Videos by Dr. Rachael Root
A compilation of findings from preliminary ethnographic, geospatial, and comparative mixed-method... more A compilation of findings from preliminary ethnographic, geospatial, and comparative mixed-methods interdisciplinary dissertation research project. Current up to COVID-19 pandemic. 3 views
Conference Papers by Dr. Rachael Root
American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, 2022
Recently, global citizenship education (GCE) has been connected to UNESCO’s educational goals, in... more Recently, global citizenship education (GCE) has been connected to UNESCO’s educational goals, including the Education for All Initiative (EFA) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (Mochizuki, 2016). This paper explores ways to address key critiques regarding accessibility, equity, and reproduction of systems of domination in GCE. After examining challenges of implementation, this paper considers how intercultural universities have altered program and curricula structures to form local partnerships for student learning. It unpacks how foregrounding intersectionality theory and pedagogy in UNESCO’s GCE framework enables student experiences using participatory research methods. Thus, participatory methodology, in conjunction with altered program structures, intersectionality approaches in curricula, and student engagement with local communities create pathways to learning about global processes in equitable and sustainable ways.
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, 2021
Within modern neoliberal university structures, students who do not complete programs of study ar... more Within modern neoliberal university structures, students who do not complete programs of study are perceived as failures. However, such understandings do not account for structural barriers or allow for narratives of student agency and choice. Additionally, when considered in contexts of colonialism and indigeneity, dropping out has implications beyond individual student decisions, suggestive of a deeper sociocultural dissonance that remains understudied within anthropology.
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
Latin American Studies Association Annual Meeting, 2020
Traditionally, students who do not complete their studies are referred to as dropouts, interprete... more Traditionally, students who do not complete their studies are referred to as dropouts, interpreted through a Durkheimian lens as committing social suicide. Within modern neoliberal university structures, such students are perceived as failures. Yet this understanding disregards students’ agency, while reported statistics do not differentiate between the reasons underlying incomplete degrees. Informed by scholars of indigeneity and colonialism, my initial research question centers around asking a complicated, multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, and what are the mechanics at work?
In order to address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I have elected to use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study.
This preliminary fieldwork has enabled me to orient this project within interdisciplinary frameworks, drawing from anthropological and educational theory to narrow my focus. I will continue this project by researching how self-identified Maya perceive and experience college, and how this relates to neoliberal and political discourses surrounding higher education. This will entail additional geospatial analysis supplemented by extended multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork and policy document analysis, slated to begin next year.
In recent decades a cross-disciplinary focus on research conducted within massive online video ga... more In recent decades a cross-disciplinary focus on research conducted within massive online video games has emerged. While anthropologists have only recently begun to explore these largely digital domains, other disciplines have applied various anthropological theories and methods to their online in-game research. So far, most in-game anthropological research within this area has focused on themes of online players’ identity, gender constructions, and gaming communities. In-game conflicts have not received as much attention by anthropologists despite the fact that many games are located in layered contexts of conflict. By utilizing ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft, I analyze both how players negotiate conflicts and power differentials and examine the tools and understandings that underpin their actions. I also explore the power dynamics and group structures specific to Warcraft’s player versus player environments and engagements. In these areas, emphasis on group solidarity and cooperation found in other parts of the game is displaced and inverted into increased emphasis on individuals, resulting in unique inter- and intra-group conflicts. My research enhances interpretations of in-game, online dynamics and informs theoretical frameworks addressing questions of conflict and power. Through exploring how familiar theories and methods operate in unfamiliar worlds and digital social contexts, my research contributes to current disciplinary understandings and expands these frameworks to accommodate the innovate technologies that are changing social interactions. By foregrounding how players manage conflict, my research will inform broader conceptions of how individuals and groups manage conflict within and outside digital social events.
Conference Presentation Slides by Dr. Rachael Root
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, 2021
Within modern neoliberal university structures, students who do not complete programs of study ar... more Within modern neoliberal university structures, students who do not complete programs of study are perceived as failures. However, such understandings do not account for structural barriers or allow for narratives of student agency and choice. Additionally, when considered in contexts of colonialism and indigeneity, dropping out has implications beyond individual student decisions, suggestive of a deeper sociocultural dissonance that remains understudied within anthropology.
