UNews - anthropology professor

Research project examines happiness and well-being in intentional communities

caroline.zentner — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 20:25:40 +0000

As scholarly research and policy initiatives have more recently focused on happiness, Dr. Catherine Kingfisher, an anthropologist at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, couldn’t help but think about well-being at a community level.

“A lot of the literature in happiness studies, which is a fairly new area of scholarship, is focused overwhelmingly on the individual,” says Kingfisher. “From an anthropological perspective, too much emphasis on the individual is a problem because EuroAmerican forms of individualism are not culturally universal. So, I started asking myself what other approaches are out there that might allow us to broaden our perspective.”

After exploring several possibilities, Kingfisher settled on intentional communities, specifically urban collective housing communities, which are gaining in popularity yet remain understudied. Like other intentional communities, urban collective housing communities locate happiness and well-being, at least in part, in particular forms of social organization. But they are unique in two ways.

“The first is that they’re urban,” says Kingfisher. “Unlike other forms of intentional community, like ecovillages and spiritual communes, they are integrated with the wider society rather than segregated from it. At the same time, they are critical of mainstream society and try to create something that can respond to the kinds of loneliness, fragmentation and isolation they see as characteristic of society today.”

The second feature of these communities is that they are neither exclusively collectivist nor exclusively individualist. Residents have their own apartments, complete with a kitchen and bathroom, but the housing community also has common kitchen, eating and meeting areas, shared gardens, laundry rooms and play areas for children.

“What is unique about these places, and what has real policy implications, is that they’re hybrids,” says Kingfisher. “There’s a balance — a constant negotiation, really — between what is considered personal and private and what is considered public and collective. In these communities, happiness and well-being are constructed as simultaneously social and subjective, not one or the other.”

Kingfisher, who was awarded more than $111,000 over four years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, has chosen two communities: Kankanmori in Tokyo and Quayside Village in Vancouver. The study will focus on how the relationship between interdependence and independence is negotiated, and on how the idea of balance is mobilized in everyday practice. It will also compare how the model of urban collective housing plays out in a society that has historically emphasized individualism, like Canada, and one that has historically emphasized collectivity, like Japan. This comparative analysis will provide insight into how ideas morph as they travel across cultural space and how they are translated and assembled in specific contexts of practice.

“They have the exact same model — they want to create a community where people can have their own space but also have community — but this plays out in very different ways, given the cultural context,” she says.

On her preliminary visits to the collective housing communities, Kingfisher found distinct differences in the way things are done. In Japan, a strict line divides personal from common space while the line is fluid in Vancouver. The two communities handle conflict in different ways, too. In Quayside Village, people are encouraged to express their feelings when conflicts arise while Japanese culture values controlling one’s emotions.

The project is designed to be collaborative in nature. One unique methodological feature involves bringing two members of each community to visit the other.

“This will allow community members to learn about other approaches and reflect on their own ideas and approaches,” says Kingfisher.

An additional aspect of Kingfisher’s study will have residents documenting life in their community through video recordings. Kingfisher will supply the equipment and Don Gill, a U of L Fine Arts professor and project collaborator, will act as an artistic consultant and visit both sites to facilitate the production of film shorts. Each community will also choose two residents to participate in a 10-day exchange to the other community in the study. They’ll be looking at how each community handles conflict and how they negotiate the boundary between the personal and the social. The eventual outcome will be a non-academic book in Japanese and English, along with film shorts.

“It’s fascinating and one of the reasons I want to bring people from each site to the other is so they get a sense of how things are done,” she says. “It gets them to reflect on how they are operating themselves and they get new ideas or they get their own ways of doing reinforced or validated.”

Student support essential

trevor.kenney — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:33:36 +0000

Jan Newberry started teaching at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge with one simple goal – to change the world through education. Staying true to this goal, Newberry supports students in every way she can.

With a background that includes a small private college and large state-funded universities in the United States, Newberry describes the U of L as both fun and different. An anthropology professor at the U of L for the past 10 years, her research focuses primarily on Indonesia but covers a wide variety of areas ranging from theories of exchange and economy to the politics of childrearing, allowing her to share with students a multi-faceted anthropological experience.

Newberry is not interested in the "ivory tower" of academia. For her, it's much more fun to have students involved in her research.

"We often talk about how our research supports our teaching, but I find that my teaching also supports my research," she says. "Student responses to my ideas help me go back to my research in a different way."

Anthropology professor Dr. Jan Newberry sees supporting the SOS campaign as a natural choice.

Because of this interchange of ideas, supporting students is a priority for Newberry. More fundamentally, Newberry sees student support as essential because of their roles after graduation.

"I want to support students because they're going to go out and build the next world," she says. "The Supporting Our Students campaign helps me do that."

Supporting Our Students (SOS) is an annual fundraising campaign aimed towards faculty and staff on campus. Its purpose is to raise money for student awards. Since it launched in 2005, faculty and staff have generously donated more than $1 million to the campaign, sending a strong message to students that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community stands behind them.

