Sample records for ethnographic study explored

  1. Development of Deaf Identity: An Ethnographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McIlroy, Guy; Storbeck, Claudine

    2011-01-01

    This ethnographic study explores the identity development of 9 deaf participants through the narratives of their educational experiences in either mainstream or special schools for the Deaf. This exploration goes beyond a binary conceptualization of deaf identity that allows for only the medical and social models and proposes a bicultural…

  2. Vignettes of Interviews to Enhance an Ethnographic Account

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jacobsen, Alice Juel

    2014-01-01

    This article explores challenges of applying an ethnographic approach, combining participant observation and interviews, to a study of organizational change. The exploration is connected to reform changes, as they are constructed in the interaction between managers and teachers, in a Danish Upper Secondary High School. The data material is…

  3. Using the Learners-as-Ethnographers Approach to Enhance Intercultural Learning among American College Students Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Minhui

    2012-01-01

    This study explored how the learners-as-ethnographers (LAE) approach facilitated intercultural learning among American students learning Chinese as a foreign language. Two research questions addressed the effectiveness of the LAE approach and students' learning experiences in a non-immersion context. I designed six ethnographic tasks for the…

  4. Compelled to Be Connected: An Ethnographic Exploration of Organizational Culture, Work-Life Balance, and the Use of Mobile Workplace Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Kristopher J.

    2013-01-01

    This study is an ethnographic exploration of organizational culture, work-life balance, and the use of information and communication technology ("ICT") in the work and home settings. The researcher was embedded for nine weeks within the Information Technology ("IT") department at the corporate headquarters of a mid-sized…

  5. Nurses' experiences of ethnographic fieldwork.

    PubMed

    de Melo, Lucas Pereira; Stofel, Natália Sevilha; Gualda, Dulce Maria Rosa; de Campos, Edemilson Antunes

    2014-09-01

    To reflect on the experiences of nurses performing ethnographic fieldwork in three studies. The application of ethnography to nursing research requires discussion about nurses' experiences of ethnographic fieldwork. This article examines some of the dilemmas that arise during the research process. Three ethnographic studies conducted by the authors in the south and southeast of Brazil. Excerpts from field diaries created during each research are presented at the end of each topic discussed. This is a reflexive paper that explores the nurses' experience in ethnographic fieldwork. This article discusses the main tasks involved in ethnographic research, including defining the study aim, reading and understanding anthropological theoretical bases, and setting a timeframe for the study. The article also discusses the idiosyncrasies of the cultural contexts studied, the bureaucracy that may be confronted when gaining access to the field, the difficulty of transforming the familiar into the strange, why ethnocentric perspectives should be avoided, and the anthropological doubt that places the ethnographer in the position of apprentice. It also discusses the importance of listening to others, reflexivity and strategies to stay in the field. For researchers, ethnographic fieldwork can be a rite of passage, but one that provides invaluable experiences that emphasise the value of relationships based on dialogue, reflexivity and negotiation. The main tasks undertaken in ethnographic research discussed in this article could contribute to the nurse' experience of conducting ethnographic fieldwork.

  6. Instructional Leadership: Four Ethnographic Studies on Junior High School Principals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newberg, Norman A.; Glatthorn, Allan A.

    This study explores the principal's role as instructional leader in four urban schools showing improvement in test scores. Data gathering procedures included ethnographic observations and interviews of principals; principals' logs of time use; interviews with teachers, school administrators, and students; and faculty surveys. The findings were…

  7. Personal Library Curation: An Ethnographic Study of Scholars' Information Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Antonijevic, Smiljana; Cahoy, Ellysa Stern

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings of a Mellon Foundation-funded study conducted at Penn State University in University Park during Fall 2012 that explored scholars' information practices across disciplines encompassing the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Drawing on results of the Web-based survey and ethnographic interviews, we present…

  8. The Rhythms of Pedagogy: An Ethnographic Study of Parenting Education Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopwood, Nick

    2014-01-01

    Educational research is increasingly turning to conceptual frameworks from a range of disciplines in order to enrich understandings of education, pedagogy and learning. This paper draws on the work of Henri Lefebvre, specifically rhythmanalysis, to explore the nature and the function of pedagogy. The context is an ethnographic study of parenting…

  9. Teaching as a Social Practice: The Experiences of Two Moroccan Adult Literacy Tutors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erguig, Reddard

    2012-01-01

    This article offers an ethnographic case study of two Adult Basic Education (ABE) teachers' characteristics and their literacy instruction. It draws on the New Literacy Studies tradition and used ethnographic tools (in-depth interviews, classroom observation and the think-aloud protocol) to explore the characteristics of two ABE teachers and…

  10. Elementary Administrators' Perceptions of the Blended Coaching Model on Their Development as Transformational Leaders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noche, Alma

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this ethnographic research was to study the culture and experiences of elementary administrators who were coached in the blended coaching model. This study used a qualitative ethnographic design to explore the context and processes of the coaching experience of elementary administrators that enhanced transformational…

  11. Patients "Embodied" and "As-a-Body" within Bedside Teaching Encounters: A Video Ethnographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elsey, Christopher; Challinor, Alexander; Monrouxe, Lynn V.

    2017-01-01

    Bedside teaching encounters (BTEs) involve doctor-patient-student interactions, providing opportunities for students to learn with, from and about patients. How the differing concerns of patient care and student education are balanced in situ remains largely unknown and undefined. This video ethnographic study explores "patient…

  12. Using Unfamiliar People in Witness and Jury Pools: An Ethnographic Study of Interpersonal Skill Demands in Trial Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bintz, William P.

    An ethnographic study explored the hypothesis that the use of "familiar" people in mock trial simulations contributes to student inattention to interpersonal skill demands necessary for proficient trial lawyering. Participants in the study included 12 third-year law school students, 1 adjunct instructor, 1 researcher, 12 local high…

  13. An Ethnographic-Case Study of Beliefs, Context Factors, and Practices of Teachers Integrating Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Angers, Julie; Machtmes, Krisanna

    2005-01-01

    This ethnographic-case study explored the beliefs, context factors, and practices of three middle school exemplary teachers that led to a technology-enriched curriculum. Findings suggest that these middle school teachers believe technology is a tool that adds value to lessons and to students learning and motivation. Due to a personal interest in…

  14. The Aesthetics of Everyday Literacies: Home Writing Practices in a British Asian Household

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pahl, Kate

    2014-01-01

    This article explores young people's home literacy practices drawing on an ethnographic study of writing in the home of a British Asian family living in northern England. The theoretical framework comes from the New Literacy Studies, and aesthetic and literary theory. It applies an ethnographic methodology together with an engaged approach to…

  15. Exploring the Role of TPACK and Teacher Self-Efficacy: An Ethnographic Case Study of Three iPad Language Arts Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saudelli, Mary Gene; Ciampa, Katia

    2016-01-01

    This ethnographic research study investigated three elementary teachers' perceived self-efficacy beliefs and their attitudes toward mobile technology-enhanced instruction. Using technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) as a guiding theory, the authors sought to determine whether and how the three knowledge components that form the…

  16. "Just Go in Looking Good": The Resilience, Resistance, and Kinship-Building of Trans* College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nicolazzo, Z.

    2016-01-01

    This article explores the strategies transgender college students use to navigate gender-dichotomous collegiate environments. Using a critical collaborative ethnographic methodology (Bhattacharya, 2008), this 18-month ethnographic study alongside 9 transgender students elucidated how gender operates as a discourse to regulate the collegiate life…

  17. Further Education Sector Governors as Ethnographers: Five Case Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clapham, Andrew; Vickers, Rob

    2018-01-01

    This paper considers how governors in the English "Further Education and Skills" (FE) sector examined their practice as ethnographers. The paper locates both FE governance and ethnography within the challenges of the performative and Panoptic environments facing English education. In doing so, the paper explores how the informants'…

  18. Evolution Education in Policy and Practice: An Ethnographic Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Long, David E.

    2012-01-01

    Evolution education in the US is conducted unevenly, or in cases is absent. Showing the strength of ethnography as a means of deeper explication in science education, this article explores the interactions of policy and practice in evolution education. Discussing vignettes from a larger ethnographic study, Creationist rationales and practices…

  19. Development of deaf identity: an ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    McIlroy, Guy; Storbeck, Claudine

    2011-01-01

    This ethnographic study explores the identity development of 9 deaf participants through the narratives of their educational experiences in either mainstream or special schools for the Deaf. This exploration goes beyond a binary conceptualization of deaf identity that allows for only the medical and social models and proposes a bicultural "dialogue model." This postmodern theoretical framework is used to examine the diversity of identities of deaf learners. The inclusion of the researcher's own fluid cross-cultural identity as a bicultural "DeaF" participant in this study provides an auto-ethnographic gateway into exploring the lives of other deaf, Deaf, or bicultural DeaF persons. The findings suggest that deaf identity is not a static concept but a complex ongoing quest for belonging, a quest that is bound up with the acceptance of being deaf while "finding one's voice" in a hearing-dominant society. Through the use of dialogue and narrative tools, the study challenges educators, parents, and researchers to broaden their understanding of how deaf identity, and the dignity associated with being a deaf person is constructed.

  20. Misery in Dark Shadows behind the High Achievement Scores in South Korean Schooling: An Ethnographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kwon, Soonjung; Kristjánsson, Kristján; Walker, David I.

    2017-01-01

    This article explores some of the hidden background behind the highly praised school results in South Korea. An ethnographic case study is used to cast light on how schooling is actually experienced by South Korean students. Two main results are reported from these data. First, evidence is presented of damaging "cultural elements" such…

  1. Sport and Physical Activity in a High Security Spanish Prison: An Ethnographic Study of Multiple Meanings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martos-Garcia, Daniel; Devis-Devis, Jose; Sparkes, Andrew C.

    2009-01-01

    Drawing on data generated by a two-year ethnographic study in a high security Spanish prison, this article explores the multiple meanings given to the social practices of sport and physical activity. We provide details of the following key themes that emerged from the analysis: (a) escaping time; (b) perceived therapeutic benefits; (c) social…

  2. How Older Adults Make Decisions regarding Smart Technology: An Ethnographic Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davenport, Rick D.; Mann, William; Lutz, Barbara

    2012-01-01

    Comparatively little research has been conducted regarding the smart technology needs of the older adult population despite the proliferation of smart technology prototypes. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived smart technology needs of older adults with mobility impairments while using an ethnographic research approach to…

  3. A Potentially Heteroglossic Policy Becomes Monoglossic in Context: An Ethnographic Analysis of Paraguayan Bilingual Education Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mortimer, Katherine S.

    2016-01-01

    Ethnographic and discursive approaches to educational language policy (ELP) that explore how policy is appropriated in context are important for understanding policy success/failure in meeting goals of educational equity for language-minoritized students. This study describes how Paraguayan national policy for universal bilingual education…

  4. The Viability of Ethnographic Research for Hispanic Consumer Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asahina, Roberta R.

    A study explored whether ethnographic research is appropriate and feasible for Hispanic consumer research. Subjects, 41 Hispanic advertising executives (out of an original group of 80) in advertising agencies listed in the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and San Antonio, answered a 23-item…

  5. When Does the Action Start and Finish? Making the Case for an Ethnographic Action Research in Educational Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bath, Caroline

    2009-01-01

    This paper explores how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects. Interpretations…

  6. Utilising a Blended Ethnographic Approach to Explore the Online and Offline Lives of Pro-Ana Community Members

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dyke, Sarah

    2013-01-01

    The article critically interrogates contemporary discourses and practices around "anorexia nervosa" through an ethnographic study that moves between two sites: an online pro-anorexia (pro-ana) community, and a Local Authority-funded eating disorder prevention project located in schools and youth centres in the north of England. The…

  7. Schooltime, Classtime, and Academic Learning Time in Rural Highland Puno, Peru.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hornberger, Nancy H.

    1987-01-01

    Uses data from ethnographic study in two Quechua-speaking communities of Puno, Peru, to explore schooltime spent in other-than-academic endeavors. Documents uses to which schooltime is put in these communities, and then seeks to account for observed uses of time in terms of ethnographically derived insights as to social, cultural, economic, and…

  8. Use of ethnographic approaches to the study of health experiences in relation to natural landscapes.

    PubMed

    O'Brien, Liz; Varley, Pete

    2012-11-01

    This paper discusses the use of ethnographic approaches to explore how engagement with natural landscapes might benefit people's health. Drawing on a selected review of empirical research we identified 30 relevant research papers that utilised qualitative methods to explore health issues and engagement with nature. Three examples of 'alternative' - i.e. non-mainstream qualitative approaches - are used to illustrate how different methods can be used to explore people's experiences of engaging with nature for health. While quantitative methods are dominant in health research, qualitative approaches are becoming more widely used. Approaches such as autoethnography can add value to nature and health studies by providing opportunities for researchers to be self-critical of their role as a researcher. Accompanied visits and visual ethnography can afford the researcher rich data about bodily movement, facial expressions and journeys, as well as dialogues associated with the meanings of nature for health. The paper concludes by suggesting that ethnographic methods can provide useful and important insights into why people engage with the natural environment and the range of health benefits they may gain from contact with nature.

  9. The Meanings of Outdoor Physical Activity for Parentally Bereaved Young People in the United Kingdom: Insights from an Ethnographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brewer, Joanne; Sparkes, Andrew C.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore the meanings of outdoor physical activity in the natural environment for parentally-bereaved young people. It draws on data generated from a two-year ethnographic study that focused on the experiences of those involved with the Rocky Centre, a childhood bereavement service in the UK. Data was collected via…

  10. Giving My Heart a Voice: Reflection on Self and Others through the Looking Glass of Pedagogy--An Autoethnography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neyman, Vera L.

    2011-01-01

    To improve students academic outcomes this auto-ethnographic dissertation examines my teaching practice in the Ukraine and in the United States, and the similarities and differences between the two educational systems. This study, designed in the form of auto-ethnographic vignettes, explores the effect of my personal and professional metamorphosis…

  11. Hypermedia Ethnography in Educational Settings: Possibilities and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coffey, Amanda; Renold, Emma; Dicks, Bella; Soyinka, Bambo; Mason, Bruce

    2006-01-01

    This paper considers some of the methodological implications of undertaking and representing multimedia and digital, ethnographic work. It explores some of the challenges and opportunities of working with and across a range of media, and explores some of the consequences of bringing hypermedia applications to ethnographic work. The paper draws on…

  12. Old age and vulnerability between first, second and third person perspectives. Ethnographic explorations of aging in contemporary Denmark.

    PubMed

    Grøn, Lone

    2016-12-01

    This paper is based on an ethnographic fieldwork aimed at exploring ethnographically how vulnerability in old age is perceived and experienced in contemporary Denmark. The fieldwork showed remarkable differences between two phases of the fieldwork: the first addressing vulnerability from the "outside" through group interviews with professionals, leaders and older people who were not (yet) vulnerable; and the second from the "inside" through more in depth fieldwork with older people who in diverse ways could be seen as vulnerable. After a short introduction to anthropological and social gerontological literature on characteristics of "Western" aging: medicalization, successful, healthy and active aging, I present findings from both phases of this ethnographic fieldwork arguing that the ethnographic approach reveals the composite and complex nature of vulnerability in old age and the constant interactions between first, second and third person perspectives. Through these methodological and analytical moves a complex and empirically tenable understanding of vulnerability in old age has emerged which 1. moves beyond rigid dichotomies that have characterized the study of old age, 2. integrates individual experience, social interaction and the structural and discursive context into the analysis, and 3. reveals the complex interplay between vulnerability and agency in diverse situations and settings of old age. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Exploring the Phenomenology of Whiteness in a Swedish Preschool Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwarz, Eva; Lindqvist, Beatriz

    2018-01-01

    This article explores how constructions of identity, race and difference permeate and are challenged in a Swedish preschool class. The study is informed by theories of phenomenology and critical whiteness. Data are drawn from a larger ethnographic study conducted in an ethnically diverse preschool. The purpose of the study was to explore how…

  14. Ethnographic Exploration of Empowerment to Improve Elderly Residents' Quality of Life.

    PubMed

    Tabatabaei, Seyed Zia; Ebrahimi, Fatemeh; Hamzah, Azimi Bin Hj; Rezaeian, Mohsen; Kamrani, Mahnaz Akbari

    2017-01-01

    Evidence underscores that empowerment is central to improve the elderly residents' quality of life. In truth, empowerment is a process through which individuals gain better control over their life. The aim of this study was to explore how perceived empowerment influence on the quality of life among elderly Malay residents. A focus ethnographic approach was employed in a Malaysian residential home between May 2011 and January 2012. Data were gathered from participant observations, field notes, in-depth interviews, and exploring related documents. The analysis of the data gathered in the current study resulted in the development of three themes - social life and its requirements, caregivers' skills empowerment, and listening and supporting. Findings of the study provide new insights that are useful in charting new guideline for care providers and policy makers to improve the elderly residents' quality of life.

  15. Tales from the Ethnographic Field: Navigating Feelings of Guilt and Privilege in the Research Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeLuca, Jaime R.; Maddox, Callie Batts

    2016-01-01

    This article explores questions of reflexivity, positionality, identity, and emotion within the process of ethnographic research. We reflect on our feelings of privilege and guilt in and through our ethnographic fieldwork and discuss the ways in which these experiences encouraged reflexive thinking and a crucial interrogation of the place of the…

  16. Examining organizational change in primary care practices: experiences from using ethnographic methods.

    PubMed

    Russell, Grant; Advocat, Jenny; Geneau, Robert; Farrell, Barbara; Thille, Patricia; Ward, Natalie; Evans, Samantha

    2012-08-01

    Qualitative methods are an important part of the primary care researcher's toolkit providing a nuanced view of the complexity in primary care reform and delivery. Ethnographic research is a comprehensive approach to qualitative data collection, including observation, in-depth interviews and document analysis. Few studies have been published outlining methodological issues related to ethnography in this setting. This paper examines some of the challenges of conducting an ethnographic study in primary care setting in Canada, where there recently have been major reforms to traditional methods of organizing primary care services. This paper is based on an ethnographic study set in primary care practices in Ontario, Canada, designed to investigate changes to organizational and clinical routines in practices undergoing transition to new, interdisciplinary Family Health Teams (FHTs). The study was set in six new FHTs in Ontario. This paper is a reflexive examination of some of the challenges encountered while conducting an ethnographic study in a primary care setting. Our experiences in this study highlight some potential benefits of and difficulties in conducting an ethnographic study in family practice. Our study design gave us an opportunity to highlight the changes in routines within an organization in transition. A study with a clinical perspective requires training, support, a mixture of backgrounds and perspectives and ongoing communication. Despite some of the difficulties, the richness of this method has allowed the exploration of a number of additional research questions that emerged during data analysis.

  17. I.D.ology and the Technologies of Public (School) Space: An Ethnographic Inquiry into the Neo-Liberal Tactics of Social (Re)Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Kathleen; Fusco, Caroline

    2006-01-01

    This paper explores spatial theory, and particularly a Foucauldian analysis of space, power, and the subject, as a frame within which to examine moves toward security in North American urban schools. We bring into play empirical data from an ethnographic study of New York City and Toronto schools where policies and technologies of record-keeping,…

  18. A Typology of Ethnographic Scales for Virtual Worlds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boellstorff, Tom

    This chapter outlines a typology of genres of ethnographic research with regard to virtual worlds, informed by extensive research the author has completed both in Second Life and in Indonesia. It begins by identifying four confusions about virtual worlds: they are not games, they need not be graphical or even visual, they are not mass media, and they need not be defined in terms of escapist role-playing. A three-part typology of methods for ethnographic research in virtual worlds focuses on the relationship between research design and ethnographic scale. One class of methods for researching virtual worlds with regard to ethnographic scale explores interfaces between virtual worlds and the actual world, whereas a second examines interfaces between two or more virtual worlds. The third class involves studying a single virtual world in its own terms. Recognizing that all three approaches have merit for particular research purposes, ethnography of virtual worlds can be a vibrant field of research, contributing to central debates about human selfhood and sociality.

  19. Research with Rawness: The Remembering and Repeating of Auto/Biographical Ethnographic Research Processes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sagan, Olivia

    2007-01-01

    This paper explores the auto/biographicity of ethnographic research, describing the way in which our research pursuits can be seen as the replaying of past agendas. It looks specifically at the auto/biographic interview as part of the ethnographic data collected, positing it as the site of co-construction of new memory, and the re-enactment of…

  20. Exploring Transition to Postgraduate Study: Shifting Identities in Interaction with Communities, Practice and Participation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tobbell, Jane; O'Donnell, Victoria; Zammit, Maria

    2010-01-01

    There has been relatively little research to date that has explored the transition to postgraduate study. This paper reports findings from a project (funded by the UK's Higher Education Academy) that sought to address this gap. The research project was ethnographic and explored university practice and student participation in five UK universities.…

  1. Memoir as a Form of Auto-Ethnographic Research for Exploring the Practice of Transnational Higher Education in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Joy Denise

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, I argue that memoir, as a form of auto-ethnographic research, is an appropriate method for exploring the complexities and singularities in the practice of western educational practitioners who are immersed in the social reality of offshore higher education institutions, such as those in Mainland China. I illustrate this proposition…

  2. Exploring Language Awareness through Students' Engagement in Language Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahn, So-Yeon

    2016-01-01

    The present study explores Korean students' demonstration of language awareness through their engagement in language play. Grounded in the understanding of the relationship between language play and an "engagement with language" (EWL) perspective, this ethnographic and discourse analytic study investigates how Korean students aged 11-15…

  3. Exploring Environmental Identity and Behavioral Change in an Environmental Science Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blatt, Erica N.

