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Methodology

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Quality of Life and Well-Being in an Indian Ethnic Community

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research ((BRIEFSWELLBEING))

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Abstract

This chapter describes the methodology of the monograph which includes multi-sited ethnography, thematic analysis, coding, and reflexivity, from a symbolic interactionist perspective. Each piece of the methodology is explained and justified. The chapter begins with an overview of the multiple fieldsites chosen to challenge the localisation of Badagas in the Nilgiri Hills in previous studies, understand people as dynamic, mobile, and multiply situated, and to capture new forms of identities and quality of life in flux and which transcend bounded spaces. The chapter continues with an outline of the theoretical orientation of the research, symbolic interactionism, employed to examine identities and shared experiences and meanings of Badagas in India with emphasis on agency, social process, and subjectivity, a deliberate move away from macro-level deterministic, functionalist, and structuralist thinking that is typical of previous work. Next is an outline of an investigation into subjective quality of life among Badagas from their own point of view, an approach hitherto neglected in the literature. The final section summarises the methods of data collection and analysis. This contemporary social constructionist approach irons out many of the epistemological problems in earlier writings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Anthropology and Conservation, The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK

    Gareth Davey

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  1. Gareth Davey
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Correspondence to Gareth Davey .

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Davey, G. (2018). Methodology. In: Quality of Life and Well-Being in an Indian Ethnic Community. SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90662-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90662-1_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90661-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90662-1

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