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
Latin American Studies Association Annual Meeting, 2020
Traditionally, students who do not complete their studies are referred to as dropouts, interprete... more Traditionally, students who do not complete their studies are referred to as dropouts, interpreted through a Durkheimian lens as committing social suicide. Within modern neoliberal university structures, such students are perceived as failures. Yet this disregards students’ agency, while reported statistics do not differentiate between reasons underlying incomplete degrees. Informed by scholars of indigeneity and colonialism, my research question centers around: why are the rates of attrition so high? What are the mechanics at work? What impact do identity formation processes have on students’ ability to complete their studies?
To address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I will use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis, conducted intermittently between January and July 2019 in Orlando, Florida, and Mérida and Valladolid, Yucatán. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study. These preliminary findings, and the larger dissertation project they anticipate, are partially a result of my doctoral program, which emphasizes methods rather than topic or geographic region. This enables me to incorporate supportive spatial findings into my primarily ethnographic project. For preliminary geospatial analysis, I used Mexican national inter-census data, collected by Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) in 2015 (INEGI 2015) and imported into ArcMap 10.5 geospatial software. On-site data collection has so far been delayed due to the current COVID-19 crisis.
Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Meeting, 2019
As a discipline, anthropology is uniquely situated to trace transformative shifts in human sociob... more As a discipline, anthropology is uniquely situated to trace transformative shifts in human sociobiological processes over time. As environments and resources change, human ingenuity responds with increasing technological sophistication and variations in accumulative behaviors. As technologies integrate and connect global populations, the accumulation of wealth and resources likewise shifts from the natural to the digital worlds. While many anthropologists look to the past and to processes of globalization to sketch these shifts in the natural world, there is a growing trend researching these transformations in digital spheres. Here, I examine the ways players in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor marshal social and economic resources in both the natural and digital worlds to accumulate power and prestige in order to overcome in-game challenges and garner out-of-game financial benefits. Based on ethnographic methods including participant observation, document analysis, and concentrated interviews, I examine how players leverage resources to negotiate, resist, and overcome conflicts and challenges in order to be successful in competitive gaming. Findings demonstrate that players utilize out-of-game resources such as gaming hardware systems and leisure time, while in-game, players use their skill and expertise to establish social relationships that can be leveraged for competitive play. In constructing their reputations and accumulating prestige, players integrate online and offline resources, traversing the natural/digital divide in their pursuit of achievement. As this research primarily focuses on the online and in-game aspects of building these reputations, future research needs to include offline impacts and official game competitions.
Accompanying PowerPoint slides for the paper presentation of the same title.
While video game research has focused on themes of online identity construction, player’s gender,... more While video game research has focused on themes of online identity construction, player’s gender, and gaming communities, discussions of in-game strife are oddly missing despite the fact that many digital games offer a player versus player experience. These experiences add layers of dynamic conflicts that locate players as agents at intersections of authority, domination, power, and resistance. In these player versus player environments and engagements, layers of technological, social, and personal structures create nexuses of friction that range from the unique to the universal. I utilize ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft in order to analyze how players negotiate incompatible and differential power structures. Of special importance are participant observation and semi-structured interviews that illuminate players’ strategy selections and goal-oriented judgements in both open and restricted player versus player events. Since different player versus player contexts within World of Warcraft give rise to socially-approved yet often clashing strategies that further constrain the player’s agency, I explore the power dynamics and group structures specific to the World of Warcraft digital online game. Through exploring the operation of familiar theories and methods in digital video game social contexts, my research contributes to current theoretical discussions and expands these theories to video game technologies. In addressing this scholarship gap, my research builds on current research of in-game, online dynamics and informs frameworks addressing agentic navigation. Finally, by foregrounding how players negotiate conflicts, my research will inform broader understandings of how individuals and groups manage social disputes within and outside digital social events.