    2013-01-01

    This ethnographic study at a public high school in the Northeastern United States investigates the process of change in students' environmental identity and proenvironmental behaviors during an Environmental Science course. The study explores how sociocultural factors, such as students' background, social interactions, and classroom structures,…

  4. Journey through Transformation: A Case Study of Two Literacy Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duckworth, Vicky; Ade-Ojo, Gordon O.

    2016-01-01

    The study draws on life history, literacy studies, and ethnographic approaches to exploring social practices as a frame to explore the narratives of two UK adult literacy learners who provide a description of their engagement with a transformative curriculum and pedagogical approach. One of the learners reveals his frustration at the lack of…

  5. Reflections on Native Ethnography by a Nurse Researcher.

    PubMed

    Abdulrehman, Munib Said

    2017-03-01

    There are benefits and challenges associated with conducting research in a familiar setting, especially when the researcher is more an insider than an outsider. The aim of this article is to explore the author's experience as a native scholar conducting ethnographic research among the Swahili peoples of Lamu, Kenya. This article focuses on methodological issues related to conducting ethnographic research among the author's own people, including examining the issues of anthropological reflexivity as a native ethnographer and highlighting the author's experiences embodying multiple identities. Native ethnographers must consider the challenges associated with negotiating multiple roles in the research setting, especially in the presence of sociocultural factors such as gender stratification, complex kinship networks, socioeconomic hierarchies, illiteracy, and poverty. Embracing rather than being confused by the multiple levels of understanding native researchers bring to studies of their communities opens up new avenues of research and possibilities.

  6. Burmese Sociocultural Adjustment to Thai International Programs: An Analysis of the Impact of Historical Revisionism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rhein, Douglas

    2016-01-01

    This research explores the perception and experiences of 15 Burmese international students temporarily studying at two international colleges in suburban Bangkok, Thailand and compares their impressions of and reaction to history with 10 Thai students studying at the same international colleges. This ethnographic exploration of Burmese…

  7. "Power in Numbers": Youth Organizing as a Context for Exploring Civic Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirshner, Ben

    2009-01-01

    This study examines civic identity exploration among African-American and Asian-American urban youth who participated in a grassroots organizing campaign to improve their local high schools. Drawing on 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with participants, the study found that the campaign provided a venue for participants to wrestle…

  8. Ethnographic research with adolescent students: situated fieldwork ethics and ethical principles governing human research.

    PubMed

    Hemmings, Annette

    2009-12-01

    This paper explores ethical dilemmas in situated fieldwork ethics concerning ethnographic studies of adolescent students. While consequentialist and deontological ethics form the basis of the ethical stances shared by ethnographers and research ethics committees, the interpretation of those principles may diverge in school-based ethnography with adolescent students because of the particular role of the adult ethnographer vis-à-vis developmentally immature adolescents not held legally responsible for many of their actions. School ethnographers attempt to build trust with adolescent participants in order to learn about their hidden cultural worlds, which may involve activities that are very harmful to the youths involved. They face many difficult and sometimes unexpected choices, including whether to intervene and how to represent events and adolescents in published findings. Scenarios with examples drawn from research conducted in public high schools are used to illustrate and explicate dilemmas in formal research and latent insider/outsider roles and relations involving harmful adolescent behaviors, advocacy, and psychological trauma. Also examined are analytical procedures used to construct interpretations leading to representations of research participants in the resulting publication.

  9. Curious Play: Children's Exploration of Nature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gurholt, Kirsti Pedersen; Sanderud, Jostein Rønning

    2016-01-01

    This article explores the concept of "curious play" as a theoretical framework to understand and communicate children's experiences of free play in nature. The concept emerged interactively from three sources of inspiration: an ethnographically inspired study of children playing in nature; as a critique of the concept of "risky…

  10. Extracurricular Dance Organizations: Body Image, Identity & Wellbeing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pawlowski, Nicolette Zuzanna

    2017-01-01

    I explored the socialization and experiences of older adolescents and young adults who were involved in three extracurricular dance organizations at a large Midwestern university. I conducted a six-month, comparative ethnographic study using observations, interviews and a survey. I identified three key themes through which I explored the meanings…

  11. Uncovering Students' Environmental Identity: An Exploration of Activities in an Environmental Science Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blatt, Erica

    2014-01-01

    This study at a public high school in the Northeastern United States explores how students' environmental identities are affected by various activities in an Environmental Science course. Data was collected as part of an ethnographic study involving an Environmental Science teacher and her tenth-twelfth grade students. The results focus on…

  12. Learning to Lead the Risk-Conscious Organization: An Empirical Study of Five English Primary School Leaders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pegg, Ann Elizabeth

    2010-01-01

    This article explores how organizational cultures shape workplace learning for those learning to be educational leaders. The discussion is illustrated with the data from an ethnographic case study which explored the workplace learning of five school leaders. The findings suggest that workplace boundaries were constructed in response to perceptions…

  13. The insight and challenge of reflexive practice in an ethnographic study of black traumatically injured patients in Philadelphia.

    PubMed

    Jacoby, Sara F

    2017-07-01

    The integrity of critical ethnography requires engagement in reflexive practice at all phases of the research process. In this discussion paper, I explore the insights and challenges of reflexive practice in an ethnographic study of the recovery experiences of black trauma patients in a Philadelphia hospital. Observation and interviews were conducted with twelve patients who were admitted to trauma-designated units of the hospital over the course of a year. During fieldwork, I learned the ways that my background as a professional nurse structured my way of being in clinical space and facilitated a particular interpretation of clinical culture. In analysis, reflection on subjectivities through which I designed this ethnographic research allowed me to see beyond my preconceived and theoretically informed perspective to permit unexpected features of the field to emerge. Reflexive practice also guided my reconciliation of key practical and epistemological differences between clinical ethnographic research and the anthropologic tradition in which it is rooted. I conclude that with careful reflection to the subjectivities that influence the research process, interdisciplinary clinically relevant applied interpretations of critical ethnographic work can be used to generate detailed knowledge across contexts in clinical care, nursing practice, and patient experiences. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. [The diagnostic disclosure of dementia: an ethnographic exploration].

    PubMed

    van Wijngaarden, Els; Broekhuis, Gert; van Leussen, Carolien; Kamper, Ad; The, Anne-Mei

    2017-09-01

    Giving adequate diagnostic information is considered to be fundamental in dementia care. An important question is how the diagnostic disclosure in dementia actually takes place. The aim of this explorative ethnographic study was therefore to provide insight into the disclosure practice of medical specialists. For this study, 22 interviews performed by seven medical specialists were analyzed.The results of this study show that the observed doctors are direct and explicit in disclosing the diagnosis. Actual (medical) information about the diagnosis and the performed investigations is provided. The main areas for improvement are involving the patient in the conversation, align your language to the lifeworld of the patient and his/her significant other(s), avoiding the use of medical jargon, discussing the consequences of the diagnosis for daily life, and explicitly recognizing the emotional and existential challenges associated with the disclosure. In providing further information, doctors could discuss emotional and existential support more specifically.

  15. Interacting with… What? Exploring Children's Social and Sensory Practices in a Science Discovery Centre

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dicks, Bella

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents findings from a qualitative UK study exploring the social practices of schoolchildren visiting an interactive science discovery centre. It is promoted as a place for "learning through doing", but the multi-modal, ethnographic methods adopted suggest that children were primarily engaged in (1) sensory pleasure-taking…

  16. Exploring Democracy: Nordic Music Teachers' Approaches to the Development of Immigrant Students' Musical Agency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karlsen, Sidsel

    2014-01-01

    In this article, a multi-sited ethnographic study was taken as a point of departure for exploring how Nordic music teachers, who work in multicultural environments, understand the development of their students' musical agency. The study was based on theories developed within general sociology and the sociology of music, as well as in previous…

  17. Crossing the Threshold Mindfully: Exploring Rites of Passage Models in Adventure Therapy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Norris, Julian

    2011-01-01

    Rites of passage models, drawing from ethnographic descriptions of ritualized transition, are widespread in adventure therapy programmes. However, critical literature suggests that: (a) contemporary rites of passage models derive from a selective and sometimes misleading use of ethnographic materials, and (b) the appropriation of initiatory…

  18. "Miss, Miss, I've Got a Story!": Exploring Identity through a Micro-Ethnographic Analysis of Lunchtime Interactions with Four Somali Third Grade Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kosha, Jean

    2013-01-01

    This study is an exploration of the ways in which four Somali students use language to express their identity and assert their views. The study explores the ways in which the Somali students' home culture and the school culture influence the development of their identity. Students participated in a lunchtime focus group on a regular basis over a…

  19. Exploring Some Ethical Dilemmas and Obligations of the Ethnographer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barbour, Andrew

    2010-01-01

    This paper focuses on the ethical position of the ethnographer when encountering unethical activities. Ethnography affords a rich insight into cultures, often behind previously secure doors but it is also a demanding science. Our gatekeepers control our access and our relationships with them can determine our destiny. This paper offers an exchange…

  20. Trading Spaces: An Educator's Ethnographic Exploration of Adolescents' Digital Role-Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haynes-Moore, Stacy

    2015-01-01

    In this work, the author examines a digital role-play in which participants composed an alternate version of "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008). Participants imagined characters and posted more than 400 scenes in the online collaboration. The author draws upon ethnographic methods (Merriam, 2009) to describe her participant-observer…

  1. "Who Are You, and What Are You Doing Here": Methodological Considerations in Ethnographic Health and Physical Education Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jachyra, Patrick; Atkinson, Michael; Washiya, Yosuke

    2015-01-01

    In the pursuit of understanding declining levels of participation from scholastic Health and Physical Education (HPE), ethnographic research has been increasingly utilised as a tool to explore the intersubjective and intrasubjective meaning-making processes that concurrently invite or dissuade participation. Despite the ostensible epistemological…

  2. Using hermeneutic phenomenology and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation with Malaysian nurses.

    PubMed

    Arunasalam, Nirmala

    2018-06-07

    The interpretive paradigm and hermeneutic phenomenological design are the most popular methods used in international cross-cultural research in healthcare, nurse education and nursing practice. Their inherent appeal is that they help researchers to explore experiences. The ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation can also be used to provide meaning, clarity and insight. To examine the use of hermeneutic phenomenology and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation in a research study conducted with Malaysian nurses on part-time, transnational, post-registration, top-up nursing degree programmes provided by one Australian and two UK universities. To enable the researcher to undertake international cross-cultural research and illuminate Malaysian nurses' views for the reader, cultural aspects need to be considered, as they will influence the information participants provide. Useful strategies that western researchers can adopt to co-create research texts with interviewees are outlined. The paradigm and research designs used in the study revealed the views and experiences of Malaysian nurses. Hermeneutic phenomenology enabled the exploration of participants' experiences, and the ethnographic principle of cultural interpretation enabled the researcher's reflexivity to provide emic and etic views for the reader. This paper adds to the discussion of the paradigms and research designs used for international, cross-cultural research in Asia. It identifies the influence participants' cultural values have on their confidence and level of disclosure with western researchers. ©2018 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

  3. Stitching Stories: Re-Membering Human Enslavement in the Elementary Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howard, Joy

    2018-01-01

    In this article, I explore this question: How can teachers, especially new teachers, create school spaces that present humanizing images and stories of people who were enslaved, particularly people of African descent in the United States? To explore this question, drawing from an ethnographic study of teachers at an elementary school in the U.S.…

  4. Moving from ethnography to epidemiology: lessons learned in Appalachia

    PubMed Central

    Kuzara, Jennifer; Copeland, William E.; Costello, E. Jane; Angold, Adrian; Worthman, Carol M.

    2009-01-01

    Background Anthropologists are beginning to translate insights from ethnography into tools for population studies that assess the role of culture in human behavior, biology, and health. Aim We describe several lessons learned in the creation and administration of an ethnographically-based instrument to assess the life course perspectives of Appalachian youth, the Life Trajectory Interview for Youth (LTI-Y). Then, we explore the utility of the LTI-Y in predicting depressive affect, controlling for prior depressed mood and severe negative life events throughout the life course. Subjects and methods In a sample of 319 youth (190 White, 129 Cherokee), we tested the association between depressive affect and two domains of the LTI-Y - life course barriers and milestones. Longitudinal data on previous depressed mood and negative life events were included in the model. Results The ethnographically-based scales of life course barriers and milestones were associated with unique variance in depressed mood, together accounting for 11% of the variance in this outcome. Conclusion When creating ethnographically-based instruments, it is important to strike a balance between detailed, participant-driven procedures and the analytic needs of hypothesis testing. Ethnographically-based instruments have utility for predicting health outcomes in longitudinal studies. PMID:19353406

  5. A Qualitative Ethnographic Portrait of Women's Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosser, Julee L.

    2013-01-01

    In this research study, I sought to understand and describe the Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) Program at Berea College by exploring it through the experiences of students, faculty, administrators, and alumnae. I designed and implemented a feminist organizational ethnography. Organizational ethnography is a naturalistic, qualitative research…

  6. School Reform Meets Administrative Realities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Antoinette B.; And Others

    Maryland's Challenge Grant Program was designed to bring systemic change to schools with relatively low performance levels. This paper presents findings of an ethnographic study that examined the workings of an educational reform effort across several levels of administration. Specifically, the study explored conditions that facilitated and…

  7. Advocating Commodification: An Ethnographic Look at the Policing of Irish as a Commercial Asset

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brennan, Sara C.

    2018-01-01

    Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two towns in the Republic of Ireland, this article explores the local negotiation, endorsement, and contestation of two community-level Irish language advocacy organizations' attempts to regulate the use of Irish in business by mobilizing discourses of language commodification to position Irish as a commercial…

  8. A Brief History of an Ethnographic Database: The HRAF Collection of Ethnography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roe, Sandra K.

    2007-01-01

    Since 1950, the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. has produced what is currently known as the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography. This article explores the reasons why it was created and describes the structure of this complex collection of ethnographic works. Over time, this resource has been produced in four different formats: paper slips,…

  9. The Power of Accounts: Ethnographic Research in a Professional Educational Setting.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coffey, Amanda

    This paper explores the dynamic nature of the power relationship within social research, concentrating on the production and reproduction of a text of the field and focusing on the processes of recording, writing, and reading. It draws on ethnographic research conducted in a United Kingdom office of an international firm of chartered accountants…

  10. What Does It Mean when an Ethnographer Intervenes?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dennis, Barbara

    2009-01-01

    This paper explores what it means to engage as an ethical researcher in the conduct of critical ethnography. During the years in which this critical ethnography of new language learners in a midwestern high school, the ethnographer actively participated in the life of the site. This paper poses the question of what such active involvement means…

  11. Researching School Choice in Regional Australia: What Can This Tell Us about the Ethnographic Imaginary?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsolidis, Georgina

    2016-01-01

    This is an exploration of methodological debates related to ethnographic research. Reflection on conducting research on school choice in an Australian regional centre is the beginning point for a discussion of what Appadurai describes as a dialectical relationship between the neighbourhood and its capacity to exist and reshape itself in relation…

  12. Shuttling between Worlds: Quandaries of Performing Queered Research in Asian American Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Varney, Joan

    2008-01-01

    This article explores how the tensions that grow out of being a researcher in my community of queer Asian Americans lead to the formulation of a different kind of ethnographic approach. A hybrid notion of identity can require and inform a hybrid or poststructural ethnographic practice. This hybridized research method draws upon theoretical strands…

  13. Ethnomathematics in Perspective of Sundanese Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdullah, Atje Setiawan

    2017-01-01

    This study is an exploratory research aims to find and know about a phenomenon by exploration. Therefore, the approach used in this study is ethnographic approach, an empirical and theoretical approach to get description and deep analysis about a culture based on field study. From the sustainable interviews and confirmation about field research…

  14. A Case Study of a Collaborative Speech-Language Pathologist

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ritzman, Mitzi J.; Sanger, Dixie; Coufal, Kathy L.

    2006-01-01

    This study explored how a school-based speech-language pathologist implemented a classroom-based service delivery model that focused on collaborative practices in classroom settings. The study used ethnographic observations and interviews with 1 speech-language pathologist to provide insights into how she implemented collaborative consultation and…

  15. Children's Worlds: An Exploration of Latino Students' Play in Rural New Mexico

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ulibarri, Reyna M.

    2016-01-01

    I present an ethnographic study of thirteen nine-year-old, U.S.-born Latino children in rural New Mexico. I employ in-depth individual and group interviews, participant observation, and sand play (a method borrowed from clinical psychology in which children "make a world" in a box of sand) to explore how play interactions represent,…

  16. Understanding the Role of Identity and the Retention of Mexican American Students in Higher Education: A Qualitative Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Leon, Juan, Jr.

    2012-01-01

    This qualitative ethnographic narrative inquiry explored the role of identity and the retention of Mexican American students in higher education. Leadership identity, a dimension of identity, was explored using narratives provided by 13 Mexican American students, attending a university in the northwest United States. Interview data was compiled,…

  17. Exploring Feminism in a Multicultural Classroom: Using "Bend It Like Beckham" as a Tool in a High School Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Paul; Røthing, Åse

    2017-01-01

    This study concerns itself with a classroom project in English class where the film "Bend it Like Beckham" was shown to two multicultural classes in a high school in Oslo, Norway, with a view towards exploring students' understandings and attitudes towards gender. Using an ethnographic methodology informed by feminist approaches,…

  18. Implementation in the midst of complexity: Using ethnography to study health care-associated infection prevention and control.

    PubMed

    Knobloch, Mary Jo; Thomas, Kevin V; Patterson, Erin; Zimbric, Michele L; Musuuza, Jackson; Safdar, Nasia

    2017-10-01

    Contextual factors associated with health care settings make reducing health care-associated infections (HAIs) a complex task. The aim of this article is to highlight how ethnography can assist in understanding contextual factors that support or hinder the implementation of evidence-based practices for reducing HAIs. We conducted a review of ethnographic studies specifically related to HAI prevention and control in the last 5 years (2012-2017). Twelve studies specific to HAIs and ethnographic methods were found. Researchers used various methods with video-reflexive sessions used in 6 of the 12 studies. Ethnography was used to understand variation in data reporting, identify barriers to adherence, explore patient perceptions of isolation practices and highlight the influence of physical design on infection prevention practices. The term ethnography was used to describe varied research methods. Most studies were conducted outside the United States, and authors indicate insights gained using ethnographic methods (whether observations, interviews, or reflexive video recording) as beneficial to unraveling the complexities of HAI prevention. Ethnography is well-suited for HAI prevention, especially video-reflexive ethnography, for activating patients and clinicians in infection control work. In this era of increasing pressure to reduce HAIs within complex work systems, ethnographic methods can promote understanding of contextual factors and may expedite translation evidence to practice. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  19. Local Sociality in Young People's Mobile Communications: A Korean Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Kyongwon

    2006-01-01

    Drawing upon ethnographic data, this article explores how young Koreans appropriate mobile phones. By examining the role of local norms of sociality among young people, the study shows that this "individualizing" technology is articulated through "traditionalizing" forces. Despite dominant representations of young people's…

  20. A Reflective Study into Children's Cognition When Making Computer Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allsop, Yasemin

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, children's mental activities when making digital games are explored. Where previous studies have mainly focused on children's learning, this study aimed to unfold the children's thinking process for learning when making computer games. As part of an ongoing larger scale study, which adopts an ethnographic approach, this research…

  1. A Collaborative Inquiry to Promote Pedagogical Knowledge of Mathematics in Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moghaddam, Alireza; Sarkar Arani, Mohammad Reza; Kuno, Hiroyuki

    2015-01-01

    The present study attempts to report a collaborative cycle of professional development in teaching elementary school mathematics through lesson study. It explores a practice of lesson study conducted by teachers aiming to improve their knowledge of pedagogy. The study adopts an ethnographic approach to examine how collaborative teaching within an…

  2. An ethnographic study of job seeking among people with severe mental illness.

    PubMed

    Alverson, Hoyt; Carpenter, Elizabeth; Drake, Robert E

    2006-01-01

    An ethnographic study employing intensive participant observation methods identified critical differences in styles of searching for competitive employment among people with severe mental illness and explored the social/cultural correlates of these job-seeking styles. Propensity for active job seeking was strongly associated with younger age, with participants' involvement in interdependent kin networks or households, with ethno-racial minority background, and with capacity for coherent discourse. Active job seekers did particularly well in a supported employment program, but also were able to find employment when assigned to other programs; passive job seekers had little success in any vocational program. The authors discuss several implications of these findings for vocational services.

