Three of our researchers have been awarded a certificate for receiving enough downloads to be in the top 10% of papers in 2022: Jasmijn Rana with Secular-religious self-improvement Muslim women's kickboxing in the Netherlands, Cristina Grasseni with More than visual: The apprenticeship of skilled visions and Annemarie Samuels with Administrative burden in digital public service delivery.
Jasmijn Rana
Secular-religious self-improvement Muslim women's kickboxing in the Netherlands, by Jasmijn Rana, published in American Ethnologist on behalf of the American Anthropological Association, looks at young Muslim women and kickboxing. In the Netherlands, more and more young Muslim women are joining women-only kickboxing gyms, a trend that's attracting public attention. Traditionally, women's sport in Western Europe has been seen as secular and feminist, so the involvement of Muslim women challenges this perception. Contrary to the assumption that their participation clashes with secular ideals, these women use kickboxing to assert themselves, challenge gender norms and express their religious identity. They are redefining notions of secularism and religion in Western Europe, while finding empowerment in their sport. Contrary to mainstream belief, they don't see kickboxing as a means of assimilating into Dutch culture or breaking away from their Muslim communities, but as a way of combining religious and secular self-improvement.
Cristina Grasseni
More than visual: The apprenticeship of skilled visions by Cristina Grasseni was published in Ethos on behalf of the American Anthropological Association. This article is about skilled vision. Skilled vision goes beyond sight because it's shaped by experiences that involve all the senses and contribute to our overall aesthetic and ethical awareness. Learning to see analytically is influenced by both sensory and social learning processes. Cristina explores this intersensory learning in her research with food gardeners in the Netherlands, along with examples from other researchers. These examples illustrate how our visual perception is reshaped by interaction with other senses, tools and people, leading to a deeper understanding of details and their context.
Annemarie Samuels
Administrative burden in digital public service delivery published in Review of Policy Research on behalf of Policy Studies Organization by Annemarie Samuels and Sarah Giest is about The social infrastructure of library programmes for e-inclusion.
Countries are increasingly using algorithms to make decisions in public services, but studies show that citizens face challenges in understanding, accessing and challenging these automated decisions. This paper examines the impact of the social support system on citizens struggling to access digital government services. They ask: How does the social support system affect the challenges of using digital government services? They study this in the Netherlands by interviewing experts and observing support programmes in libraries. Giest and Samuels find that while libraries, as key locations for these services, may be more difficult for low-literate citizens to access, they offer advantages such as local organisation and expanded services, including digital literacy courses.
