Keith Bletzer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Keith Bletzer
Identity and resilience among persons with HIV
Qualitative Health Research, 2007
In this article, the author contrasts the disruption model proposed by Becker (1997) against the ... more In this article, the author contrasts the disruption model proposed by Becker (1997) against the life trajectories of two persons who used and sold drugs; considers the impact of engagement and discontinuation of substance use on their respective lives; and examines the process of life reorganization they put into motion after testing positive for HIV. Their departure from the world of drugs removed each from an unwanted lifestyle, facilitated the process of building resilience against the social adversity they faced in relation to their seropositivity, assisted them with securing care and services through institutional mechanisms, and generated a forum for new ideas on family continuity versus the ideal of individualism that grounds mainstream society. A process of identity reaffirmation further deepened their understanding of themselves as African Americans in the southern United States.
Biobehavioral Characteristics of a Culture-Bound Syndrome Perceived as Life-Threatening Illness
Qualitative Health Research, 1991
Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, 2015
Purpose: Satisfaction surveys are common in the field of health education, as a means of assistin... more Purpose: Satisfaction surveys are common in the field of health education, as a means of assisting organizations to improve the appropriateness of training materials and the effectiveness of facilitation-presentation. Data can be qualitative of which analysis often become specialized. This technical article aims to reveal whether qualitative survey results can be visualized by presenting them as a Word Cloud. Methods: Qualitative materials in the form of written comments on an agency-specific satisfaction survey were coded and quantified. The resulting quantitative data were used to convert comments into "input terms" to generate Word Clouds to increase comprehension and accessibility through visualization of the written responses. Results: A three-tier display incorporated a Word Cloud at the top, followed by the corresponding frequency table, and a textual summary of the qualitative data represented by the Word Cloud imagery. This mixed format adheres to recognition that people vary in what format is most effective for assimilating new information. Conclusion: The combination of visual representation through Word Clouds complemented by quantified qualitative materials is one means of increasing comprehensibility for a range of stakeholders, who might not be familiar with numerical tables or statistical analyses.
Drugs and Modernization
A Companion to Psychological Anthropology, 2005
... The wide diffusion of alcohol during selected prehistoric periods (particularly the Neolithic... more ... The wide diffusion of alcohol during selected prehistoric periods (particularly the Neolithic) was part of the spread of a drinking complex that occurred during periods of rapid sociocultural and economic change (Rudgley 1993). ...
An HIV prevention toolkit for unaccompanied men who perform agricultural labor
Farm workers are vulnerable to irregular employment and job uncertainty. These conditions increas... more Farm workers are vulnerable to irregular employment and job uncertainty. These conditions increase the likelihood they will find themselves in living and working sites where risk for HIV is present. Considering the exacerbated risk for HIV among unaccompanied male agricultural workers, a national non-profit farm worker health training and technical assistance organization planned and developed an HIV prevention-education toolkit to assist migrant and community health centers with HIV education to reach this population of vulnerable male farm workers. This article reviews iterative development of the toolkit in three phases, outlines the process whereby community input grounded the product in ways that were culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate for the target population of male farm workers, explores implications of the project as a national initiative to reduce HIV risks in a sizeable but dispersed community, and briefly describes how the overall project was assessed ...
Word borrowing and word play among Ngawbere (Panama)
... Keith V. Bletzer Department of Anthropology Michigan state University East Lansing, Michigan ... more ... Keith V. Bletzer Department of Anthropology Michigan state University East Lansing, Michigan ABSTRACT ... The term tura is given by Alphonse (1972) who claims the "old ones" ~the Valiente Peninsula told him that these were the people who used to inhabit the area. ...