  3. "A Space for You to Be Who You Are": An Ethnographic Portrait of Reterritorializing Indigenous Student Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anthony-Stevens, Vanessa; Stevens, Philip

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the discourse practices of an Indigenous, community-based charter school and its efforts to create space for Indigenous both/and identities across rural-urban divides. The ethnographic portrait of Urban Native Middle School (UNMS) analyzes the discourse of making "a space for you", which brings together rural and…

  4. Patient and family perspectives on peritoneal dialysis at home: findings from an ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Baillie, Jessica; Lankshear, Annette

    2015-01-01

    To discuss findings from an ethnographic study, considering the experiences of patients and families, using peritoneal dialysis at home in the United Kingdom. Peritoneal dialysis is a daily, life-preserving treatment for end-stage renal disease, undertaken in the patient's home. With ever-growing numbers of patients requiring treatment for this condition, the increased use of peritoneal dialysis is being promoted. While it is known that quality of life is reduced when using dialysis, few studies have sought to explore experiences of peritoneal dialysis specifically. No previous studies were identified that adopted an ethnographic approach. A qualitative design was employed, utilising ethnographic methodology. Ethical and governance approvals were gained in November 2010 and data were generated in 2011. Patients (n = 16) and their relatives (n = 9) were interviewed and observed using peritoneal dialysis in their homes. Thematic analysis was undertaken using Wolcott's (1994) three stage process: Description, Analysis and Interpretation. This article describes four themes: initiating peritoneal dialysis; the constraints of peritoneal dialysis due to medicalisation of the home environment and the imposition of rigid timetables; the uncertainty of managing crises and inevitable deterioration; and seeking freedom through creativity and hope of a kidney transplant. This study highlights the culture of patients and their families living with peritoneal dialysis. Despite the challenges posed by the treatment, participants were grateful they were able to self-manage at home. Furthermore, ethnographic methods offer an appropriate and meaningful way of considering how patients live with home technologies. Participants reported confusion about kidney transplantation and also how to identify peritonitis, and ongoing education from nurses and other healthcare professionals is thus vital. Opportunities for sharing experiences of peritoneal dialysis were valued by participants and further peer-support services should thus be considered. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Participatory Research in a Mental Health Clubhouse.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Townsend, Elizabeth; Birch, Diane E.; Langley, Jack; Langille, Lynn

    2000-01-01

    A 2-year ethnographic study of a clubhouse for people with long-term mental illness involved club members in particpatory research. The study explored questions of what is research and who drives it. A critical perspective on the social organization of knowledge and power inequities between participants was highlighted. (SK)

  6. Relationship with English: Language Use, Attitudes, and Investment in Learning among Low-Income Latino Immigrant Entrepreneurs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonder, Linda E.

    2017-01-01

    Many researchers have explored language learning investment since Norton Peirce (1995) introduced the concept. However, most investment studies have recruited participants through language classes, which presupposes participant investment in formal learning. The current study went outside the classroom context by conducting ethnographic interviews…

  7. Online Fan Fiction, Global Identities, and Imagination

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Black, Rebecca W.

    2009-01-01

    Based on longitudinal data from a three year ethnographic study, this article uses discourse analytic methods to explore the literacy and social practices of three adolescent English language learners writing in an online fan fiction community. Theoretical constructs within globalization and literacy studies are used to describe the influences of…

  8. Mental Models: Knowledge in the Head and Knowledge in the World.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jonassen, David H.; Henning, Philip

    1999-01-01

    Explores the utility of mental models as learning outcomes in using complex and situated learning environments. Describes two studies: one aimed at eliciting mental models in the heads of novice refrigeration technicians, and the other an ethnographic study eliciting knowledge and models within the community of experienced refrigeration…

  9. Insights into Departure Intention: A Qualitative Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Natoli, Riccardo; Jackling, Beverley; Siddique, Salina

    2015-01-01

    Efforts to address attrition rates at universities have been driven by Tinto's (1975) model of student engagement with its focus on student: (a) pre entry attributes; (b) academic engagement; and (c) social engagement. Using an ethnographic approach, the study involves interviews with business students to explore the links between these aspects…

  10. Two Cinderellas, Two Worldviews: Dilemmas for Vietnamese Americans.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newman, Ann D.

    This study explored the acculturation experiences of new immigrants in their cultural transformation from Vietnamese to Vietnamese American. Three objectives guided the research effort: (1) to investigate the cultural transformation of new immigrants through an ethnographic study of a Vietnamese Boy Scout troop; (2) to discover how the beliefs and…

  11. Transition to Postgraduate Study: Practice, Participation and the Widening Participation Agenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Donnell, Victoria L.; Tobbell, Jane; Lawthom, Rebecca; Zammit, Maria

    2009-01-01

    This article explores transition to postgraduate (PG) study in terms of the widening participation (WP) agenda. The research is located within a Communities of Practice framework, allowing for explanations of transition in terms of learning, identity and participation in practices. A qualitative ethnographic methodology is employed, and analysis…

  12. Queer in the field: on emotions, temporality, and performativity in ethnography.

    PubMed

    Rooke, Alison

    2009-01-01

    This article is a reflection on a year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in and around a lesbian and gay community center in London. The research was concerned with the ways in which working class lesbian and bisexual women experience the meanings of their sexual identities on an everyday basis. I conducted participant observation in a variety of settings. Activities I took part in included volunteering at the center and running sexualities discussion groups, and photographic workshops with lesbian and bisexual women. In this article I explore the epistemological, ontological, and ethical dimensions of ethnographic research. I argue here that queer ethnography is not merely ethnography that has focus on researching queer lives, it is also a matter of taking queer theory seriously in order to question the conventions of ethnographic research, specifically the stability and coherence of the ethnographic self and performativity of the ethnographic self in writing and doing research. To queer ethnography then, is to bend the established orientation of ethnography in its method, ethics, and reflexive philosophical principles.

  13. Research, Practice, and Policy Connections: The Artplay Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Robert; Jeanneret, Neryl

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the nexus between arts-based research, theory, practice, and policy. It does so through reference to a longitudinal study of ArtPlay, a unique Australian community arts center that offers artist-led workshops involving young people aged 3-13 years. The ethnographic and action research study investigated how children responded…

  14. Diabetes Education Needs of Chinese Australians: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Tammie S. T.; Walker, Karen Z.; Ralston, Robin A.; Palermo, Claire

    2015-01-01

    Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate a type 2 diabetes education programme for Chinese Australians, based on the experience of participants and by exploring the unique needs of Chinese patients, their health beliefs and their cultural behaviours. Design and setting: A qualitative ethnographic study was undertaken in a community health…

  15. Blogging: Promoting Learner Autonomy and Intercultural Competence through Study Abroad

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Lina

    2011-01-01

    The current study explores closely how using a combined modalities of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) via blogs and face-to-face (FTF) interaction through ethnographic interviews with native speakers (L1s) supports autonomous learning as the result of reflective and social processes. The study involves 16 American undergraduate…

  16. El Libro de Recuerdos (Book of Memories): A Latina Student's Exploration of Self and Religion in Public School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reyes, Cynthia C.

    2009-01-01

    This article is an exploration of how an alternative text reflects the multiple identities of one high school Latina, focusing in particular on her religious identity. In this ethnographic case study, the author addresses three questions: 1) In what ways does literacy activity inside the school, in the form of the science scrapbook, allow for this…

  17. Social Orders and Interactions among Children in Age-Mixed Classes in Primary Schools--New Perspectives from a Synthesis of Ethnographic Data

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huf, Christina; Raggl, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    The article synthesises data from two ethnographic projects, which both explore interactions of children in age-mixed groups in primary schools. It illuminates critical perspectives on social orders and children's interactions in age-mixed classes by showing how pupils in age-mixed groups become involved in power relations and how the teacher's…

  18. Tensions in Creating Possibilities for Youth Voice in School Choice: An Ethnographer's Reflexive Story of Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cotnam-Kappel, Megan

    2014-01-01

    The following article relates a reflexive ethnographic research project that focuses on youth voice in relation to the process of choosing a high school and a language of instruction in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of this methodological article is to relate a story of research and explore the tensions between theory and practice experienced by a…

  19. Seven Habits of Reclaiming Relationships.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laursen, Erik K.

    2002-01-01

    Describes an ethnographic study undertaken with 23 youth, in residential treatment centers, to explore the effect of caring relationships on their lives. Seven elements of caring relationships were identified: trust; attention; empathy; availability; affirmation; respect; and virtue. Describes how the components of successful caring can be used to…

  20. Scientific Discourse in the Academy: A Case Study of an American Indian Undergraduate

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brandt, Carol B.

    2008-01-01

    This case study explores how an American Indian woman experienced scientific discourse and the issues of language, power, and authority that occurred while she was an undergraduate student at a university in the southwestern United States. This ethnographic research, using a phenomenological perspective, describes her experiences as she searched…

  1. Encouraging Children to Think in More Inclusive Ways

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Messiou, Kyriaki

    2008-01-01

    This article explores the possible contributions that children can make in educational settings that aim to move towards greater inclusion. In constructing her debate, Kyriaki Messiou, lecturer in education in the Centre for Educational Studies at the University of Hull, draws on understandings gained through an ethnographic study carried out in a…

  2. Natural Mentors and Youth Drinking: A Qualitative Study of Mexican Youths

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strunin, Lee; Díaz-Martínez, Alejandro; Díaz-Martínez, L. Rosa; Kuranz, Seth; Hernández-Ávila, Carlos A.; Pantridge, Caroline E.; Fernández-Varela, Héctor

    2015-01-01

    Parental influences on youth drinking are well documented but not the influence of extended family members. This article explores extended family influences on alcohol use among Mexican youths and whether extended family members can be considered natural mentors. We conducted a qualitative study using ethnographic open ended interviews with 117…

  3. Community-Level Responses to Disability and Education in Rwanda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karangwa, Evariste; Miles, Susie; Lewis, Ingrid

    2010-01-01

    This article explores the meaning of community and perceptions of disability in Rwanda, as revealed through a community-based ethnographic study. This study took place in Rwanda in an educational policy context driven by international rhetoric about human rights, inclusion and the arguably unachievable Education for All targets. We argue that the…

  4. Inconsistencies in Everyday Patterns of School Rules

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thornberg, Robert

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate and explain inconsistencies within the social constructions of school rules as they take shape in everyday interactions between teachers and students, and to explore how students interpret these inconsistencies. An ethnographic study is conducted in two primary schools in Sweden. According to the findings,…

  5. The Representation of "Curanderismo" in Selected Mexican American Works

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pabon, Melissa

    2007-01-01

    "Curanderismo," a Mexican folk practice, is a prevalent subject in Mexican American literature. Because much of the presence of "curanderismo" in Mexican American literature is only explored in ethnographic studies, the purpose of this study is to examine the artistic representation of "curanderismo" in the novels "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo…

  6. An Investigation of the Goals for an Environmental Science Course: Teacher and Student Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blatt, Erica N.

    2015-01-01

    This investigation uses an ethnographic case study approach to explore the benefits and challenges of including a variety of goals within a high school Environmental Science curriculum. The study focuses on environmental education (EE) goals established by the Belgrade Charter (1975), including developing students' environmental awareness and…

  7. Traditions, Mentoring, and Vietnamese Women Leaders in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazarian-Chehab, Rina

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of informal mentoring on the leadership development of women in leadership positions in Vietnamese universities. Methodology: This study was qualitative in nature; therefore, ethnographic design methodology was utilized to collect data. The data collection was performed in three stages:…

  8. Affordances for Participation: Children's Appropriation of Rules in a Reggio Emilia School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Cathrin; Evaldsson, Ann-Carita

    2012-01-01

    This study explores how young children appropriate school rules and what opportunities for active participation are afforded in a Reggio Emilia elementary classroom with particular interest in the interactional and communicative competences children display in situated practice. An ethnographic and microanalytic approach is used to study how the…

  9. Playing the Field(s): An Exploration of Change, Conformity and Conflict in Girls' Understandings of Gendered Physicality in Physical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hills, Laura A.

    2006-01-01

    This paper draws on data from a year-long ethnographic study of a group of 12- to 13-year-old girls that explored the processes through which they negotiated gendered physicality within the context of physical education. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and social fields and McNay's extension of his work underpin a discussion of three contexts where…

  10. Constructing and Resisting Disability in Mathematics Classrooms: A Case Study Exploring the Impact of Different Pedagogies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lambert, Rachel

    2015-01-01

    This study demonstrates the importance of a critical lens on disability in mathematics educational research. This ethnographic and interview study investigated how ability and disability were constructed over 1 year in a middle school mathematics classroom. Children participated in two kinds of mathematical pedagogy that positioned children…

  11. Teachers' Work, Food Policies, and Gender in Argentina

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robert, Sarah A.; McEntarfer, Heather Killelea

    2014-01-01

    Few studies explore teachers' involvement in school feeding, questioning gendered implications within a feminine and feminized profession. Ethnographic data from one public high school in Metropolitan Buenos Aires suggest that teachers' efforts to address student hunger added new work roles: food advocates/activists, food managers, and service…

  12. Young Children Being Rhythmically Playful: Creating "Musike" Together

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alcock, Sophie

    2008-01-01

    This article explores young children's rhythmic, musical, aesthetic and playful creative communication in an early childhood education centre. Young children's communication is musically rhythmic and social. The data, presented as "events", formed part of an ethnographic-inspired study conducted by the researcher as a participant observer.…

  13. The Fronts Students Use: Facebook and the Standardization of Self-Presentations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Birnbaum, Matthew G.

    2013-01-01

    This empirical study explored the impression management techniques and standardized performances college students use on their Facebook profiles to ensure their peers believe they are fully participating in the undergraduate experience. Employing an ethnographic research design and data collected using participant-observation and interview…

  14. Community Currencies: An Ideology of Abundance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winfrey, Nancy

    2017-01-01

    This essay explores the concept of "cultural commons" and provides an illustration of a cultural commons practice from an ethnographic study of a community currency. The following section links cultural commons practices to situated and social cognitive learning theories, and then provides practical application to the higher education…

  15. HIV/AIDS-related stigma and information behaviour: an ethnographic study in the UK.

    PubMed

    Namuleme, Robinah Kalemeera

    2015-03-01

    This feature explores the information behaviour of people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. It investigates specifically the difficult issue of stigma and how this shapes the ways in which people interact with vital information. The study adopted an ethnographic whereby the researcher worked as a part-time volunteer at an HIV support centre in the North of England for over a year. This is the first time that such an approach has been reported in this feature and is interesting from this perspective alone. The very rich data which was gathered as a result of the approach is also instructive. The study formed part of a PhD thesis, which Robinah Kalemeera Namuleme completed at the University of Sheffield in March 2013. © 2015 Health Libraries Journal.

  16. The Effect of School Culture on Science Education at an Ideologically Innovative Elementary Magnet School: An Ethnographic Case Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meier, Lori T.

    2012-11-01

    This ethnographic case study investigated the science practices of teachers at one public elementary magnet school in light of how school culture influenced science curriculum design and instruction. The purpose of the study was to address how school culture impacted the school's overall treatment of science as a viable content area. Key informant teachers were interviewed to explore their personal beliefs and values, teaching, access to materials, and views of the adopted integrated thematic curriculum model and magnet structure. The resulting data, triangulated with informal observation and artifact collection, were analyzed using a theoretical framework that emphasized five interdependent school culture indicators (values, beliefs, practices, materials, and problems). Findings suggest that the school's culture adversely influenced the treatment of science.

  17. Nursing in a technological environment: nursing care in the operating room.

    PubMed

    Bull, Rosalind; FitzGerald, Mary

    2006-02-01

    Operating room nurses continue to draw criticism regarding the appropriateness of a nursing presence in the operating room. The technological focus of the theatre and the ways in which nurses in the theatre have shaped and reshaped their practice in response to technological change have caused people within and outside the nursing profession to question whether operating room nursing is a technological rather than nursing undertaking. This paper reports findings from an ethnographic study that was conducted in an Australian operating department. The study examined the contribution of nurses to the work of the operating room through intensive observation and ethnographic interviews. This paper uses selected findings from the study to explore the ways in which nurses in theatre interpret their role in terms of caring in a technological environment.

  18. An ethnographic object-oriented analysis of explorer presence in a volcanic terrain environment: Claims and evidence

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgreevy, Michael W.

    1994-01-01

    An ethnographic field study was conducted to investigate the nature of presence in field geology, and to develop specifications for domain-based planetary exploration systems utilizing virtual presence. Two planetary geologists were accompanied on a multi-day geologic field trip that they had arranged for their own scientific purposes, which centered on an investigation of the extraordinary xenolith/nodule deposits in the Kaupulehu lava flow of Hualalai Volcano, on the island of Hawaii. The geologists were observed during the course of their field investigations and interviewed regarding their activities and ideas. Analysis of the interview resulted in the identification of key domain entities and their attributes, relations among the entities, and explorer interactions with the environment. The results support and extend the author's previously reported continuity theory of presence, indicating that presence in field geology is characterized by persistent engagement with objects associated by metonymic relations. The results also provide design specifications for virtual planetary exploration systems, including an integrating structure for disparate data integration. Finally, the results suggest that unobtrusive participant observation coupled with field interviews is an effective research methodology for engineering ethnography.

  19. Using weather data to determine dry and wet periods relative to ethnographic records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Felzer, B. S.; Jiang, M.; Cheng, R.; Ember, C. R.

    2017-12-01

    Ethnographers record flood or drought events that affect a society's food supply and can be interpreted in terms of a society's ability to adapt to extreme events. Using daily weather station data from the Global Historical Climatology Network for wet events, and monthly gridded climatic data from the Climatic Research Unit for drought events, we determine if it is possible to relate these measured data to the ethnographic records. We explore several drought and wetness indices based on temperature and precipitation, as well as the Colwell method to determine the predictability, seasonality, and variability of these extreme indices. Initial results indicate that while it is possible to capture the events recorded in the ethnographic records, there are many more "false" captures of events that are not recorded in these records. Although extreme precipitation is a poor indicator of floods due to antecedent moisture conditions, even using streamflow for selected sites produces false captures. Relating drought indices to actual food supply as measured in crop yield only related to minimum crop yield in half the cases. Further mismatches between extreme precipitation and drought indices and ethnographic records may relate to the fact that only extreme events that affect food supply are recorded in the ethnographic records or that not all events are recorded by the ethnographers. We will present new results on how predictability measures relate to the ethnographic disasters. Despite the highlighted technical challenges, our results provide a historic perspective linking environmental stressors with socio-economic impacts, which in turn, will underpin the current efforts of risk assessment in a changing environment.

  20. Riding Third: Social Work in Ambulance Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campbell, Hilary; Rasmussen, Brian

    2012-01-01

    This research explored the possible role of social work alongside emergency ambulance services. An ethnographic study included semistructured interviews and direct observations collected over 300 hours while riding in ambulances in an urban setting. The data suggest that social work could play a role by providing needed psychosocial care during…

  1. Pedagogies of Black Eldership: Exploring the Impact of Intergenerational Contact on Youth Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lozenski, Brian D.

    2017-01-01

    This article examines the interactions between a collective of self-described "African American," "multiracial," and "African immigrant" high school youth researchers, and two African American community elders. Drawing from a year-long critical ethnographic study of the youth research collective, the author documents…

  2. Neighborhood Rhythms and the Social Activities of Adolescent Mothers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burton, Linda M.; Graham, Joan E.

    1998-01-01

    A five-year longitudinal ethnographic study explores the relationship between the temporal organization of neighborhood activities and the social engagements of urban African American teen mothers. Found that courting activities occurred during the morning, baby parading during the afternoon-evening, with teen mothers avoiding the illicit drug…

  3. Popular Media, Critical Pedagogy, and Inner City Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leard, Diane Wishart; Lashua, Brett

    2006-01-01

    In this article, we explored ways youth, traditionally silenced, engaged with popular culture to voice experiences and challenge dominant narratives of public schools and daily lives. We also considered how educators use popular culture as critical pedagogy with inner city youth. Through ethnographic bricolage and case study methods, and drawing…

  4. Bridging Language Barriers in Multilingual Care Encounters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jansson, Gunilla

    2014-01-01

    The present case study demonstrates how the multilingual practices of a linguistically diverse workforce contribute to the functioning of a modern workplace. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and recordings in a residential home for elderly people with dementia in Sweden, the article explores how multilingual immigrant care workers creatively use…

  5. Home Language Policy of Second-Generation Turkish Families in the Netherlands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bezcioglu-Goktolga, Irem; Yagmur, Kutlay

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the family language policy of second-generation Turkish immigrant families in the Netherlands by exploring their language ideologies, practices, and management strategies. Using an ethnographic approach, data were collected through a set of observations and interviews with 20 families. Transcriptions of interviews and memos…

  6. Telling Tales at Work: An Evolutionary Explanation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Chulguen

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the adaptive functions of storytelling in the workplace from an evolutionary perspective. Based on the analysis of ethnographic studies on hunter-gatherer and modern work organizations, this article claims that storytelling, as an adapted cognitive device, was selectively retained by natural and sexual selection, because of…

  7. Professional Discussion Groups: Informal Learning in a Third Space

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jordan, Robert A.

