Pain and suffering as part of religious life: The Mauritian Thaipusam kavadi
In a pop-science article published in Dingir, E. Kundtová Klocová discusses the various socio-cultural aspects of the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual as practiced in Mauritius.
Effects of seating arrangement on students‘ interaction
The spatial arrangement of classrooms is studied as an important factor influencing interaction and communication among students. To measure interactions in a field experiment in classrooms, Jakub Cigán, Jan Nehyba, and Libor Juhaňák innovatively utilized sociometric badges, which can measure taking turns in interactions and how long speech segments take, or how students intonate.
Results of their interdisciplinary study show that students sitting in rows speak more often than students sitting in a circle; however, the rate of interactions also varied depending on student groups. Their data contradict the traditional research that simplistically suggests that sitting in a circle or semi-circle increases interactions en masse.
You can find the article here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220973.2021.1954865