Human Organization, 2009
T hree decades ago, migrant advocate Robert Coles testified before a Congressional committee that... more T hree decades ago, migrant advocate Robert Coles testified before a Congressional committee that "the most susceptible candidates for substance use in American society" were farm workers (cited in Johnston 1985:215). While he took a position that was rare at that point in time, since few spoke on this issue, Coles lacked data to consider the variability in drug and alcohol use. Although he understood working conditions in agriculture, he lacked a conceptual framework in which to articulate how structural violence (injustices embedded within low-wage labor) and
Immigration and HIV among Migrant Workers in Rural Southern Florida
Journal of Drug Issues, 1997
Tricking and Tripping (Book Reviews)
American Anthropologist Journal of the American Anthropological Association, 2001
Medical anthropology abroad: An introductory text for medical students in Spain
Reviews in Anthropology, 1984
Reverte C, José Manuel. Antropología Médica, Volume I. Madrid: Editorial Rueda, 1981. xvii + 815 ... more Reverte C, José Manuel. Antropología Médica, Volume I. Madrid: Editorial Rueda, 1981. xvii + 815 pp. including figures, photographs, and bibliography. $40.00 cloth.
We All Need Water
Anthropology, 2015
Most research on female sex workers is urban-based, emphasizing economic necessity and risk-takin... more Most research on female sex workers is urban-based, emphasizing economic necessity and risk-taking. Few authors discuss sex workers and their children. The objective of the present study was to ethnographically explore the influence of street life on childrearing by women involved in sex work in agricultural areas of the southeastern USA. Interviews took place with 38 women. Findings suggest that
Who Has Potatoes? Turning Points in Migratory Experience
/ Resumen Migratory farm,labor like other forms of migrant
Variation in Drug and Alcohol Use among Agricultural Laborers: Watermelon Men in the Rural South
Human Organization, 2009
... on drinking in settings where agricultural workers were employed and/or resided (Alaniz 1994;... more ... on drinking in settings where agricultural workers were employed and/or resided (Alaniz 1994; Chi and McClain 1992; Grzywacz, Quandt, Isom, and Arcury ... to sell remnant crop that he and hiscrew take from a leased field that has already been harvested by crews organized by ...
Procedural Adjustments to Census Techniques for Enumerating the Hispanic Population: An Example from Nassau County (New York)
Human Organization, 1979
Mexican Trans-Migrants and Their Experience on Both Sides of the Border: Intimacy and Distance Through Use of Deictic Referents
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2013
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2011
Fieldwork strategies are showing increasing concern about contributing something of value to the ... more Fieldwork strategies are showing increasing concern about contributing something of value to the local community, where one has conducted research. This concern for payback has centered on countermanding the obvious, visible benefits to individual researchers, or a research team, than whatever contributions have gone to the community, which are likely to be much less visible. Alternatives to direct community contributions include sharing expertise with those that provide basic services and advocates who work on behalf of the population. Research with farm workers requires shifts in field techniques that take into account continuing geographic mobility, irregular employment, and a precarious economic situation experienced by the study population. This article describes the author's experience in conducting long-term ethnography among farm workers across multiple sites along the eastern United States. Strategies of fieldwork among this mobile and hard-to-reach population are compared against standards of fieldwork that have been articulated in four classic monographs from the social sciences. An overview of findings from research among agricultural workers is offered as evidence of the appropriateness of reliance on emerging field strategies that consider the safety and well-being of the population, simultaneous with selecting what eventually become valid and reliable techniques of data collection.
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2010
Diversion and subversion occur in the playful humor in which trans-migrant farm workers engage to... more Diversion and subversion occur in the playful humor in which trans-migrant farm workers engage to alleviate the gruffness and roughness of farm labor and to re-assert the human potential for creativity, with words, if not in action and behavior. This essay considers nuances of the humor response in formal interviews as markers of significant points of transition. Narrators use humor to reflect on alterations in behavioral experience that directly affect the personal identity they have come to accept and to believe is a reasonable representation of who they are.
Modulation of Drug Use in Southern Farming Communities: Social Origins of Poly-use
Human Organization, 2009
... Situations where a user's lived experience is embedded in social adversity, spatial ... more ... Situations where a user's lived experience is embedded in social adversity, spatial dislocation and irregular employ-ment, and the ambiguity and uncertainty of far-from-ideal work conditions (Frone 2008; Grzywacz, Quandt, and Arcury 2008), both influence and exacerbate ...
