Being rafeira

There is an interesting discussion about Grounded Theory taking place in the CI (Community Informatics) Researchers discussion group. It's bringing up all sorts of issues that have been haunting me recently around theory, practice, and top-down, bottom-up research.

Andy Williamson comes up with a gem in the discussion. Checking out his blog and discovering him is a moment of serendipity for me (more later). He says:

I think some of us are pedigrees (pure bred researchers etc) but many in the CI field (myself included) are more like the typical pound dogs (PT rafeiros) - bits of everything... I'm a consultant, but also a researcher and I'm active in local communities and with CI projects.

That's another click in my identity. I'm not a cão de raça (pedigree) and don't have aspirations to be. I'm a rafeira. Maybe that's why I feel so at home in Portugal - it's a system built on "refeiro-ing" (a form of desenrasco?)

Hmm, a thought ... do rafeiras have problems negotiating territory amongst aspiring pedigrees?





Tags: hybridity, andywilliamson, communityinformatics