While video game research has focused on themes of online identity construction, player’s gender,... more While video game research has focused on themes of online identity construction, player’s gender, and gaming communities, discussions of in-game strife are oddly missing despite the fact that many digital games offer a player versus player experience. These experiences add layers of dynamic conflicts that locate players as agents at intersections of authority, domination, power, and resistance. In these player versus player environments and engagements, layers of technological, social, and personal structures create nexuses of friction that range from the unique to the universal. I utilize ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft in order to analyze how players negotiate incompatible and differential power structures. Of special importance are participant observation and semi-structured interviews that illuminate players’ strategy selections and goal-oriented judgements in both open and restricted player versus player events. Since different player versus player contexts within World of Warcraft give rise to socially-approved yet often clashing strategies that further constrain the player’s agency, I explore the power dynamics and group structures specific to the World of Warcraft digital online game. Through exploring the operation of familiar theories and methods in digital video game social contexts, my research contributes to current theoretical discussions and expands these theories to video game technologies. In addressing this scholarship gap, my research builds on current research of in-game, online dynamics and informs frameworks addressing agentic navigation. Finally, by foregrounding how players negotiate conflicts, my research will inform broader understandings of how individuals and groups manage social disputes within and outside digital social events.
Poster Presentations by Dr. Rachael Root
Poster Presented at the Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Meeting, Lexington, KY, April 20... more Poster Presented at the Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Meeting, Lexington, KY, April 2015.
I examine tiendas (small general stores) that are run out of family homes in a small town in Manabí Province, Ecuador. My research aims to uncover the reasons behind the creation of these tiendas and their gendered, socioeconomic roles in the household and community. Collected data is based in part on the efforts of a local cultural guide who assisted me for four weeks in summer 2014. I utilized participant observation and interviews at 12 tiendas in ten different neighborhoods to locate patterns of family, shopkeeper, and customer interactions. All tiendas are attached to individual family homes and uniquely conceived, organized, and operated. The monthly income for many window tiendas is enough to purchase food for the family while inventory is an extension of the family larder. Tiendas also serve as social hubs and most provide covered seating. This preliminary research illustrates how tiendas are created and operated, and foregrounds the socioeconomics of family and neighborhood finances and income fluctuations within small-town contexts. By understanding and tracing the organic growth of these micro-businesses and their attendant socioeconomic impacts on the community, plans for infrastructure and development can be tailored to fit local contexts. This research has the potential to inform investment and economic models for small coastal towns and contribute to the corpus on micro-business enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Thesis by Dr. Rachael Root
Dissertation, 2023
In the last few decades, narratives of diversity and international declarations have directed hig... more In the last few decades, narratives of diversity and international declarations have directed higher education to become more inclusive. In México, new intercultural universities incorporate indigenous knowledges, skills, languages, and values into Western-style curriculum or create new curriculum that centers local elders and community needs in degree completion requirements. As a public university located in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, Universidad de Oriente’s objective is to stimulate regional development, yet their mission is to protect and preserve Yucatec Maya language and culture. These opposing priorities generate tensions: is Universidad de Oriente really a school “for the Mayas” or is it yet another iteration of exclusion in the colonial project of the Americas? This tension mirrors the experiences of its students; those who have greater difficulty are also those situated on the colonized side of history geographically, financially, linguistically, and racially/ethnically.
In this project, I investigate how students navigate barriers and overcome challenges that stand between them and completing their bachelor’s degrees at Universidad de Oriente. The first half of this dissertation introduces problems of dropout and situates Universidad de Oriente within international, national, and regional historical contexts, diversity and interculturality narratives, and educational policy. The second half is an analysis of ethnographic data describing students’ experiences during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. I examine tensions inherent in the dual identities of university as driver of regional economic development and as preserver of Maya language and culture, and how these are reflected in the Tourism Development and Maya Language and Culture degree programs. I demonstrate geography and distance are critical factors and situate these within coloniality of power and world systems theory. I argue locating coloniality of distance within terrains of access is indispensable for understanding student challenges and a useful framework for identifying factors leading to student attrition during and after COVID-19 lockdowns.