Identity and resilience among persons with HIV
Qualitative Health Research, 2007
In this article, the author contrasts the disruption model proposed by Becker (1997) against the ... more In this article, the author contrasts the disruption model proposed by Becker (1997) against the life trajectories of two persons who used and sold drugs; considers the impact of engagement and discontinuation of substance use on their respective lives; and examines the process of life reorganization they put into motion after testing positive for HIV. Their departure from the world of drugs removed each from an unwanted lifestyle, facilitated the process of building resilience against the social adversity they faced in relation to their seropositivity, assisted them with securing care and services through institutional mechanisms, and generated a forum for new ideas on family continuity versus the ideal of individualism that grounds mainstream society. A process of identity reaffirmation further deepened their understanding of themselves as African Americans in the southern United States.
Biobehavioral Characteristics of a Culture-Bound Syndrome Perceived as Life-Threatening Illness
Qualitative Health Research, 1991
Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, 2015
Purpose: Satisfaction surveys are common in the field of health education, as a means of assistin... more Purpose: Satisfaction surveys are common in the field of health education, as a means of assisting organizations to improve the appropriateness of training materials and the effectiveness of facilitation-presentation. Data can be qualitative of which analysis often become specialized. This technical article aims to reveal whether qualitative survey results can be visualized by presenting them as a Word Cloud. Methods: Qualitative materials in the form of written comments on an agency-specific satisfaction survey were coded and quantified. The resulting quantitative data were used to convert comments into "input terms" to generate Word Clouds to increase comprehension and accessibility through visualization of the written responses. Results: A three-tier display incorporated a Word Cloud at the top, followed by the corresponding frequency table, and a textual summary of the qualitative data represented by the Word Cloud imagery. This mixed format adheres to recognition that people vary in what format is most effective for assimilating new information. Conclusion: The combination of visual representation through Word Clouds complemented by quantified qualitative materials is one means of increasing comprehensibility for a range of stakeholders, who might not be familiar with numerical tables or statistical analyses.
Drugs and Modernization
A Companion to Psychological Anthropology, 2005
... The wide diffusion of alcohol during selected prehistoric periods (particularly the Neolithic... more ... The wide diffusion of alcohol during selected prehistoric periods (particularly the Neolithic) was part of the spread of a drinking complex that occurred during periods of rapid sociocultural and economic change (Rudgley 1993). ...
An HIV prevention toolkit for unaccompanied men who perform agricultural labor
Farm workers are vulnerable to irregular employment and job uncertainty. These conditions increas... more Farm workers are vulnerable to irregular employment and job uncertainty. These conditions increase the likelihood they will find themselves in living and working sites where risk for HIV is present. Considering the exacerbated risk for HIV among unaccompanied male agricultural workers, a national non-profit farm worker health training and technical assistance organization planned and developed an HIV prevention-education toolkit to assist migrant and community health centers with HIV education to reach this population of vulnerable male farm workers. This article reviews iterative development of the toolkit in three phases, outlines the process whereby community input grounded the product in ways that were culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate for the target population of male farm workers, explores implications of the project as a national initiative to reduce HIV risks in a sizeable but dispersed community, and briefly describes how the overall project was assessed ...
Word borrowing and word play among Ngawbere (Panama)
... Keith V. Bletzer Department of Anthropology Michigan state University East Lansing, Michigan ... more ... Keith V. Bletzer Department of Anthropology Michigan state University East Lansing, Michigan ABSTRACT ... The term tura is given by Alphonse (1972) who claims the "old ones" ~the Valiente Peninsula told him that these were the people who used to inhabit the area. ...
