title: Phenomenology: An experience of letting go and letting be.

authors: Schmidt, Christopher

subjects: phenomenology

abstract: Phenomenology is a methodological approach to research that has been broadly influential on established qualitative and interpretative perspectives.Founded in the work of German philosophers, it offers challenges in both understanding and practice. These stem, in part, from the requirement of the researcher to actively seek personal and deep meaning from those who are studied; and from the embedded requirement to acknowledge researcher influence and involvement in the research process. Through engaging in a phenomenological investigation into spiritual leisure, I realized the potential of research to be both personally fulfilling, and an empowering experience for myself as a researcher and as a person. A significant aspect of the research process that contributed to this was the lived experience of getting to know myself and knowing others as I simultaneously 'let go and let be'. Shared through this paper is a selection of experiences that exemplify that edifying process, including the emergent need to focus on letting go of personal doubts, aspects of my research training and research expectations in order to be able to conduct a detailed research project and to take on the challenges of phenomenology itself. With phenomenology embedded in encouraging researchers to let down our shields and engage with research that is personally relevant, my own experience revealed that research can be more than finding out, it can also include an embracing of not knowing. In such ways it is suggested that research is not just a process of data collection but a potential forum for becoming more whole as people as we actively reflect, know ourselves and see the world through others' eyes.

text: Phenomenology: An experience of letting go and letting be. Phenomenology is a methodological approach to research that has been broadly influential on established qualitative and interpretative perspectives.Founded in the work of German philosophers, it offers challenges in both understanding and practice. These stem, in part, from the requirement of the researcher to actively seek personal and deep meaning from those who are studied; and from the embedded requirement to acknowledge researcher influence and involvement in the research process. Through engaging in a phenomenological investigation into spiritual leisure, I realized the potential of research to be both personally fulfilling, and an empowering experience for myself as a researcher and as a person. A significant aspect of the research process that contributed to this was the lived experience of getting to know myself and knowing others as I simultaneously 'let go and let be'. Shared through this paper is a selection of experiences that exemplify that edifying process, including the emergent need to focus on letting go of personal doubts, aspects of my research training and research expectations in order to be able to conduct a detailed research project and to take on the challenges of phenomenology itself. With phenomenology embedded in encouraging researchers to let down our shields and engage with research that is personally relevant, my own experience revealed that research can be more than finding out, it can also include an embracing of not knowing. In such ways it is suggested that research is not just a process of data collection but a potential forum for becoming more whole as people as we actively reflect, know ourselves and see the world through others' eyes.

year: 2005

title: Dark tourism and voyeurism: tourist arrested for “spying” in Iran

authors: Buda, Dorina Maria

subjects: dark tourism/tourist

abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose voyeurism as one possible lens to analyse the experiential nature of dark tourism in places of socio-political danger, thus expanding psychoanalytic understandings of those who travel to a “dark” place.
Design/methodology/approach – Freud's and Lacan's theories on voyeurism are used to examine the desire to travel to and gaze upon something that is (socially constructed as) forbidden, such as a place that is portrayed as being hostile to international tourists. A qualitative and critical analysis approach is employed to examine one tourist's experience of travelling to Iran and being imprisoned as a result of taking a photograph of what he thought was a sunrise but also pictured pylons near an electrical plant.
Findings – The authors' analysis of the experiences of this tourist in Iran reveals that tourism, in its widest sense, can be experienced as “dark” through the consumption and performance of danger. This finding moves beyond the examination of dark tourism merely as “tourist products”, or that frame a particular moment in time, or are merely founded on one's connection to or perception of the site.
Research limitations/implications – Whilst the authors recognise the limitations of the case study approach taken here, and as such, generalisations cannot be inferred from the findings, it is argued that there is merit in exploring critically the motivational and experiential nature of travel to places that may be considered forbidden, dangerous or hostile in an attempt to further understand the concept of dark tourism from a tourist's lived perspective.
Originality/value – As the authors bring voyeurism into the debate on dark tourism, the study analyses the voyeuristic experiences of a dark tourist. In short, the authors argue that the lived and “deviant” experiential nature of tourism itself can be included in the discussion of “dark tourism”.

text: Dark tourism and voyeurism: tourist arrested for “spying” in Iran Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose voyeurism as one possible lens to analyse the experiential nature of dark tourism in places of socio-political danger, thus expanding psychoanalytic understandings of those who travel to a “dark” place.
Design/methodology/approach – Freud's and Lacan's theories on voyeurism are used to examine the desire to travel to and gaze upon something that is (socially constructed as) forbidden, such as a place that is portrayed as being hostile to international tourists. A qualitative and critical analysis approach is employed to examine one tourist's experience of travelling to Iran and being imprisoned as a result of taking a photograph of what he thought was a sunrise but also pictured pylons near an electrical plant.
Findings – The authors' analysis of the experiences of this tourist in Iran reveals that tourism, in its widest sense, can be experienced as “dark” through the consumption and performance of danger. This finding moves beyond the examination of dark tourism merely as “tourist products”, or that frame a particular moment in time, or are merely founded on one's connection to or perception of the site.
Research limitations/implications – Whilst the authors recognise the limitations of the case study approach taken here, and as such, generalisations cannot be inferred from the findings, it is argued that there is merit in exploring critically the motivational and experiential nature of travel to places that may be considered forbidden, dangerous or hostile in an attempt to further understand the concept of dark tourism from a tourist's lived perspective.
Originality/value – As the authors bring voyeurism into the debate on dark tourism, the study analyses the voyeuristic experiences of a dark tourist. In short, the authors argue that the lived and “deviant” experiential nature of tourism itself can be included in the discussion of “dark tourism”.

year: 2013

title: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Evaluation

abstract: This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

text: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

year: 2015