    2013-01-01

    In this ethnographic study, I explored two discussion groups and discovered Third Space elements such as cultural hybridity, counterscript, and sharing of experiences and resources contributed to a safe learning environment existing at the boundaries between participant personal and professional spaces. The groups operated under the auspices of a…

  8. Indian Family Adjustment to Children with Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nichols, Lee Anne; Keltner, Bette

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the community response of how American Indian families adapt to having school age children with disabilities in two diverse American Indian communities. An ethnographic design was utilized to construct a taxonomy about family adjustment of American Indian families with disabilities. Community Assessment…

  9. Multilingual Institutional Discourses of Negotiation and Intertextuality in Writing Center Interactions in Macao

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Alice Shu-Ju

    2017-01-01

    This dissertation explores the identity enactments (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005) of 14 multilingual university writing center tutors and multilingual student writers who use English and Putonghua to negotiate their interactions. The study is situated within sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and uses ethnographic methods such as observation,…

  10. Exploring Principals' Nonroutine Problems in Bilingual Immersion Schools: Lessons Learned for Multicultural Leadership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwabsky, Nitza

    2013-01-01

    The present study examines the nonroutine problems that eight Anglo-American principals encountered in managing three elementary bilingual immersion schools in the Northwest United States. Using qualitative inquiry to collect data, I employed the multisited ethnographic research model. The principals reported nonroutine problems in the following…

  11. Emotional Responses to the Linguistic Landscape in Memphis, Tennessee: Visual Perceptions of Public Spaces in Transition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garvin, Rebecca Todd

    2011-01-01

    This qualitative ethnographic Linguistic Landscape (LL) study collected and analyzed ten individual "walking tour" interviews with residents of Memphis, Tennessee, exploring the personal thoughts and feelings about linguistic changes in the communities triggered by the LL. The researcher focused the participants' attention on…

  12. Linguistic Reception of Latin American Students in Catalonia and Their Responses to Educational Language Policies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newman, Michael; Patino-Santos, Adriana; Trenchs-Parera, Mireia

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the connections between language policy implementation in three Barcelona-area secondary schools and the language attitudes and behaviors of Spanish-speaking Latin American newcomers. Data were collected through interviews and ethnographic participant observation document indexes of different forms of language socialization…

  13. Culturally Responsive Caring and Expectations for Academic Achievement in a Catholic School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dallavis, Christian

    2014-01-01

    This article draws from a larger dissertation study that applied ethnographic and historical research methods to explore the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and Catholic schooling in immigrant communities. In particular, this article presents qualitative data analysis to describe student achievement expectations at a contemporary…

  14. Dichotomized Metaphors and Young People's Educational Routes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lahelma, Elina

    2009-01-01

    Drawing from an ethnographically grounded longitudinal study on educational transitions, the aim of this article is to analyse young people's reflections about their educational choices at different ages. Consistencies and breaks in their plans and actual choices are explored and reflected in relation to the economic, social, cultural and…

  15. Understanding Natural Sciences Education in a Reggio Emilia-Inspired Preschool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inan, Hatice Zeynep; Trundle, Kathy Cabe; Kantor, Rebecca

    2010-01-01

    This ethnographic study explored aspects of how the natural sciences were represented in a Reggio Emilia-inspired laboratory preschool. The natural sciences as a discipline--a latecomer to preschool curricula--and the internationally known approach, Reggio Emilia, interested educators and researchers, but there was little research about science in…

  16. An ethnographic exploration of drug markets in Kisumu, Kenya

    PubMed Central

    Syvertsen, Jennifer L.; Ohaga, Spala; Agot, Kawango; Dimova, Margarita; Guise, Andy; Rhodes, Tim; Wagner, Karla D.

    2016-01-01

    Background Illegal drug markets are shaped by multiple forces, including local actors and broader economic, political, social, and criminal justice systems that intertwine to impact health and social wellbeing. Ethnographic analyses that interrogate multiple dimensions of drug markets may offer both applied and theoretical insights into drug use, particularly in developing nations where new markets and local patterns of use traditionally have not been well understood. This paper explores the emergent drug market in Kisumu, western Kenya, where our research team recently documented evidence of injection drug use. Methods Our exploratory study of injection drug use was conducted in Kisumu from 2013-2014. We draw on 151 surveys, 29 in-depth interviews, and 8 months of ethnographic fieldwork to describe the drug market from the perspective of injectors, focusing on their perceptions of the market and reports of drug use therein. Results Injectors described a dynamic market in which the availability of drugs and proliferation of injection drug use have taken on growing importance in Kisumu. In addition to reports of white and brown forms of heroin and concerns about drug adulteration in the market, we unexpectedly documented widespread perceptions of cocaine availability and injection in Kisumu. Examining price data and socio-pharmacological experiences of cocaine injection left us with unconfirmed evidence of its existence, but opened further possibilities about how the chaos of new drug markets and diffusion of injection-related beliefs and practices may lend insight into the sociopolitical context of western Kenya. Conclusions We suggest a need for expanded drug surveillance, education and programming responsive to local conditions, and further ethnographic inquiry into the social meanings of emergent drug markets in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa. PMID:26838470

  17. An ethnographic exploration of drug markets in Kisumu, Kenya.

    PubMed

    Syvertsen, Jennifer L; Ohaga, Spala; Agot, Kawango; Dimova, Margarita; Guise, Andy; Rhodes, Tim; Wagner, Karla D

    2016-04-01

    Illegal drug markets are shaped by multiple forces, including local actors and broader economic, political, social, and criminal justice systems that intertwine to impact health and social wellbeing. Ethnographic analyses that interrogate multiple dimensions of drug markets may offer both applied and theoretical insights into drug use, particularly in developing nations where new markets and local patterns of use traditionally have not been well understood. This paper explores the emergent drug market in Kisumu, western Kenya, where our research team recently documented evidence of injection drug use. Our exploratory study of injection drug use was conducted in Kisumu from 2013 to 2014. We draw on 151 surveys, 29 in-depth interviews, and 8 months of ethnographic fieldwork to describe the drug market from the perspective of injectors, focusing on their perceptions of the market and reports of drug use therein. Injectors described a dynamic market in which the availability of drugs and proliferation of injection drug use have taken on growing importance in Kisumu. In addition to reports of white and brown forms of heroin and concerns about drug adulteration in the market, we unexpectedly documented widespread perceptions of cocaine availability and injection in Kisumu. Examining price data and socio-pharmacological experiences of cocaine injection left us with unconfirmed evidence of its existence, but opened further possibilities about how the chaos of new drug markets and diffusion of injection-related beliefs and practices may lend insight into the sociopolitical context of western Kenya. We suggest a need for expanded drug surveillance, education and programming responsive to local conditions, and further ethnographic inquiry into the social meanings of emergent drug markets in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. "Learning the Basics": Young People's Engagement with Sexuality Education at Secondary Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams Tucker, Leigh; George, Gavin; Reardon, Candice; Panday, Saadhna

    2016-01-01

    School-based sexuality education remains a key response to the HIV epidemic. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study, this study explores how young people engage with sexuality and HIV- and AIDS-related education as it is delivered through the Life Orientation (LO) learning area in South Africa, in order to understand the dynamics that…

  19. "Speaking English Naturally": The Language Ideologies of English as an Official Language at a Korean University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Jinsook

    2016-01-01

    This study explores language ideologies of English at a Korean university where English has been adopted as an official language. This study draws on ethnographic data in order to understand how speakers respond to and experience the institutional language policy. The findings show that language ideologies in this university represent the…

  20. Family Literacy and Digital Literacies: A Redefined Approach to Examining Social Practices of an African-American Family

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, Tisha Y.

    2009-01-01

    This dissertation examines the digital literacy practices of an urban African-American family. Using an ethnographic case study approach (Stake, 2000), this qualitative study explores the multiple ways a mother (Larnee) and son (Gerard) interacted with digital literacies in the home. Situated within the framework of sociocultural traditions from…

  1. Potentialities beyond Deficit Perspectives: Globalization, Culture and Urban Science Education in the Bronx

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pitts, Wesley

    2011-01-01

    The major focus of this ethnographic study is devoted to exploring the confluence of global and local referents of science education in the context of an urban chemistry laboratory classroom taught by a first-generation Filipino-American male teacher. This study investigates encounters between the teacher and four second-generation immigrant…

  2. Exploring the Impact of Reality Pedagogy: Understanding Its Implementation on Urban Immigrant Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taher, Tanzina; Mensah, Felicia Moore; Emdin, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    This ethnographic case study follows two urban immigrant students in their yearlong journey in an urban science classroom where the first two pedagogic tools of reality pedagogy (cogenerative dialogue and co-teaching) were implemented. This study examines the role reality pedagogy plays in the science classroom for these two students, while…

  3. Normal for an Asperger: Notions of the Meanings of Diagnoses among Adults with Asperger Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosqvist, Hanna Bertilsdotter

    2012-01-01

    This study explores the production of a counterhegemonic discourse of "autistic normalcy" among adults with high-functioning autism by analyzing notions of diagnosis. The discourse analyses are based on material from ethnographic fieldwork in a Swedish educational setting. Study participants were 3 male and 9 female adults who had been…

  4. An Ethnographic Study of Stigma and Ageism in Residential Care or Assisted Living

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobbs, Debra; Eckert, J. Kevin; Rubinstein, Bob; Keimig, Lynn; Clark, Leanne; Frankowski, Ann Christine; Zimmerman, Sheryl

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This study explored aspects of stigmatization for older adults who live in residential care or assisted living (RC-AL) communities and what these settings have done to address stigma. Design and Methods: We used ethnography and other qualitative data-gathering and analytic techniques to gather data from 309 participants (residents, family…

  5. Supporting Child Participation in the Early Years of Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturges, Marion

    2015-01-01

    This paper aims to contribute to conversations around child participation within early childhood settings in Australia. Ethnographic approach was used for this study to explore child participatory workshops in Early Childhood Centers. The center in which this study took place was chosen as one of the sites of analysis for a broader PhD research…

  6. Getting over the Patriarchal Barriers: Women's Management of Men's Smoking in Chinese Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mao, Aimei

    2015-01-01

    Chinese family is a patriarchal power system. How the system influences young mothers' agency in managing family men's smoking is unknown. Applying a gender lens, this ethnographic study explored how mothers of young children in Chinese extended families reacted to men's smoking. The study sample included 29 participants from 22 families.…

  7. Examining the Inclusion of Quantitative Research in a Meta-Ethnographic Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Booker, Rhae-Ann Richardson

    2010-01-01

    This study explored how one might extend meta-ethnography to quantitative research for the advancement of interpretive review methods. Using the same population of 139 studies on racial-ethnic matching as data, my investigation entailed an extended meta-ethnography (EME) and comparison of its results to a published meta-analysis (PMA). Adhering to…

  8. Baby Boomers in an Active Adult Retirement Community: Comity Interrupted

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roth, Erin G.; Keimig, Lynn; Rubinstein, Robert L.; Morgan, Leslie; Eckert, J. Kevin; Goldman, Susan; Peeples, Amanda D.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose of the Study: This article explores a clash between incoming Baby Boomers and older residents in an active adult retirement community (AARC). We examine issues of social identity and attitudes as these groups encounter each other. Design and Methods: Data are drawn from a multiyear ethnographic study of social relations in senior housing.…

  9. Television, Language, and Literacy Practices in Sudanese Refugee Families: "I Learned How to Spell English on Channel 18"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perry, Kristen H.; Moses, Annie M.

    2011-01-01

    This ethnographic study explored the ways in which media, particularly television, connected with English language and literacy practices among Sudanese refugees in Michigan. Three families with young children participated in this study. Data collection included participant observation, interviews, and collection of artifacts over 18 months, with…

  10. Gender Inequality among Japanese High School Teachers: Women Teachers' Resistance to Gender Bias in Occupational Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miyajima, Tomomi

    2008-01-01

    This study explores gender inequality in the occupational culture of Japanese high school teachers with special focus on women teachers' resistance to gender-biased practices. It examines the effectiveness of official and informal teacher training programmes in raising awareness of gender issues. Through an ethnographic case study conducted in…

  11. Considering the Continuing Development of Inclusive Teachers: A Case Study from Bangkok, Thailand

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grimes, Peter

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the barriers to and opportunities for supporting the development of inclusive teachers, based on a case study describing two schools in Bangkok, Thailand. Data were collected between 2003 and 2009 using an ethnographic approach whereby the author positioned as a consultant-researcher visited and worked alongside teachers in…

  12. The Identity, Second Language, and the Classroom Dynamic: Participant Observation in a Beginning Korean as a Second Language Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diamond, Joel S.

    2010-01-01

    The goal of this qualitative study was to explore the nexus between second language acquisition, identity, and the beginning second language classroom. Using a social constructionist framework, the study utilizes ethnographic methodology incorporating both narrative and autoethnographic elements. Specifically the author acted as a participant…

  13. Toward Activity-Centered Literacy: Teaching and Learning Korean Literacy in a Multilingual Montreal Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Mi Song

    2011-01-01

    Based on a three-year ethnographic study, in such nested contexts involving six Korean-immigrant families, one regular French classroom, one private English institute, and one Korean church in Montreal, Canada, this study explores how the literacy practices and strategies of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners were influenced and…

  14. How Do People Make Continence Care Happen? An Analysis of Organizational Culture in Two Nursing Homes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lyons, Stacie Salsbury

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Although nursing homes (NHs) are criticized for offering poor quality continence care, little is known about the organizational processes that underlie this care. This study investigated the influence of organizational culture on continence care practices in two NHs. Design and Methods: This ethnographic study explored continence care…

  15. Symptoms, Survival, and the Redefinition of Public Space: A Feasibility Study of Homeless People at a Metropolitan Airport.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopper, Kim

    1991-01-01

    A brief ethnographic study of a metropolitan airport revealed that a relatively small number of people had taken up residence there, prizing the airport mainly for its survival utility and amenities. Policies and attitudes regarding the homeless and a critique of the pathological explanation for homelessness are explored. (CJS)

  16. English as a "Killer Language"? Multilingual Education in an Indigenous Primary Classroom in Northwestern Mexico

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gutiérrez Estrada, María Rebeca; Schecter, Sandra R.

    2018-01-01

    We report findings of an ethnographic study that explored complexities of English Language Teaching (ELT) in a minority indigenous context in northwestern Mexico. The study investigated a trilingual education setting at the nexus of 2 major events: incorporation of Intercultural Bilingual Education throughout Mexico and integration of ELT into the…

  17. "I'm Just Going through the Motions": High-Stakes Accountability and Teachers' Access to Intrinsic Rewards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rooney, Erin

    2015-01-01

    This article explores teachers' experiences under high-stakes accountability and shows how the narrowing of curriculum depleted teachers' intrinsic work rewards. The article analyzes data from an ethnographic study of teachers' work in two high-poverty urban public schools. The study shows that as instructional mandates emphasized a narrowed…

  18. Reel Science: An Ethnographic Study of Girls' Science Identity Development in and through Film

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chaffee, Rachel L.

    2016-01-01

    This dissertation study contributes to the research on filmmaking and identity development by exploring the ways that film production provided unique opportunities for a team of four girls to engage in science, to develop identities in science, and to see and understand science differently. Using social practice, identity, and feminist theory and…

  19. Expanding the clinical role of community pharmacy: A qualitative ethnographic study of medication reviews in Ontario, Canada.

    PubMed

    Patton, Sarah J; Miller, Fiona A; Abrahamyan, Lusine; Rac, Valeria E

    2018-03-01

    Medication reviews by community pharmacists are an increasingly common strategy to improve medication management for chronic conditions, and are part of wider efforts to make more effective use of community-based health professionals. To identify opportunities to optimize the medication review program in Ontario, Canada, we explored how providers and clients interpret and operationalize medication reviews within everyday community pharmacy practice. We conducted a qualitative ethnographic study at four pharmacies in Ontario, Canada, including non-participant observation of provider and client activities and interactions with specific attention to medication reviews, as well as brief ethnographic interviews with providers and clients, and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with providers. We report on 72h of field research, observation of 178 routine pharmacist-client interactions and 29 medication reviews, 62 brief ethnographic interviews with providers and clients, and 7 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with providers. We found that medication reviews were variably conducted across the dimensions of duration, provider type, location, and interaction style, and that local contexts and system-wide developments influence their meaning and practice. Medication reviews are exemplary of policy efforts to enhance the role of community pharmacies within health systems and the scope of practice of pharmacists as healthcare professionals. Our study highlights the importance of the local structure of community pharmacy practice and the clinical aspirations of pharmacists in the delivery of medication reviews. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. An Experienced Teacher's Model of Thinking and Teaching: An Ethnographic Study on Teacher Cognition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moallem, Mahnaz

    This study was designed to explore an expert teacher's model of thinking and teaching as it occurred within the social and cultural context of the classroom. The model was then compared with instructional systems design (ISD) to identify similarities and differences between them. To accomplish these goals, the study focused on the process and…

  1. Algebra Matters: An Ethnographic Study of Successful African American Male Algebra 1 Students in a Suburban Middle School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirkwood, Kirk

    2012-01-01

    Alarming statistics reveal that African American male students are encountering long-standing challenges in K-12 mathematics. However, few studies have explored the phenomena associated with African American males and K-12 mathematics education, particularly at the middle school level in the context of an Algebra 1 course of study. The purpose of…

  2. Precarity, Food and Accompaniment in Community and Youth Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Batsleer, Janet

    2016-01-01

    Based on an ethnographic study of community-based learning and youth work in Greater Manchester, between 2013 and 2014, the use of food both as a response to precarity and a means of precaritisation is explored. The term "retrophilanthropy" is used to analyse the paradoxical existence of social relations in community-based projects which…

  3. Language Maintenance in a Multilingual Family: Informal Heritage Language Lessons in Parent-Child Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kheirkhah, Mina; Cekaite, Asta

    2015-01-01

    The present study explores language socialization patterns in a Persian-Kurdish family in Sweden and examines how "one-parent, one-language" family language policies are instantiated and negotiated in parent-child interactions. The data consist of video-recordings and ethnographic observations of family interactions, as well as…

  4. Teaching and Learning Color-Consciousness in a Color-Blind Society

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pezzetti, Karen

    2016-01-01

    In this ethnographic study, I draw on interviews, audiorecordings of course meetings, observation notes and student work to explore the experiences of White preservice teachers in two sections of a Social Contexts of Education course. The instructors of both sections sought to challenge students' color-blind racial ideologies. Whereas prior…

  5. Speaking Correctly: Error Correction as a Language Socialization Practice in a Ukrainian Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedman, Debra A.

    2010-01-01

    This study uses a language socialization approach to explore the role of Ukrainian language instruction in the revitalization of Ukrainian as the national language. Based on 10 months ethnographic observation and videotaping of classroom interaction in two fifth-grade Ukrainian language and literature classrooms, it focuses on corrective feedback…

  6. From Remediation to Acceleration: Recruiting, Retaining, and Graduating Future Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Educators

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herrera, Socorro G.; Morales, Amanda R.; Holmes, Melissa A.; Terry, Dawn Herrera

    2012-01-01

    This ethnographic case study explores one mid-western state university's response to the challenge of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), especially Latino/a, student recruitment and retention. BESITOS (Bilingual/Bicultural Education Students Interacting To Obtain Success) is an integrated teacher preparation program implemented at a…

  7. Number Words in "Her" Language, Dialogism and Identity-Work: The Case of Little Mariah

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chronaki, Anna; Mountzouri, Georgia; Zaharaki, Maria; Planas, Núria

    2016-01-01

    Based on an ethnographic study, we explore the potential of experimenting with multiple languages for number words as part of young children's mathematical activity. Data from a preschool classroom activity on "number words in 'other' languages" exemplify a complex process of discursive identity-work and dialogism amongst children,…

  8. Contradictory Literacy Practices of Mexican-Background Students: An Ethnography From the Rural Midwest

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Godina, Heriberto

    2004-01-01

    This ethnographic study explores the contradictory literacy practices of 10 high school students of Mexican background from the rural Midwest. The author uses the term "Mexican background" to encompass both settled Mexican Americans and recent-immigrant Mexicanos. Literacy is investigated through English and Spanish in a sociocultural…

  9. A Living Metaphor of Differentiation: A Meta-Ethnography of Cognitively Guided Instruction in the Elementary Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Katherine; Harter, Meghan Evelynne

    2015-01-01

    This meta-ethnography explores qualitative studies around the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) framework of mathematics and illustrates how CGI epitomizes differentiation. The meta-ethnographic process is used to synthesize CGI as differentiation, specifically within the elementary mathematics classroom. Thomas P. Carpenter is credited as one…

  10. Connected Learning in the Library as a Product of Hacking, Making, Social Diversity and Messiness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bilandzic, Mark

    2016-01-01

    Learning is most effective when intrinsically motivated through personal interest, and situated in a supportive socio-cultural context. This paper reports on findings from a study that explored implications for design of interactive learning environments through 18 months of ethnographic observations of people's interactions at "Hack The…

  11. An Emic Lens into Online Learning Environments in PPL in Undergraduate Dentistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bridges, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Whilst face-to-face tutorial group interaction has been the focus of quantitative and qualitative studies in problem-based learning (PBL), little work has explored the independent learning phase of the PBL cycle from an interactionist perspective. An interactional ethnographic logic of inquiry guided collection and analysis of video recordings and…

  12. An Examination of High School Students' Disparate Academic Performance in the Bahamas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCartney, Donald M.

    2013-01-01

    The qualitative, historical, ethnographic study explored the perceived disparity between the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination and The Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and the disparity in the academic achievement of high school students who took the GCE examination and those who took the BGCSE…

  13. Campus Microclimates for LGBT Faculty, Staff, and Students: An Exploration of the Intersections of Social Identity and Campus Roles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vaccaro, Annemarie

    2012-01-01

    This ethnographic study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates expands the higher education conversation about campus climate beyond the traditional organizational-level paradigm. Findings suggest that LGBT individuals with similar organizational roles shared common experiences and…

  14. A Walk in the Woods: "Re-Membering" a Place to Teach Preservation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunter, Joshua E.

