EMMA J. ROSE and ROBERT RACADIOPeople employ creative ways to overcome the challenges of daily life. The construct of agency is a productive area of inquiry when considering how people respond to these challenges. Exploring moments of agency provides an embodied understanding of people’s motivations and helps reveal the structural and technological barriers they encounter every day. We propose a framework of agency and three corresponding categories: resourcefulness, resilience, and powerlessness. This framework was developed while working with data from two design ethnographies: one in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and the other in Seattle, Washington.
Sign in or create a free account to access this content and over 400 articles—the leading collection of peer-reviewed work on ethnographic practice.
We've worked hard to eliminate cookies that don't serve you and our nonprofit community. By clicking "Accept" you consent to our use of all cookies. To manage analytics and social cookies, click "Settings."
This website uses cookies to support your experience navigating and using our resources, and we've worked hard to eliminate those that don't serve you or our nonprofit community. You can read our full Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and contact us with questions.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
These cookies enable Google Analytics and Vimeo to collect data about how people use our site. They generate statistics that help us understand what’s valuable to our community.
These cookies are used by social media links that you can use to share our content easily. If you use these links on our site, data will be exchanged with the platform on which you’re sharing (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn)
