Showing papers by "Concordia University published in 1969"

Power Allocation--Rapidly Varying Phase Error

Abstract: The performance of command and telemetry systems, useful in deep-space communications, is frequently affected by the radio-frequency phase error which is introduced at the point of reception by means of the carrier tracking loop. This paper presents design trends for the case where this phase error may vary over the duration of the signaling interval, i.e., the case where the ratio of the system data rate to carrier tracking loop bandwidth is less than one. Results are given for the case of binary phase-shift keyed (PSK) signaling.

Feminist Ethnography: Thinking through Methodologies, Challenges, and Possibilities by Dána-Ain Davis and Christa Craven

Abstract: Feminist Ethnography is an inspiring, lively and well-crafted textbook that provides a useful structure for an undergraduate course. Authors Davis and Craven are seasoned ethnographers, activists and teachers. They track the genealogy of feminist scholarship in the history of anthropology, its meshing with the emergence of queer and critical race theory, its engagement with transnational movement building and its contemporary influence in a wide array of interdisciplinary fields. They take a problem-based approach to teaching and learning with a twofold goal: to inspire critical thinking about everyday experience and to help students think through how to plan and implement a project, from the original asking of a question or set of questions through the design of feminist methodologies, ethics and writing and the circulation of results. The text offers a solid resource and support for teaching in today’s classrooms and will inspire readers, if they aren’t already doing so, to develop and teach a course devoted to feminist ethnography – or to urge their departments to ensure that such a course is offered. Integral to Davis and Craven’s approach is the motif of conversation. In each of the eight chapters, Davis and Craven place their own discussions in conversation with three textual features they call ‘‘Spotlights,’’ ‘‘Essentials’’ and ‘‘Thinking Through.’’ ‘‘Spotlights’’ are excerpts from more than 30 interviews they conducted with scholars and activists, old and new, including graduate students and postdocs, over ten years of fieldwork and participation at nearly 40 conferences as they worked together on this book. ‘‘Essentials’’ are excerpts from influential texts in the development of feminist ethnography. Over half of these profile the work of women of colour. This is the authors’ direct effort to rectify the under-citation of this scholarship and the marginalisation of women of colour in academia. Queer scholars are central. And male ethnographers who integrate and acknowledge the contribution of feminist methodologies and scholarship in their work are also included. Photos and bios accompany each Spotlight interview as well as each Essential text. These visual features further engage the reader in personal reflection. Finally, the textual feature ‘‘Thinking Through’’ offers prompts for fun activities that will help students to work with the concepts that the text is introducing and will inspire them in their personal development of a feminist sensibility. By ‘‘feminist sensibility’’ Davis and Craven mean ‘‘the ability to appreciate and respond to the complex intellectual and theoretical influences of feminist theory, thought, practice and politics’’ (5). ‘‘It is the feminist sensibility – the commitment to paying attention to previous scholarship, and both respond to and integrate the complexities of feminist intellectual influences – that produces feminist ethnographic inquiry’’ (48). The book is organised into eight chapters. Chapter 1, ‘‘What Is the ‘Feminist’ in Feminist Ethnography?,’’ orients the reader to the shifts feminism has undergone and to the practice of internal critique that feminists are continually engaged in. Here Davis and Craven offer a useful working definition of feminist ethnography as incorporating the following five dimensions: ‘‘1) involves a feminist sensibility, and commitment to paying attention to marginality and power differentials; these include not only gender, but also race, class, nation, sexuality, ability, and other areas of difference; 2) draws inspiration from feminist scholarship – in other words, our feminist intellectual genealogy is important; 3) challenges marginalization and injustice; 4) acknowledges and reflects upon power relations within the research context; 5) aims to produce scholarship – in both traditional and experimental forms – that may contribute to movement building and/or be in the service of organizations, people, communities, and issues we study’’ (11). Davis and Craven further explain that the challenge feminists face in working through tensions and contradictions is ‘‘itself a source of knowledge.’’ That there are no uniform perspectives about the role or meaning of feminism across race and ethnicity and no singular feminist analysis of issues within transnational politics or across the political spectrum presents challenges, they say, that are themselves ‘‘the work of feminism’’ (1–2, emphasis in original). Chapter 2 elaborates a history of feminist contributions to the development of the craft of ethnography in anthropology, the discipline within which feminist ethnography emerged. They chart the development of feminist ethnography – the project, process, product and outcomes – as a field of social justice work in the academy. Chapter 3 outlines the debates and interventions of feminist ethnographers during and following the explosion of feminist scholarship in the late 1980s, including insider/outsider dilemmas, the challenges of exercising a robust reflexivity, the role of citational politics, and the importance of acknowledging intellectual debts and of seeking out innovative scholarship that is often ignored because of structural inequities (67). Chapter 4, ‘‘How Does One Do Feminist Ethnography?,’’ explains what makes a project and research design ‘‘feminist’’ and outlines the methods that have been most useful to feminist ethnographers. Chapter 5 presents concrete examples of the ethical challenges and logistical constraints feminist ethnographers have faced in fieldwork and writing as they endeavour to acknowledge power, develop collaborative and participative research relations, ‘‘give back,’’ and contribute to social change movement building. Chapter 6 explores further ways that ethnography can be engaging, accessible and widely circulated, including via ethnographic texts, blogs, novels, film and performance – again offering concrete examples and useful tips. Chapter 7, ‘‘Feminist Activist Ethnography,’’ discusses what it means to be a public scholar and ways to contribute to movement building, advocacy and public policy. Chapter 8, on the future of feminist ethnography, captures the energy, excitement and possibilities that teachers and students can discover in feminist classrooms. Michelle Télluz tells us that she asks students ‘‘to ask themselves: why are they doing what they’re doing? This is it. We have this one life to live. Are we going to add the tallies to whatever checklist we are supposed to be following, or do we want to be committed to a life of balance, harmony, and justice? I think feminism is often misunderstood, but it’s really a place where we can critique. It’s not just about women, it’s about gender, and it’s about transformation, it’s about transnational politics, it’s about experiences, and abilities . . . it’s a place of possibility’’ (169).