    2015-01-01

    This ethnographic study explores the educational practice of interpretive naturalists in a Midwestern US state park. The construction of affective memories and direct experiences is examined from the perspectives of a group of naturalists to understand how they teach about a specific place. Enlisting phenomenological insights of lived experience…

  15. Using Netnography to Explore the Culture of Online Language Teaching Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kulavuz-Onal, Derya

    2015-01-01

    Netnography (Kozinets, 2010) is an ethnographic approach to study communities that exist primarily online. Engaging in online participant observation, the netnographer connects to the online community through a computer screen, and the field is located inside the screen. Although it has been used in marketing research extensively, netnography is a…

  16. The Presentation of Self in the Classical Ballet Class: Dancing with Erving Goffman

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whiteside, Bethany; Kelly, John

    2016-01-01

    This article analyses the social interactions and behaviours evident within an adult, amateur ballet class in one of Scotland's cities. Using an ethnographic empirical approach, the study utilises Erving Goffman's model of dramaturgy to explore the impression management of participants from the ballet class. Evidence (data) was generated through a…

  17. Between the Frames: Youth Spectatorship and Theatre as Curated, "Unruly" Pedagogical Space

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Kathleen; Wessels, Anne

    2013-01-01

    In this article, we consider the aesthetic, political and pedagogical strengths of a verbatim theatre performance, "The Middle Place" by Project: Humanity, a play that explores the experiences of shelter youth in Toronto, Canada. This ethnographic study moved from drama classrooms into theatres and charted audience responses to the…

  18. Performing Identities in Physical Education: (En)Gendering Fluid Selves

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Azzarito, Laura; Katzew, Adriana

    2010-01-01

    This paper shows how a group of young people and researchers, through their reading of images, performed "identity work" within discourses of the body and gender in physical education. To explore young people's identity narratives and physicality, the researchers used an ethnographic method using photo-elicitation. Findings in this study showed…

  19. Understanding Adolescents' Motivation To Prevent Pregnancy: A Literature Review.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sugland, Barbara W.; Wilder, Kathleen J.; Chandra, Anita

    Recent efforts targeting teenage pregnancy in the United States have marked a renewed conviction to reduce the level of childbearing among adolescents. Some of the behavioral, psychosocial, and ethnographic studies that explore the underlying motivation to delay sex and to effectively use contraception are the focus of this literature review.…

  20. The Political Coherence of Educational Incoherence: The Consequences of Educational Specialization in a Southern Moroccan Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boum, Aomar

    2008-01-01

    This article is based on an ethnographic study I conducted in southern Morocco during 2004. I explore the historical, ideological, and cultural background behind educational specialization among Moroccan university students. I describe how French colonial educational policies and postindependence Moroccan national schooling ideologies have created…

  1. Teachers' Code-Switching in Bilingual Classrooms: Exploring Pedagogical and Sociocultural Functions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cahyani, Hilda; de Courcy, Michele; Barnett, Jenny

    2018-01-01

    The pedagogical and sociocultural functions of teachers' code-switching are an important factor in achieving the dual goals of content learning and language learning in bilingual programmes. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study investigating how and why teachers switched between languages in tertiary bilingual classrooms in Indonesia,…

  2. "You Want Us to Teach Outdoor Education Where?" Reflections on Teaching Outdoor Education Online

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, H. A.; Dyment, J. E.; Hill, A.; Downing, J.

    2016-01-01

    This article reports on the experiences of two lecturers working at the University of Tasmania required to teach outdoor and sustainability education (O&SE) courses online. Using an (auto)ethnographic case-study approach, the lecturers were interviewed with a view to exploring their perceptions, challenges, ethical dilemmas, tensions,…

  3. Caged Golden Canaries: Childhood, Privacy and Subjectivity in Contemporary Urban China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Naftali, Orna

    2010-01-01

    This study explores two aspects of the privatization of childhood in contemporary urban China: the emergent discourse on children's privacy and children's growing seclusion within the home. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the author describes urban caregivers' engagement with the issue of children's privacy, and argues that we are now…

  4. Personal and Cultural Narrative as Inspiration: A Painting and Pedagogical Collaboration with Mayan Artists

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Staikidis, Kryssi

    2006-01-01

    This mentorship project between three artist-teachers from different cultures reveals insights into the transmission of cross-cultural painting pedagogy. A collaborative ethnographic study is described that explores my perspective as a North-American painter participating in a mentorship learning experience with Mayan Tz'utuhil painter Pedro…

  5. When Traditions Become Innovations and Innovations Become Traditions in Everyday Food Pedagogies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benny, Helen

    2012-01-01

    This paper explores the way learning to cook remains important for the maintenance of "ethnic" food traditions and how sharing food knowledge plays a role in intercultural exchanges. Ethnographic data from an ongoing study in Melbourne is presented to highlight how, in everyday practices, both tradition and innovation are involved in…

  6. Reflexivity-in-Action: How Complex Instruction Can Work for Equity in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pescarmona, Isabella

    2017-01-01

    This study explores how experimenting with Complex Instruction can broaden teachers' perspectives and develop understanding of the classroom as a complex social and cultural system. It critically presents and interweaves data collected during ethnographic research, which was carried out with a group of in-service teachers, plus four workshops…

  7. Gender and Race, Online Communities, and Composition Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, Jill

    2011-01-01

    As the culmination of a two-year long Internet ethnographic study of three separate sites, I use examples of women and minorities fighting against discrimination online to explore the power structures inherent to networks and how these might affect classroom practice. I will show how our ordinary assumptions in rhetoric and composition as well as…

  8. The Road Not Taken: Two African-American Girls' Experiences with School Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lim, Jae Hoon

    2008-01-01

    This article is a cross-case study exploring two young African-American adolescent girls' experiences with school mathematics and the impact of the socio-cultural context upon their motivation and mathematical identity. Based on repeated in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation of their mathematics classroom, the researcher portrays…

  9. Exploring Biliteracy Developments among Asian Women in Diasporas: The Case of Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Yu-Hsiu Hugo

    2010-01-01

    This study presents a broad overview of diasporic biliteracy developments in immigrant women after examining observation data in one Taiwanese community. Methodologies include a mixture of narrative inquiry with some ethnographic methods. Fifteen Asian women in diaspora, two Burmese, one Cambodian, one Filipino, four Indonesians, three Thai and…

  10. Racialization/Ethnicization of School Emotional Spaces: The Politics of Resentment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zembylas, Michalinos

    2010-01-01

    The present article explores how emotional spaces are racialized and ethnicized in a multicultural elementary school in Cyprus through the majoritized group's feelings of resentment. The data for this article are drawn from a two-month ethnographic study at this school in which the students enrolled come from the two historically conflicting…

  11. "This Education is Not for Our Students": Responses of Mexican Educators to Globalising Education Policies and Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amanti, Cathy

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the relationship between travelling education policies and a 2008 Mexican high-school reform from the perspective of Mexican educators. Using an ethnographic approach, consisting of interviews, classroom and community observations, and document analysis, study findings show that the educators participating in this study…

  12. Impact of Selection Practices on Career Advancement of African American Women in Community College Administration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yancy-Tooks, Barbara J.

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic study was to explore the experiences of African American women about their perceptions of factors (i.e. senior administrator selection practices, institutional practices, barriers, and coping strategies) that hinder or facilitate advancement in community college administration. The following questions…

  13. Childbirth Supporters' Experiences in a Built Hospital Birth Environment: Exploring Inhibiting and Facilitating Factors in Negotiating the Supporter Role.

    PubMed

    Harte, J Davis; Sheehan, Athena; Stewart, Susan C; Foureur, Maralyn

    2016-04-01

    To explore inhibiting and facilitating design factors influencing childbirth supporters' experiences. Birthing women benefit from the continuous, cooperative presence of supporters. However, little research has investigated how birth room design facilitates or inhibits supporters' role navigation. We conducted an exploratory video ethnographic single case study of childbirth supporters' experiences, within an Australian hospital birth environment. Video, field notes, and video-cued reflexive interviews with the woman, her midwives, and supporters were thematically analyzed using ethnographic/symbolic interactionist perspectives to frame supporters' understandings. Findings suggest supporters' experiences are complex, made more complicated by sparse understanding or accommodation of their needs in the built environment. Supporters' presence and roles are not facilitated by the physical space; they experience "an unbelonging paradox" of being needed, yet uncertain and "in the way" during "tenuous nest-building" activities. Suggested design guidelines to facilitate supporters' well-being and their roles in designed hospital birth spaces are provided. © The Author(s) 2016.

  14. Exploring varieties of knowledge in safe work practices - an ethnographic study of surgical teams

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Within existing research in health and medicine, the nature of knowledge on how teams conduct safe work practices has yet to be properly explored. Methods We address this concern by exploring the varieties in which knowledge is expressed during interdisciplinary surgical operations. Specifically, the study was conducted in a surgical section of a Norwegian regional general hospital, between January and April of 2010, by means of an ethnographic design combining detailed non-participant observations, conversations and semi-structured interviews. Results Based on an analysis of the gathered data, we identify three particular themes in how knowledge is expressed by operating room personnel: (i) the ability and variety individuals demonstrate in handling multiple sources of information, before reaching a particular decision, (ii) the variety of ways awareness or anticipation of future events is expressed, and (iii) the different ways sudden and unexpected situations are handled by the individual team members. Conclusions We conclude that these facets of knowledge bring different insights into how safe work practices are achieved at an individual and team level in surgical operations, thus adding to the existing understanding of the nature of knowledge in safe work practices in surgical operations. Future research should focus on exploring and documenting the relationships between various elements of knowledge and safe work practices, in different surgical settings and countries. PMID:21914183

  15. "Just Doing Stuff"? Place, Memory and Young Men's Educational Disaffection in a Former Coal-Mining Area in England

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bright, N. Geoffrey

    2010-01-01

    In this article, the author explores some particularly "luminous" paradoxes that have emerged from qualitative material gathered as part of an ethnographic study carried out over the last five years. The research, now a doctoral study, grew initially out of the author's own contradictory experiences of running learning provision in the…

  16. The "Accafellows:" Exploring the Music Making and Culture of a Collegiate a Cappella Ensemble

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paparo, Stephen A.

    2013-01-01

    Despite the growth in number and popularity of collegiate a cappella ensembles in the USA over the past 20 years, few researchers have studied these self-governed, student-run, popular music ensembles. This ethnographic case study examined the music making and culture of the "Accafellows", an all-male a cappella group at a mid-western…

  17. Citizenship for All in the Literate Community: An Ethnography of Young Children with Significant Disabilities in Inclusive Early Childhood Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kliewer, Christopher; Fitzgerald, Linda May; Meyer-Mork, Jodi; Hartman, Patresa; English-Sand, Pat; Raschke, Donna

    2004-01-01

    In this study, Christopher Kliewer, Linda Fitzgerald, Jodi Meyer-Mork, Patresa Hartman, Pat English-Sand, and Donna Raschke use ethnographic methods to explore literacy development in young children considered to have significant disabilities. The study settings included nine preschool and kindergarten classrooms across five programs, all of which…

  18. Talking to Teenagers: Using Anthropological Methods to Explore Identity and the Lifeworlds of Young People Who Use AAC

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wickenden, Mary

    2011-01-01

    The article outlines the methodology used in an ethnographic study of identity with teenagers who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). It is unusual to investigate this population in naturalistic contexts using qualitative methods. Nine individuals are studied, in a range of contexts using ethnography as the main method. The…

  19. Languaging in the Twenty-First Century: Exploring Varieties and Modalities in Literacies inside and outside Learning Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gynne, Annaliina; Bagga-Gupta, Sangeeta

    2015-01-01

    The study presented in this paper focuses on young people's languaging, or ways-with-being-with-words, including literacies, in everyday practices that stretch across formal and informal learning spaces. Taking sociocultural and ethnographic points of departure, the aim of the study is to investigate aspects of young people's situated and…

  20. Students and Teachers' Discourses and Practices of Citizenship and Citizenship Education in Three Chilean High Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lopez, Andrea

    2017-01-01

    In this dissertation I present the main findings of a multiple case study using an ethnographic approach to explore high school teachers and students' understandings and practices of citizenship and citizenship education in a public, a private-subsidized, and a private independent school in Santiago, Chile. The study showed how citizenship…

  1. "El Miedo y El Hambre": Understanding the Familial, Social, and Educational Realities of Undocumented Latino Families in North Central Indiana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Viramontez Anguiano, Ruben P.; Lopez, Anayeli

    2012-01-01

    This study explored how different ecological factors, within and outside the family, affected the educational success of the children of undocumented families. The sample consisted of 63 immigrant Latino parents (40 families) who resided in North Central Indiana. This study utilized an ethnographic research design. Findings demonstrated that…

  2. Interethnic Relations: A Case Study of Senior Students at an Australian High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willoughby, Louisa

    2007-01-01

    This article provides a case study of the relevance of ethnicity in senior student's social interactions at an Australian high school where over 90 per cent of the students speak a language other than English (LOTE) at home. Drawing on ethnographic methods it explores students' own views on the role of ethnic background in shaping who they are…

  3. Musical Memories: Snapshots of a Chinese Family in Singapore

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lum, Chee-Hoo

    2009-01-01

    This paper examines music in the home of a Chinese family in Singapore with specific attention to the children (aged five and seven) of the household: an exploration of what constitutes the lived 'musical' memory of a family enmeshed in the technology and media of a globalised world. The study is part of a larger ethnographic study on the musical…

  4. Learning to Talk: Community Support and Views of Parents from Socially Disadvantaged Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lees, Janet; Stackhouse, Joy; Grant, Gordon

    2009-01-01

    Part of a multimethod ethnographic study that aimed to explore the knowledge of local parents concerning children learning to talk is described. The study was carried out with parents from several different ethnic and language groups in a socially disadvantaged part of Sheffield, a large city in the northeast of England. In the phase of the study…

  5. John Dewey and School Culture: A Case Study of the South Boulevard Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beal, Heather K. Olson

    2009-01-01

    This ethnographic case study explores school culture through the lens of Dewey's (1915/2001) belief in the importance of creating schools with a sense of community in which all members are indispensable to the whole. Three aspects of the foreign language immersion curriculum at South Boulevard Elementary lead to a culture of community: commitment…

  6. The Grey Nomad Phenomenon: Changing the Script of Aging

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Onyx, Jenny; Leonard, Rosemary

    2007-01-01

    This article explores a relatively new and little understood phenomenon, that of the Australian Grey Nomads. Every year increasing numbers of older Australians take to the road. This article explores the phenomenon both empirically and theoretically. A grounded approach is used by which the experience is explored from an ethnographic account…

  7. A beginner's guide to ethnographic observation in nursing research.

    PubMed

    Conroy, Tiffany

    2017-03-22

    Background Observation is mentioned in most ethnographic textbooks, but specific details about how it should be conducted and the practicalities to be considered in ethnographic nursing research are not always explicit. This paper explores the experiences of and challenges faced by a novice nurse researcher who used observation to collect data. Aim To provide a novice researcher's perspective of observation in ethnographic nursing research and to highlight the associated challenges. Discussion Challenges that arose in observation began with determining which perspective to take, followed by rehearsing observation, developing and maintaining a constructive relationship with the observation site, being aware of the influence of the observer, managing interactions between the observed and the observer, and responding to ethical issues. Conclusion Novice nurse researchers considering using observation to collect data should be aware of the potential challenges they might encounter. Implications for practice The information presented in this paper will enable novice researchers to anticipate these issues and develop strategies to prevent or address them.

  8. Fostering Growth in the Survivorship Experience: Investigating Breast Cancer Survivors' Lived Experiences Scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro from a Posttraumatic Growth Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burke, Shaunna M.; Sabiston, Catherine M.

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to use an ethnographic case study approach to explore breast cancer survivors' experiences scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro from a posttraumatic growth perspective. Three breast cancer survivors who participated in interviews and observations during a nine-day climb on the mountain were included in this study. Findings are…

  9. Cardiovascular disease in the Amish: an exploratory study of knowledge, beliefs, and health care practices.

    PubMed

    Gillum, Deborah R; Staffileno, Beth A; Schwartz, Karon S; Coke, Lola; Fogg, Louis; Reiling, Denise

    2011-01-01

    The Old Order Amish population is growing, yet little is known about their cardiovascular health care practices. This ethnographic study explored their cardiovascular knowledge, beliefs, and health care practices. This study showed that the Amish have distinct beliefs and practices which affect their cardiovascular health, and that culturally appropriate education is needed. Copyright © 2011 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

  10. Exploring teams of learners becoming "WE" in the Intensive Care Unit--a focused ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Conte, Helen; Scheja, Max; Hjelmqvist, Hans; Jirwe, Maria

    2015-08-16

    Research about collaboration within teams of learners in intensive care is sparse, as is research on how the learners in a group develop into a team. The aim of this study was to explore the collaboration in teams of learners during a rotation in an interprofessional education unit in intensive care from a sociocultural learning perspective. Focused Ethnographic methods were used to collect data following eight teams of learners in 2009 and 2010. Each team consisted of one resident, one specialist nurse student and their supervisors (n = 28). The material consisted of 100 hours of observations, interviews, and four hours of sound recordings. A qualitative analysis explored changing patterns of interplay through a constant comparative approach. The learners' collaboration progressed along a pattern of participation common to all eight groups with a chronological starting point and an end point. The progress consisted of three main steps where the learners' groups developed into teams during a week's training. The supervisors' guided the progress by gradually stepping back to provide latitude for critical reflection and action. Our main conclusion in training teams of learners how to collaborate in the intensive care is the crucial understanding of how to guide them to act like a team, feel like a team and having the authority to act as a team.

  11. Ethnographic Depiction of a Multiethnic School: A Comparison to Desegregated Settings.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Semons, Maryann

    This report compares the findings of a recent ethnographic study of a multiethnic urban high school to some of the highlights of a series of ten-year-old ethnographic studies on court-ordered desegregated school settings. The study of the multiethnic urban school employed an ethnographic design whereby a participant-observer interviewed students…

  12. Diagnosing dementia: Ethnography, interactional ethics and everyday moral reasoning.

    PubMed

    Hillman, Alexandra

    2017-02-01

    This article highlights the contribution of ethnography and qualitative sociology to the ethical challenges that frame the diagnosis of dementia. To illustrate this contribution, the paper draws on an ethnographic study of UK memory clinics carried out between 2012 and 2014. The ethnographic data, set alongside other studies and sociological theory, contest the promotion of a traditional view of autonomy; the limiting of the point of ethical interest to a distinct moment of diagnosis disclosure; and the failure to recognise risk and uncertainty in the building of clinical 'facts' and their communication. In addressing these specific concerns, this article contributes to the wider debate over the relationship between sociology and bioethics (medical ethics). At the heart of these debates lies more fundamental questions: how can we best understand and shape moral decision-making and ethics that guide behaviour in medical practice, and what should be the guiding ideas, concepts and methods to inform ethics in the clinic? Using the case of dementia diagnosis, this article illustrates the benefits of an ethnographic approach, not just for understanding this ethical problem but also for exploring if and how a more empirically informed ethics can help shape healthcare practices for the better.

  13. Diagnosing dementia: Ethnography, interactional ethics and everyday moral reasoning

    PubMed Central

    Hillman, Alexandra

    2016-01-01

    This article highlights the contribution of ethnography and qualitative sociology to the ethical challenges that frame the diagnosis of dementia. To illustrate this contribution, the paper draws on an ethnographic study of UK memory clinics carried out between 2012 and 2014. The ethnographic data, set alongside other studies and sociological theory, contest the promotion of a traditional view of autonomy; the limiting of the point of ethical interest to a distinct moment of diagnosis disclosure; and the failure to recognise risk and uncertainty in the building of clinical ‘facts’ and their communication. In addressing these specific concerns, this article contributes to the wider debate over the relationship between sociology and bioethics (medical ethics). At the heart of these debates lies more fundamental questions: how can we best understand and shape moral decision-making and ethics that guide behaviour in medical practice, and what should be the guiding ideas, concepts and methods to inform ethics in the clinic? Using the case of dementia diagnosis, this article illustrates the benefits of an ethnographic approach, not just for understanding this ethical problem but also for exploring if and how a more empirically informed ethics can help shape healthcare practices for the better. PMID:28255279

  14. An ethnography of nonadherence: culture, poverty, and tuberculosis in urban Bolivia.

    PubMed

    Greene, Jeremy A

    2004-09-01

    The author conducted a focused descriptive ethnographic study of nonadherence with tuberculosis (TB) therapy among Aymara-speaking residents of the city of La Paz, Bolivia. A cohort of patient-informants was identified from the District III TB Control Registry of La Paz as having been nonadherent with their TB medication protocol. From June to August 1998, ethnographic material was collected through participant-observation and repeated interviews and visits in homes, workplaces, clinics, and the community. Ethnographic analysis revealed structural barriers to be more important than cultural differences in the production of nonadherence. Though informants maintained a variety of beliefs and practices related to Aymara medicine, the majority of patients were comfortable with a biomedical model of tuberculosis and maintained belief in the efficacy of antituberculosis chemotherapy and desire to finish treatment. Patients overwhelmingly cited hidden costs of treatments, poor access to care, ethnic discrimination, and prior maltreatment by the health system as reasons for abandoning treatment. These data suggest that overemphasis of cultural difference without exploration of other social dimensions of health care delivery can obscure a more practical understanding of nonadherence in marginalized populations.

  15. Using a meta-ethnographic approach to explore the nature of facilitation and teaching approaches employed in interprofessional education.

