Milli mála - 2020, Side 201

Milli mála 12/2020 201
ANGELA RAWLINGS, LARA W. HOFFMANN, RANDI W. STEBBINS

10.33112/millimala.12.7
does not detract from the history and usefulness of single case stud-
ies, especially of new or relatively unique phenomenon. While this
may be considered a limitation of this study, it is a limitation that has
been noted, but is not fatal, in case study methodology as a whole.
Ós was chosen since it was, and still is, the only nonprofit in Ice-
land dealing directly with intersectional issues of marginalization in
literature and the literary field in the country. As Yin pointed out,
case studies are useful for understanding broader social and political
phenomena, such as is done here.38 We focus primarily on the selec-
tion process of pieces for Ós - The Journal and the case of members
of Ós Pressan starting a career in publishing. We further evaluate
media reception of Ós Pressan in Iceland and abroad as external
markers for the case study’s presence.
Analysing media representations can be a useful tool for better
understanding how intergroup relationships are built or continued.39
Media analysis, however, needs to connect specific text with a spe-
cific context.40 In this paper, the media is used to better understand
the context of literature in Iceland and how Ós Pressan and its mem-
bers have been received. The media analyzed includes both printed
and online newspapers and radio broadcasts.
Looking at the media also balances the fact that all three authors
of this paper are Ós insiders. Two of the researchers have been mem-
bers of Ós Pressan since its inception and the third scholar joined a
year later. This position surely has an impact, since as Denzin point-
ed out, research “begins and ends with the biography and self of the
researcher.”41
Our case study is based on our personal experiences, the full
documentation available to us as insiders and the public record of Ós
and its members found in the media, social media, and organiza-
tional (both of Ós and others) webpages. Our situated knowledge42 is
38 Yin, Robert K., Case Study Research Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2014 [1984].
39 Hodgetts, Darrin and Kerry Chamberlain, “Analysing News Media”, The SAGE Handbook of
Qualitative Data Analysis, pp. 380–393. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2014. doi:
10.4135/9781446282243.
40 Ibid.
41 Denzin, Norman. K, The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods, Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989, here p. 12.
42 Haraway, Donna, “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of
Partial Perspective”, Feminist Studies, 3/1988, pp. 575–599. doi:10.2307/3178066.