Newberry emphasizes not only the importance of the campaign, but also how easy it is to show support.

"What most people don't realize is that you can do this in such a painless way," she says. "By having a small amount of money taken off my paycheque each month, I'm improving the lives of students. It couldn't be a more clear contribution to the institution, and one that is so very easy to do."

Supporting this campaign was a natural choice for Newberry.

"Money makes a difference," she says. "Sometimes the best thing we can do is give money to support something we think is important."

For more information on the Supporting Our Students campaign, please visit www.ulethbridge.ca/giving or call ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Advancement at 403-329-2582.

This story first appeared in the November issue of the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Hansen benefits from personal touch

trevor.kenney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:25:57 +0000

A Wikipedia search led Danish student Stine Hansen to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's web door, but it was the personal attention she received thereafter that brought her to campus.

Hansen is in her fourth year, thriving as an international student with her eyes set on completing a degree in urban and regional studies. Now an ambassador for the U of L experience, she's a far greater resource than any Wikipedia link.

"Everything I learned about Lethbridge before I moved here, I learned on Wikipedia," she laughs, admitting now that to pack up and leave Denmark to study in Lethbridge, Alberta was a major leap of faith.

International student Stine Hansen found the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge through Wikipedia.

"It was a bit of a risk but my parents were, surprisingly enough, very supportive," says the 27-year-old. "The registrar's office was really good helping me with my courses and transcript, and I just got a really good feeling about the place.

"I also got such good support from the International Centre for Students (ICS). They told me what to expect when I arrived, how to get settled, when to arrive, and how they would help me. At the time, because of all that support, it didn't seem that big a deal to sell everything I owned, pack three suitcases and move here. Looking back it was a little bit crazy."

You might think her assimilation into Canadian culture was an easy one. Hansen's a European who speaks English, and she had been motivated to come study in Canada after a high school exchange program took her to Nova Scotia when she was 16. But the culture, food and lifestyle are markedly different and it began to hit her on the drive from the Calgary airport to Lethbridge.

"The first town I went through was Nanton, then Claresholm, then Fort
Macleod and I really started to wonder what I had gotten myself into," she says, having grown up 20 minutes from Copenhagen and recently lived there. "I came into Lethbridge on a rainy Sunday afternoon – it looked deserted and I felt very alone."

She once again used the International Centre for support. Hansen attended the various meet and greet sessions with other international students, took advantage of the Global Connections partner program and signed up to play intramural soccer.

"If you're shy you're never going to get anywhere, you really have to open up. I used to be a shy person but now, I figure you have to step out there," says Hansen.

Her studies followed suit, and she quickly found that the personal attention she received from ICS and the registrar's office was reflected in her classes.

"That's what I like so much about the U of L, it's a small campus and pretty much every class I've ever had I can go to the professors and say, "I don't get this", and they'll sit down and help you out," says Hansen. "They really try, they know your name and I really like that."

Originally interested in pursuing a career in urban planning, she changed her focus to the study of human geography and found a special kinship with anthropology professor, Dr. Jan Newberry. She's excited to work on an Independent Study program with Newberry this summer.

"When I go back home I always say how much I love doing what I'm doing," says Hansen. "Even here, I've convinced a few people to come into my major. I love the multidisciplinary aspect of it, because you can study anthropology, sociology, geography, it's been great."

In fact, Hansen credits women's studies professor, Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl, with setting her on a career path.

"She suggested I attend the Association of American Geographers' Annual Meeting last year. I went with another international student to Washington, D.C., and I came away knowing this is what I wanted to do. I really appreciate her showing that to me," says Hansen, who intends to pursue a master's degree in geography of disability and transportation.

Her success as a student has not been easy, and it hasn't been a straight line but because of support from all over campus, Hansen is eager to talk about her U of L experience. It's why she jumped at the opportunity to participate in the recent International Student Fair in the Atrium, where students from around the globe constructed tri-fold displays to help educate campus about their home nations.

"We got out there and the people who wanted to ask questions got that opportunity," she says. "It's definitely worth doing again. I believe if I only reach a few, it's still a success. I think there's a misconception that international students are only from the Far East but we are a really diverse group and maybe I'm the only one from Denmark but that's OK."

GET THE FACTS

• Post-secondary education in Denmark is free, prompting Hansen to quip, "My parents really love me."

• Hansen's older sister completed a master's degree in economics from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Copenhagen.

• Hansen became ill during her second semester and credits ICS liaison officer Charlene Janes for helping her through. "She is the best person ever. The ICS staff really knows its students and Charlene knew what was best for me at that time. Every time my parents come to visit, they make sure they go visit Charlene because they appreciate how much she looks after us."

• Hansen's tri-fold display highlighted the differences between Canadian and Danish Christmas traditions. She was also eager to tell people just where Denmark is in the world. "I love to talk about my country and I don't expect everyone to know. The Fair was great because I got a chance to show them what my Denmark is like."

For a look at the March issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - anthropology professor

Research project examines happiness and well-being in intentional communities

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Student support essential

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Hansen benefits from personal touch

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