Azher Hameed Qamar
Azher Hameed Qamar
I am a writer, anthropologist, and teacher. I obtained my doctorate from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim) Norway. My Ph.D. research was ethnographic study on the social value of the child and infant care belief practices in Punjab. My recent study is about the social resilience of young adult migrants, and I explore young adult migrants' lived experiences and social workers' professional experiences. My research interest are broadly related to children, young people, families, wellbeing, social work, migration, social resilience, and social integration.
Recent posts
All blog articles
Burning holy books: the dillema of free speech
In recent weeks, Sweden has experienced several Quran-burning incidents. These can reinforce anti-religious discourse and politicised campaigns against religious minorities. They can also put Swedish multicultural harmony at risk. Azher Hameed Qamar argues that we must interpret the laws permitting Quran-burnings as being in the best interest of the people.
The Doll’s Marriage: An Ethnographic Encounter
An ethnographer's scientific task after fieldwork is to read, describe, and interpret the pictures. As a student and researcher in childhood studies, I was fascinated by the pictures' explicit and implicit details. Hence, I developed a picture reading technique that I used to read pictures as field notes. I named this technique 'SAFSI,' which stands for See, Ask, Find, See, and Interpret.
Unstructured Interviews – A Conversational Iceberg
I see unstructured interviews as a ‘conversation iceberg’ where the researcher uses the art of social interaction, reflexivity, and flexibility to gain the depth of required data. The conversation is directed by the researcher’s good listening skills and the participant’s trust and confidence to share his/her story.
Quality check for qualitative research
Useful information that you must know when you are writing your method chapter in qualitative research. This is a three-step quality check, each of them includes some important points or you can say check-list that you must focus.
Conducting clinical interview
Useful information that you must know when you are writing your method chapter in qualitative research. This is a three-step quality check, each of them includes some important points or you can say check-list that you must focus.
Body politics and gender - a talk with Wendy Harcourt
Dr. Wendy Harcourt is a professor of gender diversity and sustainable development at the international institute of social studies of Erasmus University, Rotterdam. In the interview, Dr. Wendy talks about her book “Body Politics in Development: Critical Debates in Gender and Development” and provides a deeper insight into the concept of body politics and gender.
Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway - movie review
The movie 'Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway' is a story of an immigrant mother whose two young children were taken away by the Norwegian foster care system and legal machinery, and she fights hard to win back custody the of her children. Here, I will write a few important points from the movie that can help to research, and reflect on foster care system, legal machinery, cultural aspects of parenting practices, and debates on integration in Nordic countries.
Artificial Intelligence and risk of false information
Artificial Intelligence - It is becoming famous, becoming useful, and becoming dangerous. Though there are several pros and cons, and of course many of them are debatable, in this blog post I am interested in the use of AI tools and the risk of false information.
Informal education - a defintion
Education and socialization are deeply intertwined (Wyatt 2008). Although often understood as similar, there is a notable difference between ‘education’ and ‘socialization’ that remains unclear when we consider education in its wider sense but becomes clear when we observe different modes of education.
Child rights in Pakistan - Parliamentary Commitments
On 19 November 2019, I attended a seminar on National Consultation on Child Rights Legislative Review where members of the Special Group of the National Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) for child rights presented their ‘review report’. In this post I am sharing my thoughts after attending the seminar.
Interdisciplinary paradigm: mother-child health
The article I am discussing in this short commentary is about effective coverage measurement and the progress of quality health systems in connection with maternal, new-born, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (MNCAHN). The article discusses the effective coverage measures and care cascade steps proposed by the experts convened by WHO and UNICEF as the Effective Coverage Think Tank Group.
Magical thinking and social distancing
We have been living in a post-corona Neo-normal world for quite some time. Though things are returning to their pre-COVID functioning state, we have not truly “bounced back.” We are moving ahead in a new innovative world where we are preparing to embrace and cope with anything like COVID-19. Nonetheless, one thing that we learned during COVID-19 is “social distance.” In this short note, I share my thoughts on magical thinking and social distance.
Adger's contribution to socio-ecological resilience studies
William Neil Adger is likely the first author who defined social resilience, exclusively emphasizing its role in socio-ecological sustainability. This blog post includes an annotated bibliography of Adger’s publications that are central to socio-ecological resilience, environmental change, sustainability, and well-being. This contribution may be regarded as a guide to the literature on multiple, multilevel, and interconnected social dimensions of resilience.
Observation - a data collection approach
In observation, you see, hear, observe, and experience... and it helps you learn and know about something you do not know, and what you learn or know in this way is your data. Anyhow, it also depends on your research objectives and the extent to which you want to use observation as a data collection method.
Examining interview data in phenomonological research
Before doing data analysis, it is a wise decision to examine your interview data to see what is the source of knowledge and information that participant is sharing with you. Let us begin with the type of participants and their source of information.
Pricing the pricelsess child - book review
“The child labor conflict is a key to understanding the profound transformation in the economic and sentimental value of children in early twentieth century. The price of a useful wage-earning child was directly counterposed to the moral value of an economically useless but emotionally priceless child.”
Scholar at risk - a talk with a Syrian scholar
This commentary is based on an interview with a scholar who was recruited in Sweden as part of the Scholar at Risk initiative. The discussion revealed the challenges associated with utilizing scholars as academic capital to benefit academia in both the home and host countries.
INTERVIEW
Researchers and professionals' perspectives and experiences can provide a great deal of theoretical and practical knowledge to conduct reseearch. These talks will help you to learn from their experiences.
@ (www.drazher.com) Azher Hameed Qamar, Ph.D