illiberal hands, it can be reduced to stereotyping. In reaction, many anthropologists turned away from the concept of culture altogether, but outside anthropology, others picked it up in inventive ways (p.12). These ways take power into account while loosening relations between culture and specific groups (p.13). The Birmingham school, for instance, embedded the concept of culture in “narratives of power and inequality,” and in doing so, make the old concept of culture do new work (pp.13-14). Culture is reclaimed through practice theory.

In subsequent chapters, Ortner explores different aspects of this reclamation, focusing on American culture: ethnographic refusal (Ch.2), class (Ch.3), Gen X (Ch.4), and subjectivity (Ch.5). These were interesting enough, and allowed Ortner to draw these themes into concrete cases, but they did not hold my attention as much as the introduction did.

Still, if you’re interested in the relationship between culture and practice theory, and its intellectual history, this book is well worth reading. 

Reading :: Startup Visionaries

 Startup Visionaries: Insights from the Frontlines of Innovation

By Niklas Osterberg

I’ve ended up reading many, many books by startup founders that attempt to systematize the startup experience. They tend to be enthusiastic, grounded in the founder’s experiences with their various startups, and focused on similar topics: customer discovery and validation, surprising pivots, business model formulation, product development and testing, and fundraising. Often they tend to hit the same beats and teach the same lessons, and they make me wonder whether the startup experience is basically the same everywhere — or whether startup language is the same everywhere, structuring the experiences of the authors.

Osterberg, a Swedish entrepreneur who has started 17 companies (p.3), takes a bit of a different tack. He begins with the startup ecosystem and the visionary mindset, then goes into risk and failure, team-building, and funding. He covers exit strategies in Ch.9 of this 17-chapter book. And he spends a lot of time covering topics that are rarely discussed in other books by founders: ethics, legacy, rest, and ego. 

I’ll highlight a few striking points below:

• ”A startup is, by nature, temporary. It is not build for comfort or certainty. It is a vessel build for a journey of discovery … . Stability is not the goal; learning is” (pp.6-7).
• ”Startups live in a state of uncertainty that is not a passing phase, but a permanent condition woven into their very nature. This uncertainty is not simply an obstacle to push through, it is the air and weather of their world” (p.10)
• “Incubators, accelerators, universities, and venture firms” are “base camps and guide stations along the route” and “can lend you the credibility to be taken seriously by others on the mountain,” but “stay too long, and you may find yourself following the same trail everyone else is taking, adopting the same strategies, speaking in the same language and measuring success by the same milestones” (pp.11-12)
• ”The myth of the solitary founder who single-handedly builds a successful unicorn company” is “ultimately misleading and oversimplified” because it “fails to acknowledge the vital roles played by teams, mentors, and networks” (p.38)
• ”A successful pitch transcends being just a sales performance — it evolves into a meaningful and thoughtful conversation” (p.52)
• The founder’s “identity, mindset, and emotional resilience” must shift profoundly (p.68)
• ”Purpose is your internal compass” (p.113)
• ”truly thriving companies recognize that achieving lasting success goes beyond mere transactions and financial metrics. They prioritize building vibrant communities — dynamic ecosystems of individuals who are connected by shared values, trust, and mutual support” (p.146). These communities include “users and customers,” “team members and collaborators,” “partners and investors,” and “advocates and critics” (p.147). 

This advice, I think, is well-considered and well-spoken. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, or someone who studies entrepreneurship, I recommend this book. 