As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, cross-discip... more As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, cross-disciplinary research has recently turned to digital online video games. Most anthropological research within this area has centered around player self-identification, gender construction, and gaming communities. Yet many interactions occur at nodes of dynamic conflict where agentic players navigate intersections of power, which are unaddressed in the scholarly corpus. By utilizing ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft’s player versus player events, I examine resources, relationships, and tools that underpin player actions and understandings. My findings reveal layered and dynamic patterns of sociotechnical conflict. Players’ geographical location impacts access to infrastructure while hardware and software constrain in-game action in fundamental and inescapable ways. Player versus player events add additional restrictions and create fluid situations where players continually negotiate fluctuating social tensions while event-dependent dispersions of power fluctuate between groups and individuals. Players become leaders by legitimizing power in contextually unique ways, and competing imaginaries generate conflicts that are interpreted through game-specific subjectivities. In exploring these occurrences and utilizing theoretical explanations within World of Warcraft contexts, this research contributes to disciplinary understandings and discussions addressing conflict, leadership, and power, and to methodological techniques utilized in virtual world study. By foregrounding how players navigate power differentials in conflict situations, this research informs broader conceptions of how individuals and groups manage social disputes within and outside digital social events, informs game design, and has policy implications for resolving virtual world conflicts in real world courts.
Papers by Dr. Rachael Root
Critique of Anthropology, 2023
Human ingenuity responds to changing environments and resources with technological sophistication... more Human ingenuity responds to changing environments and resources with technological sophistication and variations in accumulative behaviors. While anthropologists look to the past and to processes of globalization to sketch these shifts in the natural world, there is a growing awareness that these transformations also occur in digital online worlds. I argue that archaeology's attention to materiality provides useful analysis and directions for ethnographic video game analysis. I use research from the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, where players marshal social and economic resources in both the natural and digital worlds. In constructing reputations and accumulating prestige, players integrate online and offline resources, traversing the tangible/digital divide in their pursuit of achievement. Archaeological perspectives and theories of aggrandizement, containment, systems, landscapes, and ontological materiality provide opportunities to expand ethnographic video game research and debates into new directions.
Proceedings of the 2022 AERA Annual Meeting
As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, crossdiscipl... more As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, crossdisciplinary research has recently turned to digital online video games. Most anthropological research within this area has centered around player self-identification, gender construction, and gaming communities. Yet many interactions occur at nodes of dynamic conflict where agentic players navigate intersections of power, which are unaddressed in the scholarly corpus. By utilizing ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft's player versus player events, I examine resources, relationships, and tools that underpin player actions and understandings. My findings reveal layered and dynamic patterns of sociotechnical conflict. Players' geographical location impacts access to infrastructure while hardware and software constrain in-game action in fundamental and inescapable ways. Player versus player events add additional restrictions and create fluid situations where players continually negotiate fluctuating social tensions while event-dependent dispersions of power fluctuate between groups and individuals. Players become leaders by legitimizing power in contextually unique ways, and competing imaginaries generate conflicts that are interpreted through game-specific subjectivities. In exploring these occurrences and utilizing theoretical explanations within World of Warcraft contexts, this research contributes to disciplinary understandings and discussions addressing conflict, leadership, and power, and to methodological techniques utilized in virtual world study. By foregrounding how players navigate power differentials in conflict situations, this research informs broader conceptions of how individuals and groups manage social disputes within and outside digital social events, informs game design, and has policy implications for resolving virtual world conflicts in real world courts. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my co-advisors Dr. Joanna Mishtal and Dr. Ty Matejowksy. You have shown me what I am capable of and helped me realize that I really do know what I am talking about. Thank you also to committee member Dr. Natalie Underberg-Goode for the helpful resources. I am fortunate to have such insightful and dedicated scholars to mentor and assist my academic endeavors. I would also like to thank the amazing faculty, staff, and students of the UCF Department of Anthropology. You helped make the paperwork understandable and that first semester bearable. You continue to be sources of joy and inspiration (and references!) and I am grateful for your encouragement and companionship. A special thank-you goes to Dr. Lana Williams and Dr. J. Marla Toyne for encouragement, humor, and key professional recommendations. I am grateful to Activision-Blizzard and Blizzard entertainment for having a standing copyright policy regarding educational research for World of Warcraft and for creating such a captivating world. Thank you to all the World of Warcraft research participants, especially the interviewees, who put up with some truly boneheaded questions and poor PvP performances. Thanks specifically to Ocean-Anvilmar for critical assistance. You are a Gladiator of a friend! A round of very special thanks goes out to my family. Peter, your assistance and hilarious PvP mic chatter helped my research go smoothly. I especially appreciate your unswerving support and patience during this academic foray while I zoned into thesis-world. To Dennis for answering my inquisitive "anthropology? What is that?" This could be construed as all your fault. Carla, your absolute belief in me combined with your Wonder Woman-esque example are the cornerstone foundations that I build my life upon. Finally, heartfelt thanks to Ed for putting that first game controller in my hand and kick-starting my love of video games (I got to research one!). RIP.