Human Organization, 2009
T hree decades ago, migrant advocate Robert Coles testified before a Congressional committee that... more T hree decades ago, migrant advocate Robert Coles testified before a Congressional committee that "the most susceptible candidates for substance use in American society" were farm workers (cited in Johnston 1985:215). While he took a position that was rare at that point in time, since few spoke on this issue, Coles lacked data to consider the variability in drug and alcohol use. Although he understood working conditions in agriculture, he lacked a conceptual framework in which to articulate how structural violence (injustices embedded within low-wage labor) and
Immigration and HIV among Migrant Workers in Rural Southern Florida
Journal of Drug Issues, 1997
Tricking and Tripping (Book Reviews)
American Anthropologist Journal of the American Anthropological Association, 2001
Medical anthropology abroad: An introductory text for medical students in Spain
Reviews in Anthropology, 1984
Reverte C, José Manuel. Antropología Médica, Volume I. Madrid: Editorial Rueda, 1981. xvii + 815 ... more Reverte C, José Manuel. Antropología Médica, Volume I. Madrid: Editorial Rueda, 1981. xvii + 815 pp. including figures, photographs, and bibliography. $40.00 cloth.
We All Need Water
Anthropology, 2015
Most research on female sex workers is urban-based, emphasizing economic necessity and risk-takin... more Most research on female sex workers is urban-based, emphasizing economic necessity and risk-taking. Few authors discuss sex workers and their children. The objective of the present study was to ethnographically explore the influence of street life on childrearing by women involved in sex work in agricultural areas of the southeastern USA. Interviews took place with 38 women. Findings suggest that
Who Has Potatoes? Turning Points in Migratory Experience
/ Resumen Migratory farm,labor like other forms of migrant
Variation in Drug and Alcohol Use among Agricultural Laborers: Watermelon Men in the Rural South
Human Organization, 2009
... on drinking in settings where agricultural workers were employed and/or resided (Alaniz 1994;... more ... on drinking in settings where agricultural workers were employed and/or resided (Alaniz 1994; Chi and McClain 1992; Grzywacz, Quandt, Isom, and Arcury ... to sell remnant crop that he and hiscrew take from a leased field that has already been harvested by crews organized by ...
Procedural Adjustments to Census Techniques for Enumerating the Hispanic Population: An Example from Nassau County (New York)
Human Organization, 1979
Mexican Trans-Migrants and Their Experience on Both Sides of the Border: Intimacy and Distance Through Use of Deictic Referents
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2013
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2011
Fieldwork strategies are showing increasing concern about contributing something of value to the ... more Fieldwork strategies are showing increasing concern about contributing something of value to the local community, where one has conducted research. This concern for payback has centered on countermanding the obvious, visible benefits to individual researchers, or a research team, than whatever contributions have gone to the community, which are likely to be much less visible. Alternatives to direct community contributions include sharing expertise with those that provide basic services and advocates who work on behalf of the population. Research with farm workers requires shifts in field techniques that take into account continuing geographic mobility, irregular employment, and a precarious economic situation experienced by the study population. This article describes the author's experience in conducting long-term ethnography among farm workers across multiple sites along the eastern United States. Strategies of fieldwork among this mobile and hard-to-reach population are compared against standards of fieldwork that have been articulated in four classic monographs from the social sciences. An overview of findings from research among agricultural workers is offered as evidence of the appropriateness of reliance on emerging field strategies that consider the safety and well-being of the population, simultaneous with selecting what eventually become valid and reliable techniques of data collection.
The Open Anthropology Journal, 2010
Diversion and subversion occur in the playful humor in which trans-migrant farm workers engage to... more Diversion and subversion occur in the playful humor in which trans-migrant farm workers engage to alleviate the gruffness and roughness of farm labor and to re-assert the human potential for creativity, with words, if not in action and behavior. This essay considers nuances of the humor response in formal interviews as markers of significant points of transition. Narrators use humor to reflect on alterations in behavioral experience that directly affect the personal identity they have come to accept and to believe is a reasonable representation of who they are.
Modulation of Drug Use in Southern Farming Communities: Social Origins of Poly-use
Human Organization, 2009
... Situations where a user's lived experience is embedded in social adversity, spatial ... more ... Situations where a user's lived experience is embedded in social adversity, spatial dislocation and irregular employ-ment, and the ambiguity and uncertainty of far-from-ideal work conditions (Frone 2008; Grzywacz, Quandt, and Arcury 2008), both influence and exacerbate ...