Reading :: Remote and Roaming

 Remote and Roaming: Practices, Meanings, and Politics of Digital Nomadism

By Mari Toivanen

This 2025 book examines digital nomadism, beginning before the pandemic but examining the deep shift during and after it. Accessibly written, the book examines the phenomenon of digital nomadism. “A digital nomad can broadly be defined as an individual who travels while working, and whose mobile lifestyle is enabled by such remote mode of work” (p.6). The author was first sensitized to this lifestyle when discussing a coworking space in Thailand to which people from other countries traveled for work. Toivanen conducted interviews with them and many others, focusing on “three aspects — work, travel and lifestyle” (p.13). She adds:

In this book, digital nomadism is not defined as an isolated phenomenon or merely a personal endeavour, but rather as a form of lifestyle mobility deeply embedded in broader societal, economic and technological transformations. These include the digitalisation of work and economic restructuring, shifting values related to lifestyle and conceptions of ‘the good life’, and the structural forces that shape global mobility regimes and their hierarchies as well as the global inequalities in economic privilege that enable access to this way of life. (pp.13-14)

She asks questions such as:

“What does the digital nomad lifestyle look like at the level of practices?”

”What meanings are attached to the digital nomad lifestyle?”

”How do the politics of digital nomadism come about?” (pp.20-21)

She investigates these questions with 70 semi-structured interviews as well as observations (p.22). (I really appreciated her appendix on material and methodology.) But she also goes deeply into the antecedent conditions, examining how the digital nomad’s lifestyle is structured by their relationship with the nation-states and markets in which they work. The result is a comprehensive, well-written, and accessible discussion of the conditions that make digital nomadism what it is.

If you’re interested in digital nomadism or related issues, such as coworking or adhocracies, I recommend this book.

Reading :: True Storytelling

 True Storytelling: Seven Principles for an Ethical and Sustainable Change-Management Strategy

By Jens Larsen, David M. Boje and Lena Bruun

I happened on this book because one of our HDO MA students was interested in change management and I thought a narrative approach might be a good fit for his project. One Google Scholar search later, I realized that David Boje — who has pioneered the narrative research approach — had coauthored this book for a popular audience. I skimmed the book, thought it was in the ballpark (but not necessarily on target), and decided to read it.

The other two coauthors have a consultancy in Denmark, and all three claim Danish heritage. As they explain, the process they have put together is especially focused on change management in terms of climate change: “True Storytelling is a relational process ontology (Boje, 2019b) and a way to stand as an ensemble against ‘Fake Storytelling’ and climate change deniers” (p.xi). The book thus really isn’t about narrative research, it’s about how to tell effective stories that can underpin change management efforts. I’ll quote a big chunk from the preface:

We (David Boje, Jens Larsen and Lena Bruun) have developed Seven Principles to enable success with transformational change. You can think of them as tuning forks for when you work with sustainable change.

1 True: You yourself must be true and prepare the energy and effort for a sustainable future

2 Making room: True Storytelling makes spaces that respect the stories already there

3 Plotting: You must create stories with a clear plot, creating direction and helping people prioritize

4 Timing: You must have timing

5 Helping stories along: You must be able to help stories on their way and be open to experiment

6 Staging: You must consider staging, including scenography and artefacts

7 Reflecting: You must reflect on the stories and how they create value.

True Storytelling principles are an ethical approach to self-correcting the Fake to get closer to the True. We have developed True Storytelling as a philosophical and storytelling science scaffolding (p.xii). 

The rest of the book overviews these seven principles, using examples from the authors’ own consulting. Along the way, the authors tell stories about their own individual lives and draw on Latour, Deleuze, Haraway, Kierkegaard, and other theorists as well as the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. 

How well does it do? On one hand, they clearly describe and demonstrate their principles. On the other hand, I thought the principles were still pretty vague, and it was hard for me to pull the individual principles into a larger plan. The theme of sustainable change management was mentioned frequently, but I don’t think it was integrated that well — that is, the principles underpin good storytelling, but don’t seem specific to change management. Clearly the authors have a lot of expertise, but I don’t think it was well conveyed to readers as a coherent system focused on change management and/or global climate change.

For those who want to apply storytelling in organizations — especially in a Danish context — this book could be really useful. But I don’t think it’s quite what my student is looking for, and I don’t think I’ll use it myself either.