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Videos by Dr. Rachael Root
Conference Papers by Dr. Rachael Root
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
In order to address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I have elected to use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study.
This preliminary fieldwork has enabled me to orient this project within interdisciplinary frameworks, drawing from anthropological and educational theory to narrow my focus. I will continue this project by researching how self-identified Maya perceive and experience college, and how this relates to neoliberal and political discourses surrounding higher education. This will entail additional geospatial analysis supplemented by extended multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork and policy document analysis, slated to begin next year.
Conference Presentation Slides by Dr. Rachael Root
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
To address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I will use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis, conducted intermittently between January and July 2019 in Orlando, Florida, and Mérida and Valladolid, Yucatán. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study. These preliminary findings, and the larger dissertation project they anticipate, are partially a result of my doctoral program, which emphasizes methods rather than topic or geographic region. This enables me to incorporate supportive spatial findings into my primarily ethnographic project. For preliminary geospatial analysis, I used Mexican national inter-census data, collected by Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) in 2015 (INEGI 2015) and imported into ArcMap 10.5 geospatial software. On-site data collection has so far been delayed due to the current COVID-19 crisis.
Poster Presentations by Dr. Rachael Root
I examine tiendas (small general stores) that are run out of family homes in a small town in Manabí Province, Ecuador. My research aims to uncover the reasons behind the creation of these tiendas and their gendered, socioeconomic roles in the household and community. Collected data is based in part on the efforts of a local cultural guide who assisted me for four weeks in summer 2014. I utilized participant observation and interviews at 12 tiendas in ten different neighborhoods to locate patterns of family, shopkeeper, and customer interactions. All tiendas are attached to individual family homes and uniquely conceived, organized, and operated. The monthly income for many window tiendas is enough to purchase food for the family while inventory is an extension of the family larder. Tiendas also serve as social hubs and most provide covered seating. This preliminary research illustrates how tiendas are created and operated, and foregrounds the socioeconomics of family and neighborhood finances and income fluctuations within small-town contexts. By understanding and tracing the organic growth of these micro-businesses and their attendant socioeconomic impacts on the community, plans for infrastructure and development can be tailored to fit local contexts. This research has the potential to inform investment and economic models for small coastal towns and contribute to the corpus on micro-business enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Thesis by Dr. Rachael Root
In this project, I investigate how students navigate barriers and overcome challenges that stand between them and completing their bachelor’s degrees at Universidad de Oriente. The first half of this dissertation introduces problems of dropout and situates Universidad de Oriente within international, national, and regional historical contexts, diversity and interculturality narratives, and educational policy. The second half is an analysis of ethnographic data describing students’ experiences during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. I examine tensions inherent in the dual identities of university as driver of regional economic development and as preserver of Maya language and culture, and how these are reflected in the Tourism Development and Maya Language and Culture degree programs. I demonstrate geography and distance are critical factors and situate these within coloniality of power and world systems theory. I argue locating coloniality of distance within terrains of access is indispensable for understanding student challenges and a useful framework for identifying factors leading to student attrition during and after COVID-19 lockdowns.
Papers by Dr. Rachael Root
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
In order to address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I have elected to use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study.