    PubMed

    Reeves, Scott; Pelone, Ferruccio; Hendry, Julie; Lock, Nicholas; Marshall, Jayne; Pillay, Leontia; Wood, Ruth

    2016-12-01

    Interprofessional facilitators and teachers are regarded as central to the effective delivery of interprofessional education (IPE). As the IPE literature continues to expand, most studies have focused on reporting learner outcomes, with little attention paid to IPE facilitation. However, a number of studies have recently emerged reporting on this phenomenon. To present a synthesis of qualitative evidence on the facilitation of IPE, using a meta-ethnographic approach. Electronic databases and journals were searched for the past 10 years. Of the 2164 abstracts initially found, 94 full papers were reviewed and subsequently 12 papers were included. Teams of two reviewers independently completed each step in the review process. The quality of these papers was assessed using a modified critical appraisal checklist. Seven key concepts embedded in the included studies were synthesized into three main factors which provided an insight into the nature of IPE facilitation. Specifically, the synthesis found that IPE facilitation is influenced by "contextual characteristics"; "facilitator experiences"; and the "use of different facilitation strategies". IPE facilitation is a complex activity affected by contextual, experiential and pedagogical factors. Further research is needed to explore the effects of these factors on the delivery of IPE.

  16. An ethnographic exploration of postoperative pain experiences among Ghanaian surgical patients.

    PubMed

    Aziato, Lydia; Adejumo, Oluyinka

    2015-05-01

    The experience of pain associated with surgery has been a challenge for health care professionals for many years, and culture is said to influence pain. This study focused on patients' experiences of postoperative pain (POP) and factors that affect POP. The study employed qualitative ethnographic principles. Data were collected through individual face-to-face interviews. Data were saturated after analyzing data from 13 patients from two hospitals in Ghana. Themes that emerged were the subjective nature of pain, which described pain dimensions and communication; psycho-sociocultural factors, such as personal inclinations and sociocultural background; and health system factors, such as personnel attitudes and health financing. Health professionals need to understand the sociocultural effects of pain in order to give effective care. The study highlighted the need for patient education and the importance that health care professionals understand context-specific factors that influence POP management. © The Author(s) 2014.

  17. "Living to the Rhythm of the City": Internationalisation of Universities and Tourism Discourse in Catalonia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallego-Balsà, Lídia; Cots, Josep M.

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores the impact of the tourism discourse on the self-representation strategies that a university in Catalonia adopts towards international students, and the extent to which these strategies connect with the stance of international students towards their study-abroad experience. The data were ethnographically collected during the…

  18. A Good Investment? Race, Philanthrocapitalism and Professionalism in a New York City Small School of Choice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Amy

    2012-01-01

    Incorporating data from two years of ethnographic teacher-research, this article explores how a curriculum of "professionalism" resonates with teachers and students in a small New York City school of choice. Using the literature on Critical Whiteness Studies and philanthrocapitalism in the context of New York City Mayor Michael…

  19. Teachers as Language-Policy Actors: Contending with the Erasure of Lesser-Used Languages in Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Kara

    2010-01-01

    On the basis of an ethnographic study of the Voro-language revitalization in Estonia, this article explores the way teachers function as policy actors in the broader context of the school. As policy actors, the language teachers' appropriation of regional-language policy helps simultaneously to reproduce and challenge existing ideologies in the…

  20. A Tool in the Kit: Uses of Bullshitting among Millennial Workers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Daniel D.; Wilson, Janelle L.

    2011-01-01

    This study explores the nature, use, and social organization of one form of communicative action that is common in everyday life--"bullshitting." We use this form of communication to assess the ways in which dimensions of community, power and status are created in interaction. Abiding by the canons of ethnographic content analysis, we gathered…

  1. Racialized Spaces in Teacher Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Place-Based Identities in Roche Bois, Mauritius

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiehe, Elsa M.

    2013-01-01

    This eleven-month ethnographic study puts critical discourse analysis in dialogue with postmodern conceptualizations of space and place to explore how eight educators talk about space and in the process, produce racialized spaces in Roche Bois, Mauritius. The macro-historical context of racialization of this urban marginalized community informs…

  2. Objects, Bodies and Space: Gender and Embodied Practices of Mattering in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Carol A.

    2013-01-01

    This article focuses on objects, bodies and space to explore how the mundane materialities of classrooms do crucial but often unnoticed performative work in enacting gendered power. Drawing on ethnographic data from a UK sixth form college study, the article analyses a series of "material moments" to elaborate a material feminist…

  3. My Cousin Talks Bad like You: Relationships between Language and Identity in a Rural Puerto Rican Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mazak, Catherine M.

    2012-01-01

    This ethnographic case study uses participant observation and interviewing to explore the multiple, complex relationships between language and identities in a particular Puerto Rican community. Participants included students and teachers from a K-9 school-turned-community center in a rural municipality in Puerto Rico. Participants did not think…

  4. School Culture Meets Sport: A Case Study in New Zealand

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burrows, Lisette; McCormack, Jaleh

    2011-01-01

    This article draws on ethnographic work undertaken with 21 students and several members of staff at an elite girls' school in New Zealand to investigate the relation between school culture, pedagogical practices and discourses of physical education and school sport. It explores what and who contours the participation of these young women in sport,…

  5. Dominicanas entre La Gran Manzana y Quisqueya: Family, Schooling, and Language Learning in a Transnational Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodriguez, Tracy

    2009-01-01

    Drawing from a one-year qualitative research study, this article explores the transnational lives and experiences of three young women and their little sisters in New York with close ties to the Dominican Republic. Using ethnographic research methods--life history interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and document analysis, I examine…

  6. Valuable Knowledge: Students as Consumers of Critical Thinking in the Community College Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jensen, Jane McEldowney; Worth, Benjamin

    2014-01-01

    This ethnographic study examines the negotiation of the value of critical thinking by a group of community college students and their instructor in a required general education literature course. Using a sociological analysis, the authors explore how the students situated themselves as both learners and consumers in the classroom, a social field…

  7. Country Queers: Queer Youth and the Politics of Rural America

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greteman, Adam J.

    2012-01-01

    Exploring the lives of rural lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and their identity work, Mary Gray's "Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America" offers one of the first ethnographic studies of queer rural life in the United States and their use of new media. Throughout, Gray provides…

  8. Identity Construction and Negotiation within and across School Communities: The Case of One English-as-a-New-Language (ENL) Student

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Xiaoning

    2010-01-01

    Through a theoretical framework that builds on constructs of identity, community of practice, power relations, and investment (Blackledge & Pavlenko, 2001; Gee, 2001; Norton, 2000; Peirce, 1995; Wenger, 1998), this educational ethnographic study (Preissle, 1999) explores one English-as-a-new-language (ENL) student's identities within and across…

  9. The Appropriation and Repurposing of Social Technologies in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hemmi, A.; Bayne, S.; Land, R.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents some of the findings from a recent project that conducted a virtual ethnographic study of three formal courses in higher education that use "Web 2.0" or social technologies for learning and teaching. It describes the pedagogies adopted within these courses, and goes on to explore some key themes emerging from the research and…

  10. Prospective TESOL Teachers' Beliefs, Understandings, and Experiences of Cooperative Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wallestad, Chizuko Konishi

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this present ethnographic case study is to explore the initial and developing beliefs, understandings, and experiences of prospective language teachers as they engage in the process of learning about cooperative learning (CL) and in putting it into practice in a TESOL graduate program in the U.S. Data collection includes multiple…

  11. Influence of Parental Education and Family Income on Children's Education in Rural Uganda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drajea, Alice J.; O'Sullivan, Carmel

    2014-01-01

    This article investigates the effect of parents' literacy levels and family income in Uganda on the quality and nature of parents' involvement in their children's primary education. A mixed-methods study with an ethnographic element was employed to explore the views and opinions of 21 participants through a qualitative approach. Methods for data…

  12. Issues in Lecturing in a Second Language: Lecturer's Behaviour and Students' Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Lindsay

    2007-01-01

    This article explores how Hong Kong Chinese engineering students with low English language proficiency manage to cope with their lectures given in English. An ethnographic case study approach was used with multiple sources of data triangulated to provide a picture of the lecture event from both the students' and the lecturer's perspectives. One of…

  13. State Disinvestment, Technologies of Choice and "Fitting In": Neoliberal Transformations in US Public Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Convertino, Christina

    2017-01-01

    Given state cuts to US public education, overcrowding and underfunding in urban district schools continue to grow. Yet, how parents understand the role of state disinvestment on underfunded and overcrowded public schools remains relatively unexamined. Drawing from an ethnographic study of school choice in Arizona, I explore how a group of white…

  14. The Simultaneity of Experience: Cultural Identity, Magical Realism and the Artefactual in Digital Storytelling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Honeyford, Michelle A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper explores how students, as multimodal storytellers, can weave powerful narratives blending modes, genres, artefacts and literary conventions to represent the real and imagined in their lives. Part of a larger ethnographic case study of student writing in a middle years class for immigrant students learning English as an additional…

  15. "Losing an Arm": Schooling as a Site of Black Suffering

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dumas, Michael J.

    2014-01-01

    Drawing on data from a historical-ethnographic study of the cultural politics of school desegregation in Seattle, USA, the author explores suffering as a recurring theme in the narratives of four black leaders, educators and activists involved in the struggle for black educational opportunity in that city during the post-Civil Rights Era. As these…

  16. Exploring the Literacy Practices of Refugee Families Enrolled in a Book Distribution Program and an Intergenerational Family Literacy Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, Sunita; Sylvia, Monica R.; Ridzi, Frank

    2015-01-01

    This ethnographic study presents findings of the literacy practices of Burmese refugee families and their interaction with a book distribution program paired with an intergenerational family literacy program. The project was organized at the level of Bronfenbrenner's exosystem (in "Ecology of human development". Cambridge, Harvard…

  17. Students' Writing "In Transition" from A-Levels to University: How Assessment Drives Students' Understandings, Practices and Discourses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Sally

    2017-01-01

    The lament that "students can't write" remains loud and defiant, even after years of research pointing to the myriad factors that make students' writing challenging, particularly when they move into university. This paper reports on a longitudinal, ethnographic study which explored students' writing "in transition," from…

  18. Challenging Points of Contact among Supervisor, Mentor Teacher and Teacher Candidates: Conflicting Institutional Expectations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katz, Laurie; Isik-Ercan, Zeynep

    2015-01-01

    Grounded in an ethnographic logic of inquiry utilizing the concept of languaculture, this study explores how cultural differences between a field-based team and the university supervisor led to unanticipated challenges and points of conflict in an early childhood teacher education program in Midwestern United States. By examining points of contact…

  19. Conflicting Value Systems: Gypsy Females and the Home-School Interface

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levinson, Martin P.; Sparkes, Andrew C.

    2006-01-01

    Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the experience and attitudes of Gypsy women regarding the home-school interface. Specific attention is given to the following: role expectations in the different contexts; changing perceptions of role in the face of economic and social change; the…

  20. Doing Men's Work?: Discipline, Power and the Primary School in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Hsiao-jung

    2016-01-01

    This article examines the masculinization of discipline and its interplay with power in the primary school through an exploration of teachers' gender and disciplinary work and roles by drawing on data from an ethnographic study conducted at a primary school in Taiwan. The research findings suggest that discipline was men's work due to women…

  1. They Didn't Tell Me Anything": Women's Literacies and Resistance in Rural Mexico

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyers, Susan V.

    2011-01-01

    Drawing from ethnographic case studies, this article considers issues of women's access to education by exploring the literacy experiences of four women in rural Mexico. Ironically, as physical access to education in this area has increased, women's literacy experiences have become more complex, rather than more libratory. Formal literacy, as it…

  2. Experiencing New Technology: Exploring Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions and Reflections upon the Affordances of Social Media

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redman, Christine; Trapani, Fiona

    2012-01-01

    This paper analyses pre-service teachers' perceptions of the affordances of new technology after experiencing two social media tools embedded into their coursework. This sociological ethnographic study builds upon previously gathered data that highlighted that 72% of pre-service teachers in the Masters of Teaching degree use personal mobile…

  3. The Spectre of Neoliberalism: Pedagogy, Gender and the Construction of Learner Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilkins, Andrew

    2012-01-01

    In this paper I draw on ethnographic observation data taken from a school-based study of two groups of 12-13-year-old pupils identified as high achieving and popular to explore how relations between teachers and pupils are mediated and constituted through the spectre of neoliberal values and sensibilities--zero-sum thinking, individualism and…

  4. "Inspired to Be Creative?": Persons, Objects, and the Public Pedagogy of Museums

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sabeti, Shari

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores an enactment of public pedagogy through the ethnographic study of one museum creative writing class. It questions a theory of creativity that insists it is the properties of objects on display that inspire individuals. On the contrary, I argue that the flows of agency identified by the subjects themselves suggest creativity is…

  5. The Values-Based Infrastructure of Non-Formal Education: A Case Study of Personal Education in Israeli Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldratt, Miri; Cohen, Eric H.

    2016-01-01

    This article explores encounters between formal, informal, and non-formal education and the role of mentor-educators in creating values education in which such encounters take place. Mixed-methods research was conducted in Israeli public schools participating in the Personal Education Model, which combines educational modes. Ethnographic and…

  6. The Use of Literacy Bags Promotes Parental Involvement in Chinese Children's Literacy Learning in the English Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, SuHua

    2013-01-01

    This study employed an ethnographic methodology to explore the use of "literacy bags" (LBs) to promote parental involvement in Chinese children's literacy learning in the English language. It was conducted with a first-grade class consisting of 18 students and their parents in Taiwan. Data resources were obtained from teaching…

  7. Speaking of Belonging: Learning to Be "Good Citizens" in the Context of Voluntary Language Coaching Projects in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mosher, Rhiannon

    2015-01-01

    This article explores citizenship education for adult immigrants through informal language education in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Based on data collected over thirteen months of ethnographic research among volunteer Dutch language coaches in Amsterdam, the primary methods used in this study were in-depth semi-structured interviews and…

  8. Multiliteracies, Pedagogy and Identities: Teacher and Student Voices from a Toronto Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Giampapa, Frances

    2010-01-01

    In this article, I draw on an ethnographic case study of one Toronto elementary school, as part of a Canada-wide action research project: Multiliteracy Project (www.multiliteracies.ca). I have explored how Perminder, a grade-4 teacher, developed a multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on her own and her students' identities and linguistic and cultural…

  9. Teaching Reflective Care in Japanese Early Childhood Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hellman, Anette

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to explore the way preschool teachers teach reflective care in Japan. The article builds on a two-month ethnographic study conducted in Japanese kindergartens and nurseries among children aged 3-6 years. The data were analysed using concepts of age and gender. The results show that care in Japan, in contrast to…

  10. "Everything Is Kind of up in the Air": Flexible and Creative Organizing at an Arts-Based Nonprofit

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scarduzio, Jennifer A.

    2009-01-01

    This study expands upon the research of arts-based inquiry by exploring the ways creativity and flexibility impact communicating and organizing in an arts-based nonprofit. Based on ethnographic observation and interviews, this piece reveals specific tensions that impact the ways staff members and mentors communicate: (a) consistency/inconsistency,…

  11. Multi-Site Ethnography, Hypermedia and the Productive Hazards of Digital Methods: A Struggle for Liveness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Kathleen; Freeman, Barry

    2011-01-01

    This article explores the possibilities and frustrations of using digital methods in a multi-sited ethnographic research project. The project, "Urban School Performances: The interplay, through live and digital drama, of local-global knowledge about student engagement", is a study of youth and teachers in drama classrooms in contexts of…

  12. Writing Material in Chemical Physics Research: The Laboratory Notebook as Locus of Technical and Textual Integration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wickman, Chad

    2010-01-01

    This article, drawing on ethnographic study in a chemical physics research facility, explores how notebooks are used and produced in the conduct of laboratory science. Data include written field notes of laboratory activity; visual documentation of "in situ" writing processes; analysis of inscriptions, texts, and material artifacts produced in the…

  13. Black Parents Speak Out: The School Environment and Interplay with Wellbeing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ochieng, Bertha M. N.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: This article presents an account of the beliefs and perceptions of Black parents and the influence of the education system on the wellbeing of their children. Method: The material is drawn from a large ethnographic study that explored the attitudes and experiences of Black families and adolescents on healthy lifestyle. Setting: Ten…

  14. "A Rainforest in Front of a Bulldozer": The Literacy Practices of Teacher Candidates Committed to Social Justice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Janet D.

    2012-01-01

    This critical ethnographic study explores how two teacher candidates in English education used specific and varied literacy practices to enact their social justice priorities at a troubled high school in a high-need district. Data include interviews before and after the student teaching experience; observations of teaching, blogs, journals, and…

  15. Ethnography in qualitative educational research: AMEE Guide No. 80.

    PubMed

    Reeves, Scott; Peller, Jennifer; Goldman, Joanne; Kitto, Simon

    2013-08-01

    Ethnography is a type of qualitative research that gathers observations, interviews and documentary data to produce detailed and comprehensive accounts of different social phenomena. The use of ethnographic research in medical education has produced a number of insightful accounts into its role, functions and difficulties in the preparation of medical students for clinical practice. This AMEE Guide offers an introduction to ethnography - its history, its differing forms, its role in medical education and its practical application. Specifically, the Guide initially outlines the main characteristics of ethnography: describing its origins, outlining its varying forms and discussing its use of theory. It also explores the role, contribution and limitations of ethnographic work undertaken in a medical education context. In addition, the Guide goes on to offer a range of ideas, methods, tools and techniques needed to undertake an ethnographic study. In doing so it discusses its conceptual, methodological, ethical and practice challenges (e.g. demands of recording the complexity of social action, the unpredictability of data collection activities). Finally, the Guide provides a series of final thoughts and ideas for future engagement with ethnography in medical education. This Guide is aimed for those interested in understanding ethnography to develop their evaluative skills when reading such work. It is also aimed at those interested in considering the use of ethnographic methods in their own research work.

  16. "I Think About It All The Time": A 12-Year-Old Girl's Internal Crisis With Racism and the Effects on her Mental Health

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Masko, Amy L.

    2005-01-01

    I conducted an ethnographic study, situated within the conceptual framework of Critical Race Theory, which illustrates one child's experiences with racism. The study was conducted in an urban after-school program, and explores issues of racism in both the school and community settings. Utilizing the storytelling aspect of Critical Race Theory, I…

  17. Transcending an Urban-Rural Divide: Rural Youth's Resistance to Townization and Schooling, a Case Study of a Middle School in Northwest China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lou, Jingjing

    2011-01-01

    Based on an ethnographic study in a rural middle school in Northwest China, the author explores how the transition of the rural countryside, specifically townization, has challenged the urban-rural dichotomy being reproduced in and by formal schooling. Rural students express criticism of the chaos, pollution, and corruption they have experienced…

  18. Constructing and Contesting Discourses of Heteronormativity: An Ethnographic Study of Youth in a Francophone High School in Canada

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dalley, Phyllis; Campbell, Mark David

    2006-01-01

    This article explores the possibilities and impossibilities of establishing queer discursive spaces within a minority-language high school. Data examined here are from a three-year study of language and identity in a Francophone high school in Ontario, Canada. As two members of the larger research team, we draw on our close observations of teenage…

  19. "That's Why I Say Stay in School": Black Mothers' Parental Involvement, Cultural Wealth, and Exclusion in Their Son's Schooling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allen, Quaylan; White-Smith, Kimberly

    2018-01-01

    This study examines parental involvement practices, the cultural wealth, and school experiences of poor and working-class mothers of Black boys. Drawing upon data from an ethnographic study, we examine qualitative interviews with four Black mothers. Using critical race theory and cultural wealth frameworks, we explore the mothers' approaches to…

  20. "We Txt 2 Sty Cnnectd": An African American Mother and Son Communicate: Digital Literacies, Meaning-Making, and Activity Theory Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, Tisha Y.

    2013-01-01

    This research demonstrated how an African American mother and son communicated via texting and instant messaging at home. Data from a 2007 larger ethnographic case study of a family's digital literacy practices were collected and analyzed. Situated within the framework of New Literacy Studies and multimodality, this research explored: (a) how and…

  1. "I Am One-of-a-Kind": Unveiling the Silence of Korean American Elementary Students' Negotiations of Culture, Language, and Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ra, Esther H.

