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This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing Gonzalez's (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of experience, I re-present the ethnography for the reader in the way it unfolded for me--sometimes painful, other times insightful, oftentimes both. This dual text exposes my struggles as emergent ethnographer grappling with issues of voice, identity, and representation while describing scenes from life in Mexico drawn from observations and narrative interviews. At the forefront of this text are the methodological choices and ontological experiences of the Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology, while observations and conversations in Mexico City form the backdrop. (Contains 1 table.)

Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students' discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts by providing opportunities for groups of students to intersect and interact across cultures. Such opportunities for social connection can bring about a transformative third space wherein domestic students and their international peers can engage in meaningful and productive dialogic exchanges. However, as this analysis suggests, the mere opportunity for connection will not necessarily manifest outcomes consistent with ideals of internationalisation and may instead result in superficial exchanges and reified stereotypes. Specifically, findings from this study demonstrate several tensions in US students' discourse, revealing ways in which they simultaneously reject and represent American identity, challenge and reify national stereotypes, and pursue open-mindedness while maintaining "strong convictions". Finally, as a practical application of findings, we suggest training students to self-reflect through critical examination of their own and others' discourse as a means for pushing beyond the superficial towards genuine cultural learning.

While cigarette smoking is decreasing among young adults, rates of nicotine consumption through other devices, most notably electronic cigarettes, are on the rise. Framed by communication theory of identity, this study examines young adult smokers' experiences with relational others in regard to their smoking. Focus group discussions and individual interviews convened with 20 young adult cigarette and electronic cigarette smokers revealed identity gaps implicating the relational layer of identity, including personal-relational, enacted-relational, and personal-enacted-relational identity gaps. Participants used communicative and behavioral strategies to manage relational discrepancies. The documented identity gaps and management strategies present opportunities for targeted smoking cessation interventions that amplify dissonance created through identity gaps as a motivational tactic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Savoring is a well-established construct in positive psychology referring to one's capacity to recognize and appreciate enjoyable life experiences. Guided by phenomenological inquiry and constructivist grounded theory, I propose communication savoring as a new dimension of social savoring that has theoretical and practical relevance in the fields of positive communication and language and social psychology. Evidence is drawn from young adults' narrative descriptions of communication moments they savored. From these narratives, I proffer a typology of communication savoring that includes aesthetic communication, communication presence, nonverbal communication, recognition and acknowledgment, relational communication, extraordinary communication, and implicitly shared communication. I also describe the phenomenological experiences of savoring social interactions in the past, present, and future. To advance the communication model of savoring, I offer initial conceptual and operational definitions of communication savoring and recommend future directions for research within interpersonal and intergroup relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College males represent an important and overlooked catch-up population in the pursuit of human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention. An in-depth understanding of college males’ health beliefs about HPV and HPV prevention can guide the development of HPV health promotion messages targeted toward college males. We convened 9 focus groups among 84 college-aged males to discuss their perceptions of benefits and barriers toward HPV prevention 4 years after vaccine approval. Through participants’ discourse, we identified health beliefs that continue to endure as barriers to HPV prevention (e.g., lack of knowledge/awareness, apathy, dismissiveness, stigma, practical barriers, and skepticism). Prevention and protection endure as perceived benefits to HPV prevention. We also identified novel college male health beliefs that have emerged since vaccine approval and hold great potential for the development of more effective health messaging. One novel barrier that emerged was the perception that it was “too late” for college males to benefit from the vaccine. Several novel benefits also emerged including a perception of wider social benefit beyond the self and partner, reduced worry and anticipated regret, and the belief that “there is no reason not to [vaccinate].” This study was guided by the health belief model (HBM) and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students’ discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts by providing opportunities for groups of students to intersect and interact across cultures. Such opportunities for social connection can bring about a transformative third space wherein domestic students and their international peers can engage in meaningful and productive dialogic exchanges. However, as this analysis suggests, the mere opportunity for connection will not necessarily manifest outcomes consistent with ideals of internationalisation and may instead result in superficial exchanges and reified stereotypes. Specifically, findings from this study demonstrate several tensions in US students’ discourse, revealing ways in which they simultaneously reject and represent American identity, challenge and reify national stereotypes, and pursue open-mindedness while maintaining ‘strong convictions'. Finally, as a practical application of findings, we suggest training students to self-reflect through critical examination of their own and others’ discourse as a means for pushing beyond the superficial towards genuine cultural learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focus group data revealed that despite reporting expectations for high levels of sexual activity, college men primarily identifying as heterosexual were ambivalent about sexual health responsibility and their role in preventing human papillomavirus (HPV). Participants identified shared sexual health responsibility as an ideal but invoked heteronormative gender discourses to rationalize inequality in partnered sexual health. Self-categorization processes based on gender may prevent college males from engaging self- and partnered protective behaviors. Yet, self-categorization processes also enabled college men to envision a future relational identity as husband and father in which they engaged protective sexual health behaviors. Although discourses may signify latent benevolent sexism, they may also make room for behavior change through dissonance or messages encouraging superordinate categorization that urges engaging in preventive sexual health behaviors regardless of gender. Implications for self-categorization processes in HPV prevention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]