This preliminary fieldwork has enabled me to orient this project within interdisciplinary frameworks, drawing from anthropological and educational theory to narrow my focus. I will continue this project by researching how self-identified Maya perceive and experience college, and how this relates to neoliberal and political discourses surrounding higher education. This will entail additional geospatial analysis supplemented by extended multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork and policy document analysis, slated to begin next year.
I research these issues in Mexico’s Yucatan state, where 60% of the population is indigenous but one-third of enrolled students do not complete their degrees. I focus on a complicated, mixed-method, and multi-layered question: why are the rates of attrition so high, what are the mechanics at work, and how do these affect indigenous students?
Preliminary findings demonstrate that geographic barriers, institutional invisibility, and social assumptions based on ethnicity restrict access to higher education, which may culminate in barriers preventing students from completing studies. Geospatial analysis shows relationships between public university locations and population demographics that demonstrate the enduring legacies of colonial-era Spanish settlement patterns. Ethnographic findings hint that tensions between indigenous, national, and professional identities are constructed throughout educational processes and are exacerbated during tertiary education programs. These identity expectations inform the development and implementation of new programs aimed at Maya students.
Future research will expand ethnographic aspects to include local perceptions and experiences of higher education and will entail additional geospatial analysis, supplemented by institutional policy analysis. These findings have implications for educational systems that work to serve indigenous communities while struggling with colonial legacies.
To address these issues at the intersections of ethnographic, geographic, and sociopolitical factors, I will use a mixed-methods approach to examine this issue in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper discusses the findings of preliminary ethnographic fieldwork and geospatial analysis, conducted intermittently between January and July 2019 in Orlando, Florida, and Mérida and Valladolid, Yucatán. Ethnographic findings hint at intersections of values, norms, and identities, where educational processes shape and shift these factors in complex ways. Geospatial analysis illuminates the relationships between the locations of selected public universities and population demographics, where geographic distance has implications for students’ ability to access preferred programs of study. These preliminary findings, and the larger dissertation project they anticipate, are partially a result of my doctoral program, which emphasizes methods rather than topic or geographic region. This enables me to incorporate supportive spatial findings into my primarily ethnographic project. For preliminary geospatial analysis, I used Mexican national inter-census data, collected by Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) in 2015 (INEGI 2015) and imported into ArcMap 10.5 geospatial software. On-site data collection has so far been delayed due to the current COVID-19 crisis.
I examine tiendas (small general stores) that are run out of family homes in a small town in Manabí Province, Ecuador. My research aims to uncover the reasons behind the creation of these tiendas and their gendered, socioeconomic roles in the household and community. Collected data is based in part on the efforts of a local cultural guide who assisted me for four weeks in summer 2014. I utilized participant observation and interviews at 12 tiendas in ten different neighborhoods to locate patterns of family, shopkeeper, and customer interactions. All tiendas are attached to individual family homes and uniquely conceived, organized, and operated. The monthly income for many window tiendas is enough to purchase food for the family while inventory is an extension of the family larder. Tiendas also serve as social hubs and most provide covered seating. This preliminary research illustrates how tiendas are created and operated, and foregrounds the socioeconomics of family and neighborhood finances and income fluctuations within small-town contexts. By understanding and tracing the organic growth of these micro-businesses and their attendant socioeconomic impacts on the community, plans for infrastructure and development can be tailored to fit local contexts. This research has the potential to inform investment and economic models for small coastal towns and contribute to the corpus on micro-business enterprise and entrepreneurship.
In this project, I investigate how students navigate barriers and overcome challenges that stand between them and completing their bachelor’s degrees at Universidad de Oriente. The first half of this dissertation introduces problems of dropout and situates Universidad de Oriente within international, national, and regional historical contexts, diversity and interculturality narratives, and educational policy. The second half is an analysis of ethnographic data describing students’ experiences during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. I examine tensions inherent in the dual identities of university as driver of regional economic development and as preserver of Maya language and culture, and how these are reflected in the Tourism Development and Maya Language and Culture degree programs. I demonstrate geography and distance are critical factors and situate these within coloniality of power and world systems theory. I argue locating coloniality of distance within terrains of access is indispensable for understanding student challenges and a useful framework for identifying factors leading to student attrition during and after COVID-19 lockdowns.