    2012-01-01

    In this study, the author explores the roles of family, culture, language as these shape both the articulated identities of Korean American elementary students, and their literacy practices at school. Using data from an academic year of ethnographic study at a public elementary school, located outside a northeastern metropolitan city, the author…

  2. Mennonite Country: The Role of Latina Leaders in the Familial, Social, and Educational Outreach of Immigrant Latino Families in North Central Indiana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    López, Anayeli; Anguiano, Rubén P. Viramontez

    2013-01-01

    This study explored the role of Latina leaders in serving Latino families in North Central Indiana and how they produced social capital through service and leadership. The larger sample of the ethnographic study consisted of 40 Latino families (63 parents) and 14 school personnel. This study focused specifically on 13 Latina women who were…

  3. A Mixed-Methods Exploration of an Environment for Learning Computer Programming

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mather, Richard

    2015-01-01

    A mixed-methods approach is evaluated for exploring collaborative behaviour, acceptance and progress surrounding an interactive technology for learning computer programming. A review of literature reveals a compelling case for using mixed-methods approaches when evaluating technology-enhanced-learning environments. Here, ethnographic approaches…

  4. Exploring multiple trajectories of causality: collaboration between Anthropology and Epidemiology in the 1982 birth cohort, Pelotas, Southern Brazil

    PubMed Central

    Béhague, Dominique P; Gonçalves, Helen

    2009-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Although the relationship between epidemiology and anthropology has a long history, it has generally been comprised of the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. Only recently have the two fields begun to converge along theoretical lines, leading to a growing mutual interest in explaining rather than simply describing phenomena. This paper aimed to illustrate how ethnographic analyses can be used to assist with the in-depth and theoretically-imbued interpretation of epidemiological results. METHODS: The anthropological analysis presented in this paper used ethnographic data collected as part of the ongoing 1982 birth cohort study, between 1997 and 2007 in Pelotas, Southern Brazil. Analyses were framed according to the results presented in two of the epidemiological articles published in this series on the determinants of mental morbidity and age of sexual initiation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The ethnographic results show that statistical associations consist of multiple pathways of influence and causality that generally correspond to the unique experiences of specific subgroups. In exploring these pathways, the paper highlights the importance of an additional set of mediating factors that account for epidemiological results; these include the awareness and experience of inequities, the role of violence in everyday life, traumatic life events, increasing social isolation and emotional introversion as a response to life's difficulties, and differing approaches towards socio-psychological maturation. Theoretical and methodological collaboration between anthropology and epidemiology is important for public health, as it has positively modified both fields. PMID:19142353

  5. [Exploring multiple trajectories of causality: collaboration between Anthropology and Epidemiology in the 1982 birth cohort, Pelotas, Southern Brazil].

    PubMed

    Béhague, Dominique P; Gonçalves, Helen

    2008-12-01

    Although the relationship between epidemiology and anthropology has a long history, it has generally been comprised of the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. Only recently have the two fields begun to converge along theoretical lines, leading to a growing mutual interest in explaining rather than simply describing phenomena. This paper aimed to illustrate how ethnographic analyses can be used to assist with the in-depth and theoretically-imbued interpretation of epidemiological results. The anthropological analysis presented in this paper used ethnographic data collected as part of the ongoing 1982 birth cohort study, between 1997 and 2007 in Pelotas, Southern Brazil. Analyses were framed according to the results presented in two of the epidemiological articles published in this series on the determinants of mental morbidity and age of sexual initiation. The ethnographic results show that statistical associations consist of multiple pathways of influence and causality that generally correspond to the unique experiences of specific subgroups. In exploring these pathways, the paper highlights the importance of an additional set of mediating factors that account for epidemiological results; these include the awareness and experience of inequities, the role of violence in everyday life, traumatic life events, increasing social isolation and emotional introversion as a response to life's difficulties, and differing approaches towards socio-psychological maturation. Theoretical and methodological collaboration between anthropology and epidemiology is important for public health, as it has positively modified both fields.

  6. "You Are a Part of the Solution": Negotiating Gender-Based Violence and Engendering Change in Urban Informal Settlements in Mumbai, India.

    PubMed

    Chakraborty, Proshant; Daruwalla, Nayreen; Jayaraman, Anuja; Pantvaidya, Shanti

    2016-08-04

    This article explores how women front-line workers engage with domestic and gender-based violence in the urban informal settlements of Dharavi in Mumbai, India. We conducted in-depth interviews with 13 voluntary front-line workers, along with ethnographic fieldwork in Dharavi, as a part of a pilot study. Our findings contribute to literature on context-specific approaches to understanding gender-based violence and "models" to prevent domestic violence in urban micro-spaces. Furthermore, we also discuss notions of "change" (badlaav) that the front-line workers experience. Finally, this article presents implications for socially engaged ethnographic research, as well as contextual and grounded insights on ways to reduce gender-based and domestic violence. © The Author(s) 2016.

  7. The Impact of Foreign Postings on Accompanying Military Spouses: An Ethnographic Study

    PubMed Central

    Blakely, Gillian; Hennessy, Catherine; Chung, Man C.; Skirton, Heather

    2014-01-01

    As part of an ethnographic study, the impact of foreign postings on spouses who accompany military personnel was explored. Individual interviews and focus groups with 34 British military spouses based in one location in southern Europe were conducted. Key findings suggested that reaction to a foreign posting was a reflection of personal attitudes, prior experiences, support, ability to adjust to change and strength of relationship with the serving spouse and community. For many the experience was positive due to the increased opportunity for family time, for others this helped to compensate for the difficulties experienced. Some military spouses experienced significant distress on the posting, particularly if the family was not well-supported. The potential implications of military spouses not adapting to foreign postings have significant implications for healthcare practice. Provision of more appropriate support resources before and during the posting would facilitate the transition for the military spouse and their family. PMID:26973933

  8. [Sexuality, bodily experiences, and gender: an ethnographic study of persons living with HIV in Greater Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina].

    PubMed

    Grimberg, Mabel

    2009-01-01

    Based on the results of an ethnographic study on daily experience with HIV in Greater Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina, the article discusses behavioral approaches that reduce the sexuality of persons living with HIV to an issue of safety and protection. By articulating a social construction perspective and the notion of hegemony, the author proposes that sexuality can be understood as a process of individual and social construction shaped by power relations and social regulations. The analysis of the experiences of living with HIV in marginalized populations shows how chronic social inequality, violence, discrimination, and stigmatization generate particular characteristics of sexual issues. These social processes become driving forces that shape sexual experience as a field of danger, repression, and restriction rather than pleasure and exploration. Finally, daily confrontation with social metaphors places strain on gender relations, practices, and identities.

  9. Privacy, boundaries and smart homes for health: An ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Burrows, Alison; Coyle, David; Gooberman-Hill, Rachael

    2018-03-01

    This article explores how people negotiate borders and boundaries within the home, in the context of health and the introduction of new technologies. We draw on an ethnographic study involving a socially diverse group of people, which included people with experience of telecare or smart home energy systems. Participants engaged in various strategies to regulate the borders of their home, even though new technologies have begun to change the nature of these borders. Participants managed health conditions but also their use of technology through boundary work that permitted devices to be more or less visible and integrated within the home. Findings highlight that if smart healthcare technologies are to be accepted in the home then there is a need for mechanisms that allow people to control the interpretation of data and flow of information generated about them and their households. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  10. The conceptions of care among family caregivers of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    PubMed

    Aga, Fekadu; Kylmä, Jari; Nikkonen, Merja

    2009-01-01

    This focused ethnographic study explores and describes the conceptions of care among family caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leininger's theory of culture care diversity and universality is the conceptual anchor of this ethnographic study. Using semistructured interviews and participant observation, 6 key informants and 12 general informants were interviewed in their home in Amharic language. Data were analyzed in Amharic using Leininger's phases of ethnonursing analysis for qualitative data and then translated to English. Four major themes representing family caregivers' conceptions of care were identified: nourishing the PLWA while struggling with poverty, maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene of the person and surroundings, comforting the PLWA, and sacrificing self to sustain the PLWA. Valuable data were gathered about the family caregivers' conceptions of care. Nurses can use this knowledge to design and provide culturally congruent care to family caregivers and PLWAs in the community.

  11. Between Hosts and Guests: Conditional Hospitality and Citizenship in an American Suburban School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shirazi, Roozbeh

    2018-01-01

    This article utilizes the idea of hospitality to explore how educative practices contribute to the making of citizens at Light Falls High School (LHS), a suburban American secondary school that professes a strong commitment to racial equity and global awareness. The data are derived from an ethnographic case study which took place in 2013-2014. I…

  12. Making the Familiar Strange and Making the Strange Familiar: Understanding Korean Children's Experiences of Living with an Autistic Sibling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hwang, Se Kwang; Charnley, Helen

    2010-01-01

    Based on the findings of a small-scale study using visual ethnographic techniques with nine South Korean children, this article explores the role of culture in understanding autism. While autism is embedded within the "strange" and "unfamiliar", linked to exclusion and discrimination in Korean society, the children focussed on…

  13. Gay and Lesbian Literature Disrupting the Heteronormative Space of the High School English Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helmer, Kirsten

    2016-01-01

    This paper offers insights into how the teaching of queer topics in English language arts classes can be reframed by bridging the goals, practices and conceptual tools of queer theory to literacy teaching. Drawing on an ethnographic classroom study, which explored a 13-week high school Gay and Lesbian Literature course, this paper discusses how…

  14. The Role of Ethnic Religious Community Institutions in the Intergenerational Transmission of Korean among Immigrant Students in Montreal

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Seong Man

    2011-01-01

    This paper explores the influence of Korean ethnic churches on the maintenance of heritage language (HL) and culture among Korean-Canadian students. The ethnographic and qualitative study on which it is based involved participant observation over a 4-month period, group discussions, interviews, and a questionnaire. Participants were 15 immigrant…

  15. The Devil Is in the Details: Issues of Exclusion in an Inclusive Educational Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slobodzian, Jean Theodora

    2009-01-01

    In response to federal legislation and societal views that seek to provide free and appropriate education for each child. Public schools are now opening their doors to a wide variety of learners. General-education teachers are challenged to make their classrooms more inclusive. This year-long-ethnographic study explores the experiences of 20…

  16. American, Hispanic, Spanish-Speaking? Hispanic Immigrants and the Question of Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guglani, Laura

    2016-01-01

    This article explores Hispanics' concepts of cultural and linguistic identity. It is based on the findings of a recent study conducted by the author in Iglesia hispana de Cristo, a Hispanic church community in Western New York. Data come from ethnographic interviews conducted with 48 participants aged 13 to 80 years and with church leaders and…

  17. Crossing Cultural Borders into Science Teaching: Early Life Experiences, Racial and Ethnic Identities, and Beliefs about Diversity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brand, Brenda R.; Glasson, George E.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the development of belief systems as related to racial and ethnic identities of preservice teachers as they crossed cultural borders into science teaching. Data were collected throughout a yearlong teacher preparation program to learn how early life experiences and racial and ethnic identities…

  18. Reflecting on the Methodological Aspects of a Critical Ethnographic Approach Used to Inform Change for Adolescents with Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gulati, Sonia; Paterson, Margo; Medves, Jennifer; Luce-Kapler, Rebecca

    2011-01-01

    Debate remains about how to effectively obtain information from adolescents with disabilities in marginalized areas and how to apply this knowledge to shape rehabilitation activities. This study explored how to empower adolescents in the urban slums of North India to assume greater control over their rehabilitation within the context of a local…

  19. "Girls Don't Play Soccer": Children Policing Gender on the Playground in a Township Primary School in South Africa

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mayeza, Emmanuel

    2017-01-01

    This paper is based on an ethnographic study conducted between 2012 and 2014 with a group of 64 boys and girls aged 6-10, all attending the same township primary school in South Africa. The paper explores how the young children construct gender "boundaries" and "police" gender "transgressions" on the school playground…

  20. Learning Control: Sense-Making, CNC Machines, and Changes in Vocational Training for Industrial Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berner, Boel

    2009-01-01

    The paper explores how novices in school-based vocational training make sense of computerized numerical control (CNC) machines. Based on two ethnographic studies in Swedish schools, one from the early 1980s and one from 2006, it analyses change and continuity in the cognitive, social, and emotional processes of learning how to become a machine…

  1. Teachers' Silences about Racist Attitudes and Students' Desires to Address These Attitudes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosvall, Per-Åke; Öhrn, Elisabet

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we use ethnographic data to explore school-based perceptions of racism. We draw on the findings of a one-year study conducted in two upper secondary classes in a Swedish school. The starting point of the analysis was student discussions of racism in the school and the surrounding neighbourhood, which prompted an examination of…

  2. (Re)Counting Meaningful Learning Experiences: Using Student-Created Reflective Videos to Make Invisible Learning Visible during PjBL Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Shaunna

    2016-01-01

    This ethnographic case study investigated how the process of learning during a yearlong after-school, project-based learning (PjBL) experience could be documented by student-created reflective videos. Guided by social constructivism, constant comparative analysis was used to explore the meaningful learning that took place in addition to the…

  3. Ballet Body Belief: Perceptions of an Ideal Ballet Body from Young Ballet Dancers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pickard, Angela

    2013-01-01

    This paper explores what is perceived and believed to be an ideal ballet body by young ballet dancers. Such bodily belief becomes, in Pierre Bourdieu's terms, a core part of a ballet dancer's habitus. A four year longitudinal, ethnographic, empirical study of the experiences of 12 young ballet dancers, six boys and six girls, aged between 10 and…

  4. "If They Could Make Us Disappear, They Would!" Youth and Violence in Cite Soleil, Haiti

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willman, Alys; Marcelin, Louis Herns

    2010-01-01

    This study explores community-level risk and protective factors for youth violence in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince's most violent slum. The youth of Cite Soleil have often been mobilized to violence by powerful actors as tools for achieving political or financial gain. Drawing on a formal survey (N=1,575) and ethnographic data collected between…

  5. "I'm Telling You ... The Language Barrier Is the Most, the Biggest Challenge": Barriers to Education among Karen Refugee Women in Australia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watkins, Paula G.; Razee, Husna; Richters, Juliet

    2012-01-01

    This article examines factors influencing English language education, participation and achievement among Karen refugee women in Australia. Data were drawn from ethnographic observations and interviews with 67 participants between 2009 and 2011, collected as part of a larger qualitative study exploring the well-being of Karen refugee women in…

  6. Neoliberalism and Pedagogical Practices of Alienation: A Case Study Research on the Integrated Curriculum in Greek Primary Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noula, Ioanna; Govaris, Christos

    2018-01-01

    In this article, we present insights from an ethnographic research that investigated the concept of citizenship in primary schools in Greece. We explored children's experiences of citizenship in school approaching citizenship as a set of habits that prescribe what is considered 'legitimate' in the public sphere. We focused on structures and agents…

  7. Reading Queer Counter-Narratives in the High-School Literature Classroom: Possibilities and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helmer, Kirsten

    2016-01-01

    Drawing on an ethnographic case study of a 13-week Gay and Lesbian Literature course, this paper explores how a high-school teacher and her students engaged with queer-themed literature. Focused on episodes around the class' engagement with two of the novels read in the course--Rita Mae Brown's "Rubyfruit Jungle" and Michael Cunningham's…

  8. Constructing Membership Identity through Language and Social Interaction: The Case of African American Children at Faith Missionary Baptist Church

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peele-Eady, Tryphenia B.

    2011-01-01

    In this article, the author explores how African American children in a Black church Sunday school community in northern California developed positive membership identity. Focal participants were Sunday school children ages 9 to 12 and their Sunday school teachers. Drawn from a two-year ethnographic study, data showed that adults prepared children…

  9. Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) Service Implementation in Schools in Malawi, Africa: A Strategy for Increasing Community Human Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luke, Melissa; Hinkle, J. Scott; Schweiger, Wendi; Henderson, Donna

    2016-01-01

    The Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) program utilizes a population-based curriculum and has been implemented in Malawi for the past seven years. This article reports findings from an ethnographic study that explored how 40 MHF stakeholders have experienced the MHF program. This transdisciplinary program is a 30-hour training in community mental…

  10. Elevating the Role of Race in Ethnographic Research: Navigating Race Relations in the Field

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Keffrelyn D.

    2011-01-01

    Little work in the social sciences or in the field of education has fully explored the methodological issues related to the study of race and racism, yet qualitative researchers acknowledge that race plays (and should play) a role in the research process. Indeed, race frames and informs the context, practices and perspectives of everyday lived…

  11. Bodies as Bearers of Value: The Transmission of Jock Culture via the "Twelve Commandments"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparkes, Andrew C.; Partington, Elizabeth; Brown, David H. K.

    2007-01-01

    This article explores a number of insights generated from a three-year ethnographic study of one university setting in England in which a "jock culture" is seen to dominate a student campus. Drawing on core concepts from Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of culture, it illustrates the unique function of the body in sustaining jock culture…

  12. Active Citizens, Good Citizens, and Insouciant Bystanders: The Educational Implications of Chinese University Students' Civic Participation via Social Networking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ke, Lin; Starkey, Hugh

    2014-01-01

    This virtual ethnographic study explores how Chinese university students use social network sites (SNSs) to participate in civic activities. An ideal of "active" citizens is contrasted with good citizens (Crick) and insouciant bystanders. We find that students engage with the civic issues embedded in everyday life; their online civic…

  13. Effects of Naturalistic Settings on Spontaneous Verbal Information-Seeking Behavior of 6th-Grade Girls.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walther, Kay Esther Ponder

    The purpose of this ethnographic study was to describe children's verbal information-seeking behavior in different naturalistic settings and to explore factors in those settings other than school which might have bearing on a child's propensity to seek information in school. Subjects were six girls in the same sixth grade classroom. Audio and…

  14. Trampling over or Traveling with? Reconsidering the Culture of Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herr, Kathryn; Naiditch, Fernando

    2011-01-01

    Low-income male students of color are among the populations experiencing the least amount of success in the current arrangements of school, described by some as part of the "the boy crisis" in education. This article draws on a year long ethnographic study of a single-sex, all-male classroom in a public middle school. It explores their experiences…

  15. The Order of Importance of Component Parts of the Biblical Worldview in Christian High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Meter, Kenneth G.

    2009-01-01

    This micro-ethnographic study is an exploration of the relative degree of importance of the several components of a worldview as articulated by a purposive sample of fourteen upper division students currently enrolled in advance placement classes in ACSI and WASC accredited Christian high schools in Northern California. The research design uses an…

  16. The Gettin' Higher Choir: Exploring Culture, Teaching and Learning in a Community Chorus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Mary Copland

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to examine musical teaching and learning in an informal context in order to glean information and strategies that may be helpful to teachers and students in more formal settings. Through an ethnographic approach, the researcher examined the particular culture of the Gettin' Higher Choir (GHC) to gain a deep…

  17. Exploring women's participation in a U.S. Microcredit Program.

    PubMed

    Salt, Rebekah J

    2010-09-01

    The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore and describe women's participation in a U.S. microcredit program in the Pacific Northwest and to examine the relationship between the participants' businesses and their health. In 2006, an ethnographic study was conducted with a microcredit organization in the Pacific Northwest using the following methods: (a) 10 audiotaped, semistructured interviews with clientele; (b) observation of microcredit groups four times a month for 6 months; (c) conversations with organization executive directors; and (d) review of organizational documents. The participants were women 32 to 64 years of age who had received one or more loans from the microcredit organization. Four broad themes emerged from the data: (a) Microcredit: The introduction; (b) Microcredit: The place; (c) Stereotypes; and (d) Health. Despite the challenges associated with participation, all of the study participants were enthusiastic about the advantages of microcredit and would recommend it to others. Many international microcredit organizations have incorporated health care and health education into their programs and have reported successful economic and social outcomes for women. In the United States (US), reports are varied, and there is a lack of literature that explores the economic and health link that is addressed in some international microcredit literature. The findings from this study might be used to initiate discussions around conjoint health education programs and microcredit as a health intervention. Nurses, as a trusted presence in the community, are in a position to partner with microcredit organizations to improve the health of clientele.

  18. "Adging up" to "Beef on Sight": A Qualitative Study of the Perceived Causes of Interpersonal Conflict and Violence among African-American Girls in an Urban High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cameron, Mark; Taggar, Carolyn E.

    2005-01-01

    This qualitative study examined perceptions of the causes and nature of conflicts and violence among African-American girls in an urban high school. In-depth, iterative interviewing was used to explore the perceptions of these girls, male students, teachers, and other school personnel. Ethnographic observation was also used. Conflicts and violence…

  19. Youth Media Literacy Practices: The Possibilities and Complexities of Creating and Distributing Non-Commercial Public Media in a Private and Commercial World

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bach, Amy Jane

    2010-01-01

    Drawn from more than two years of ethnographic data collection, this dissertation study explores the literacy practices enacted in a youth media organization (the Youth Media Group) that is a branch of a public access television station (Manhattan Media) in New York City. Rooted in New Literacy Studies, a branch of scholarship which explores…

  20. Rethinking Young Children's Digital Game Play outside of the Home as a Means of Coping with Modern Life

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huh, Youn Jung

    2017-01-01

    This study explores young children's digital game play outside of the home as a means of surviving and thriving in modern spaces that limit young children's participation by looking at four digital game-playing three-year-old children. In this ethnographic study, critical theory is used to examine how modern public spaces (e.g., a grocery market,…

  1. I Can Be Silent and Be Saying a Lot: Teachers' Racial Literacy in a Southern Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howard, Kimberly J.

    2013-01-01

    In order to better understand how teachers make sense of race in schools today, this ethnographic study explores the following research question: How do teachers in this school make sense of race, and how does the spatiality of the school inform this process? The study was conducted over a 14-month period in a southern elementary school and is…

  2. Challenges and opportunities of undertaking a video ethnographic study to understand medication communication.

    PubMed

    Liu, Wei; Gerdtz, Marie; Manias, Elizabeth

    2015-12-01

    To examine the challenges and opportunities of undertaking a video ethnographic study on medication communication among nurses, doctors, pharmacists and patients. Video ethnography has proved to be a dynamic and useful method to explore clinical communication activities. This approach involves filming actual behaviours and activities of clinicians to develop new knowledge and to stimulate reflections of clinicians on their behaviours and activities. However, there is limited information about the complex negotiations required to use video ethnography in actual clinical practice. Discursive paper. A video ethnographic approach was used to gain better understanding of medication communication processes in two general medical wards of a metropolitan hospital in Melbourne, Australia. This paper presents the arduous and delicate process of gaining access into hospital wards to video-record actual clinical practice and the methodological and ethical issues associated with video-recording. Obtaining access to clinical settings and clinician consent are the first hurdles of conducting a video ethnographic study. Clinicians may still feel intimidated or self-conscious in being video recorded about their medication communication practices, which they could perceive as judgements being passed about their clinical competence. By thoughtful and strategic planning, video ethnography can provide in-depth understandings of medication communication in acute care hospital settings. Ethical issues of informed consent, patient safety and respect for the confidentiality of patients and clinicians need to be carefully addressed to build up and maintain trusting relationships between researchers and participants in the clinical environment. By prudently considering the complex ethical and methodological concerns of using video ethnography, this approach can help to reveal the unpredictability and messiness of clinical practice. The visual data generated can stimulate clinicians' reflexivity about their norms of practice and bring about improved communication about managing medications. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Elusive implementation: an ethnographic study of intersectoral policymaking for health.

    PubMed

    Holt, Ditte Heering; Rod, Morten Hulvej; Waldorff, Susanne Boch; Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Tine

    2018-01-30

    For more than 30 years policy action across sectors has been celebrated as a necessary and viable way to affect the social factors impacting on health. In particular intersectoral action on the social determinants of health is considered necessary to address social inequalities in health. However, despite growing support for intersectoral policymaking, implementation remains a challenge. Critics argue that public health has remained naïve about the policy process and a better understanding is needed. Based on ethnographic data, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of a local process of intersectoral policymaking in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges posed by implementation. To help conceptualize the process, we apply the theoretical perspective of organizational neo-institutionalism, in particular the concepts of rationalized myth and decoupling. On the basis of an explorative study among ten Danish municipalities, we conducted an ethnographic study of the development of a municipal-wide implementation strategy for the intersectoral health policy of a medium-sized municipality. The main data sources consist of ethnographic field notes from participant observation and interview transcripts. By providing detailed contextual description, we show how an apparent failure to move from policy to action is played out by the ongoing production of abstract rhetoric and vague plans. We find that idealization of universal intersectoralism, inconsistent demands, and doubts about economic outcomes challenge the notion of implementation as moving from rhetoric to action. We argue that the 'myth' of intersectoralism may be instrumental in avoiding the specification of action to implement the policy, and that the policy instead serves as a way to display and support good intentions and hereby continue the process. On this basis we expand the discussion on implementation challenges regarding intersectoral policymaking for health.

  4. Sociocultural facilitators and barriers to condom use during anal sex among men who have sex with men in Guangzhou, China: an ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Li, Haochu; Lau, Joseph T F; Holroyd, Eleanor; Yi, Huso

    2010-12-01

    This ethnographic study explored how cultural belief systems shaped sexual risk practices among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Guangzhou, China. A specific focus was on how these men's sexual practices varied across sexual venues and among different partners in order to better understand sociocultural facilitators and barriers to condom use in the Guangzhou community. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews with MSM and ethnographic observations in MSM sexual venues in the city. The thematic analysis focused specifically on the accounts of unprotected sex occasions. We found that an erotic idea of "rouyu" (desire of physical flesh) embedded in a subculture of MSM and a metaphor for condom use as being inferior and promoting distance posed a considerable barrier to condom use among these MSM. Some men reported gaining a positive self-concept related to same-sex identity through unprotected sex. These MSM's subjective evaluations of HIV risk were closely tied to the perceived characteristics of sex partners and sexual venues. We conclude by advocating specific sociocultural interventions in emerging risk venues, such as saunas/bathhouses, to better meet the needs of the MSM community in Guangzhou.

  5. Performativity, Fabrication and Trust: Exploring Computer-Mediated Moderation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clapham, Andrew

    2013-01-01

    Based on research conducted in an English secondary school, this paper explores computer-mediated moderation as a performative tool. The Module Assessment Meeting (MAM) was the moderation approach under investigation. I mobilise ethnographic data generated by a key informant, and triangulated with that from other actors in the setting, in order to…

  6. "A Slow Revolution": Toward a Theory of Intellectual Playfulness in High School Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fine, Sarah M.

    2014-01-01

    In this essay, Sarah M. Fine explores the misalignment between instructional practices in secondary classrooms and the interests and capabilities of adolescent learners. Drawing on a series of ethnographic cases, she explores the potential consequences of this misalignment and attempts to conceptualize an alternate reality in which high school…

  7. An Ethnographic Analysis of Adolescent Sexual Minority Website Usage: Exploring Notions of Information Seeking and Sexual Identity Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sulfridge, Rocky M.

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation explores the website usage of adolescent sexual minorities, examining notions of information seeking and sexual identity development. Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior and is uniquely problematic for young sexual minorities. Utilizing a contemporary gay teen website, this…

  8. Investigating Multiculturalism and Mono-Culturalism through the Infrastructure of Integration in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Long, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores first-hand experiences of citizenship education specifically-designed for immigrants from the perspective of native Dutch settlement workers and volunteers in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Based on eight months of ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with settlement workers, this article explores how these "minor…

  9. Forging a Research Pathway: Perspectives of Two Post-Tenure Female Faculty Members

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McIntyre, Laureen J.; Hellsten, Laurie-Ann M.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents an auto-ethnographic exploration of two post-tenure female faculty member's experiences developing their programs of research. Self-reflection was used to explore the factors that have helped or hindered the development of their research program, and the continued challenges they faced as female faculty. Composite themes were…

  10. Employing an ethnographic approach: key characteristics.

    PubMed

    Lambert, Veronica; Glacken, Michele; McCarron, Mary

    2011-01-01

    Nurses are increasingly embracing ethnography as a useful research methodology. This paper presents an overview of some of the main characteristics we considered and the challenges encountered when using ethnography to explore the nature of communication between children and health professionals in a children's hospital. There is no consensual definition or single procedure to follow when using ethnography. This is largely attributable to the re-contextualisation of ethnography over time through diversification in and across many disciplines. Thus, it is imperative to consider some of ethnography's trademark features. To identify core trademark features of ethnography, we collated data following a scoping review of pertinent ethnographic textbooks, journal articles, attendance at ethnographic workshops and discussions with principle ethnographers. This is a methodological paper. Essentially, ethnography is a field-orientated activity that has cultural interpretations at its core, although the levels of those interpretations vary. We identified six trademark features to be considered when embracing an ethnographic approach: naturalism; context; multiple data sources; small case numbers; 'emic' and 'etic' perspectives, and ethical considerations. Ethnography has an assortment of meanings, so it is not often used in a wholly orthodox way and does not fall under the auspices of one epistemological belief. Yet, there are core criteria and trademark features that researchers should take into account alongside their particular epistemological beliefs when embracing an ethnographic inquiry. We hope this paper promotes a clearer vision of the methodological processes to consider when embarking on ethnography and creates an avenue for others to disseminate their experiences of and challenges encountered when applying ethnography's trademark features in different healthcare contexts.

  11. Between Rights and Realities: Human Rights Education for Immigrant and Refugee Youth in an Urban Public High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bajaj, Monisha; Canlas, Melissa; Argenal, Amy

    2017-01-01

    This article presents data from a two-year ethnographic case study to explore how immigrant and refugee youth in the United States made sense of participation in a weekly human rights club after school. Three types of student responses to human rights education are exemplified through the profiles of students. The article offers new insights on…

  12. Hierarchical Deficiencies: Constructed Differences between Adolescent Boys and Girls in a Public School Single-Sex Program in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Glasser, Howard M.

    2012-01-01

    Although middle school is a critical time in adolescents' development, little is known about how that development is affected by public single-sex classes even though recent federal policy decisions have led more schools to provide these offerings. This case study used ethnographic methods to explore ways teachers, students, and courses in one…

  13. The Interaction of Economic Livelihood Strategies and Literacy and Numeracy Practices of Urban Gambian Women with Low Educational Attainments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Njie, Haddy

    2016-01-01

    This paper is based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in the periphery of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. It explores relations between the gender roles of women with modest educational achievement and their uses of literacy and numeracy. The paper applied New Literacy Studies theoretical framework of literacy as a "social…

  14. Exploring the Autonomous Economic World of Children: A Mixed Methods Study of Kids' Naive Economic Theories Incorporating Ethnographic and Behavioral Economics Methodologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jennings, Amanda Brooke

    2017-01-01

    Children construct meaning from their economic experiences in the form of naive theories and use these theories to explain the relationships between their actions and the outcomes. Inevitably, due to their lack of economic literacy, these theories will be incomplete. Through curriculum design that acknowledges and addresses these naive theories,…

  15. Rethinking Spanish: Understanding Spanish Speakers Motivations and Reasons to Opt for Either an English Only or a Dual English-Spanish Educational Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, Adrienne C.

    2017-01-01

    Spanish-speaking parents choose to enroll their children in either an English only or English-Spanish dual immersion program when presented with both choices. This ethnographic study explored parent's perceptions of the purpose, advantages, and disadvantages of learning in school in English only or in a dual English-Spanish. Through focus group…

  16. Writing Their Way into Talk: Emergent Bilinguals' Emergent Literacy Practices as Pathways to Peer Interaction and Oral Language Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernstein, Katie A.

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the idea that young children's emergent literacy practices can be tools for mediating peer interaction, and that, therefore, literacy, even in its earliest stages, can support oral language development, particularly for emergent bilinguals. The paper draws on data collected during a year-long ethnographic study of 11 Nepali-…

  17. "In This Country Education Happen at the Home": Two Families in Search of the "Instruments of Appropriation" for School Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Markose, Susan; Symes, Colin; Hellsten, Meeri

    2011-01-01

    The article analyses ethnographic data from the study of the home literacy practices of two immigrant families, a Lebanese-Muslim and a Chinese family. It explores the experiences of the immigrant families as they blend the pedagogical practices and behaviours of their own cultures with those of the mainstream culture to ensure academic success in…

  18. Multiple Repertoires of Ways of Being and Acting in Music: Immigrant Students' Musical Agency as an Impetus for Democracy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karlsen, Sidsel

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this article is to explore how immigrant students experience and enact musical agency inside and outside the music lessons in three Nordic lower secondary schools. The research was designed as a multi-sited ethnographic study and the data were collected in Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo through classroom observations and interviews with…

  19. From the Bronx to Bengifunda (and Other Lines of Flight): Deterritorializing Purposes and Methods in Science Education Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gough, Noel

    2011-01-01

    In this essay I explore a number of questions about purposes and methods in science education research prompted by my reading of Wesley Pitts' ethnographic study of interactions among four students and their teacher in a chemistry classroom in the Bronx, New York City. I commence three "lines of flight" (small acts of Deleuzo-Guattarian…

  20. The problem of privacy in transcultural research: reflections on an ethnographic study in Sri Lanka.

    PubMed

    Monshi, Bardia; Zieglmayer, Verena

    2004-01-01

    Western laws and codes of ethics frequently require that private health information be treated confidentially. However, cross-cultural research shows that it is not always easy to determine what members of a culture consider to be private or how they wish private information to be handled. This article begins by presenting an ethnographic study of patient-healer relationships in Sri Lanka; researchers were surprised to find that participants' views of health and privacy differed greatly from typical Western views, and that the privacy protections they had put in place caused discomfort among participants. Building on this ethics case study, the article explores two main questions. First, can a single definition of privacy possibly do justice to the cultural variations that exist, or does a conceptual definition inevitably run the risk of ethnocentrism? Second, to what extent is strict compliance with research regulations or ethics codes ethically justifiable when following the rules will obviously cause unease in international participants?

  1. "We need somewhere to smoke crack": An ethnographic study of an unsanctioned safer smoking room in Vancouver, Canada.

    PubMed

    McNeil, Ryan; Kerr, Thomas; Lampkin, Hugh; Small, Will

    2015-07-01

    Many cities around the globe have experienced substantial increases in crack cocaine use. Public health programmes have begun to address crack smoking, primarily through the distribution of safer crack use equipment, but their impacts have been limited. More comprehensive safer environmental interventions, specifically safer smoking rooms (SSR), have been implemented only in select European cities. However, none have been subjected to rigorous evaluation. This ethnographic study was undertaken at an 'unsanctioned' SSR operated by a drug user-led organization in Vancouver, Canada, to explore how this intervention shaped crack smoking practices, public crack smoking, and related harms. Ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken at this SSR from September to December 2011, and included approximately 50 hours of ethnographic observation and 23 in-depth interviews with people who smoke crack. Data were analyzed by drawing on the 'Risk Environment' framework and concepts of 'symbolic', 'everyday', and 'structural' violence. Our findings illustrate how a high demand for SSRs was driven by the need to minimize exposure to policing (structural violence), drug scene violence (everyday violence), and stigma (symbolic violence) that characterized unregulated drug use settings (e.g., public spaces). Although resource scarcity and social norms operating within the local drug scene (e.g., gendered power relations) perpetuated crack pipe-sharing within unregulated drug use settings, the SSR fostered harm reduction practices by reshaping the social-structural context of crack smoking and reduced the potential for health harms. Given the significant potential of SSRs in reducing health and social harms, there is an urgent need to scale up these interventions. Integrating SSRs into public health systems, and supplementing these interventions with health and social supports, has potential to improve the health and safety of crack-smoking populations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The Frustrations of Digital Fabrication: An Auto/Ethnographic Exploration of "3D Making" in School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nemorin, Selena

    2017-01-01

    Following initial educational enthusiasms for 'Making' technologies and the 'Maker Movement', increasing numbers of students are now using digital fabrication programs and equipment in school. Given the current lack of empirical research exploring the realities of Making as a school activity, this paper presents an in-depth auto/ethnographic…

  3. Children at Risk/Children of Promise: Youth and the Modern Predicament.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayers, William, Ed.; Lyon, Gabrielle, Ed.; McKinney, Gina, Ed.; O'Brien, James, Ed.; Quinn, Therese, Ed.

    1998-01-01

    Articles in this theme issue explore the state of children and youth at the end of the millennium. Imagination and the arts, ethnographic and interpretive exploration, and traditional social science investigations are used to consider the meaning of childhood and what life is like for children today. The articles are: (1) "Children at…

  4. Dancing In-between Spaces: An Auto-Ethnographic Exploration of an "Abhinaya" Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaktikar, Aadya

    2016-01-01

    The questions that this paper poses are placed at the intersection of a Liberal Arts approach to education and the pedagogy of traditional Indian dance forms. These questions are explored through my ongoing pedagogical experiment with teaching the art of "abhinaya" in the university classroom. This paper charts the journey of exploring…

  5. Community Strikes Back? Belonging and Exclusion in Rural English Villages in Networked Times

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hillyard, Sam; Bagley, Carl

    2015-01-01

    The paper draws upon ethnographic research of two contrasting English primary schools and their villages to explore the themes of belonging and exclusion in contemporary rural contexts. The paper first describes the schools and the villages. A second, conceptual section explores the meaning of rurality in relation to the themes of class, belonging…

  6. Tackling complexities in understanding the social determinants of health: the contribution of ethnographic research.

    PubMed

    Bandyopadhyay, Mridula

    2011-11-25

    The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies have an important contribution to make in this regard. Ethnographic research designs are a difficult but rigorous approach to research questions that require us to understand the complexity of people's social and cultural lives. I draw on an ethnographic study to describe the complexities of studying maternal health in a rural area in India. I then show how the lessons learnt in that setting and context can be applied to studies done in very different settings. I show how ethnographic research depends for rigour on a theoretical framework for sample selection; why immersion in the community under study, and rapport building with research participants, is important to ensure rich and meaningful data; and how flexible approaches to data collection lead to the gradual emergence of an analysis based on intense cross-referencing with community views and thus a conclusion that explains the similarities and differences observed. When using ethnographic research design it can be difficult to specify in advance the exact details of the study design. Researchers can encounter issues in the field that require them to change what they planned on doing. In rigorous ethnographic studies, the researcher in the field is the research instrument and needs to be well trained in the method. Ethnographic research is challenging, but nevertheless provides a rewarding way of researching complex health problems that require an understanding of the social and cultural determinants of health.

  7. Burden of Restraint, Disablement and Ethnic Identity: A Case Study of Total Joint Replacement for Osteoarthritis

    PubMed Central

    Harrison, Tracie

    2010-01-01

    Health disparities in total joint replacement have been documented based on gender and ethnicity in multiple countries. Absent are studies exploring the meaning of the procedures among diverse women, which is necessary to fully understand the impact of the disparity. Drawing on ethnographic data from a life course exploration of disablement among Mexican American women with mobility impairments, one woman’s reasons for forgoing a joint replacement are considered. It is suggested that inequalities in disablement cannot be understood without considering the mulitple cultural conflicts and loyalties that push and pull women in multiple directions. PMID:21767094

  8. AIDS, Metaphor and Ritual: The Crafting of Care in Rural South African Childhoods

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henderson, Patricia C

    2013-01-01

    Based on a two-year study of 31 young people aged 14-20 who had lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the article draws on an in-depth ethnographic account of a 17-year-old girl's life process. It traces forms of care between adults and children within her family across several generations, exploring how…

  9. Cooking the Books: What Counts as Literacy for Young Children in a Public Library?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Helen Victoria

    2018-01-01

    At a time when government funding cuts mean that public libraries face an uncertain future and need to make sure they stay relevant to young users and their families, this paper explores what counts as literacy for young children in a public library in a town in the East Midlands, UK. It is based on a study which adopted an ethnographic approach,…

  10. "I Have to Be Three Steps Ahead": Academically Gifted African American Male Students in an Urban High School on the Tension between an Ethnic and Academic Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Anthony; Anderson, Kenneth A.

    2008-01-01

    This case study investigation of three Academically Gifted African American male high school seniors in a predominantly African American urban high school examines the interplay between their ethnic and academic identity. Using an embedded micro-ethnographic approach, we explore the extent to which these students value educational attainment, the…

  11. Employability, Knowledge and the Creative Arts: Reflections from an Ethnographic Study of NEET Young People on an Entry to Employment Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simmons, Robin

    2017-01-01

    This paper draws on research into the experiences of young people classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training) on an employability programme in the north of England, and uses Basil Bernstein's work on pedagogic discourses to explore how the creative arts can be used to re-engage them in work-related learning. Whilst creating…

  12. Reinventing Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopson, Rodney K.

    2005-01-01

    This commentary reviews "Negotiating Researcher Roles in Ethnographic Program Evaluation" and discusses the changing field of evaluation. It situates postmodern deliberations in evaluation anthropology and ethnoevaluation, two concepts that explore the interdisciplinary merger in evaluation, ethnography, and anthropology. Reflecting on Hymes's…

  13. Tackling complexities in understanding the social determinants of health: the contribution of ethnographic research

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Objective The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies have an important contribution to make in this regard. Ethnographic research designs are a difficult but rigorous approach to research questions that require us to understand the complexity of people’s social and cultural lives. Approach I draw on an ethnographic study to describe the complexities of studying maternal health in a rural area in India. I then show how the lessons learnt in that setting and context can be applied to studies done in very different settings. Results I show how ethnographic research depends for rigour on a theoretical framework for sample selection; why immersion in the community under study, and rapport building with research participants, is important to ensure rich and meaningful data; and how flexible approaches to data collection lead to the gradual emergence of an analysis based on intense cross-referencing with community views and thus a conclusion that explains the similarities and differences observed. Conclusion When using ethnographic research design it can be difficult to specify in advance the exact details of the study design. Researchers can encounter issues in the field that require them to change what they planned on doing. In rigorous ethnographic studies, the researcher in the field is the research instrument and needs to be well trained in the method. Implication Ethnographic research is challenging, but nevertheless provides a rewarding way of researching complex health problems that require an understanding of the social and cultural determinants of health. PMID:22168509

  14. Decision making in childbirth: the influence of traditional structures in a Ghanaian village.

    PubMed

    Jansen, I

    2006-03-01

    The regional health administration of the Brong-Ahafo Region in Ghana identified that although informed about the advantages of both aspects of care, pregnant women made use of antenatal services but not of the supervised delivery. Quantitative studies have identified economic factors that influence the decisions of pregnant women. To describe and understand the traditional structures of childbirth in Kwame Danso/Ghana and to explore why the pregnant women do not make use of supervised deliveries in the modern institutions. A mini-ethnographic study, using participant observation and ethnographic interviews. Cultural and social factors have a significant influence on the decisions related to childbirth. One of the most important factors identified was that the responsible persons for decisions related to a delivery were the older female relatives, rather than the mothers themselves. Older females used rational judgements to weigh up the possibilities of risks, interests and advantages related to their cultural, spiritual and social system. Other factors were staff behaviour that was characterized as unfriendly and lacking for respect as to the living conditions and thinking of the pregnant women in the village. Ethnographic research provided an understanding of traditional structures that have an influence on the decisions and behaviour of the community related to childbirth. Appreciation of these structures enabled health promotion and structured health services to be delivered in a more culturally appropriate way.

  15. Young people living with parental bereavement: Insights from an ethnographic study of a UK childhood bereavement service.

    PubMed

    Brewer, Joanne D; Sparkes, Andrew C

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this two-year ethnographic study was to explore the experiences of parentally bereaved young people who sought support from the Rocky Centre (a pseudonym), a childhood bereavement service in the United Kingdom. Data were generated from extended periods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with both staff and service users. In this article we focus specifically on the interviews with 13 young people to elucidate the factors that helped them to live with parental bereavement. Of these participants, four had been recently bereaved and nine had experienced the death of a parent over ten years ago. Seven key themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data: expressing emotion, physical activity, positive adult relationship(s), area of competence, friendships/social support, having fun/humour and transcendence. These themes are discussed in turn, and implications for research and practice are addressed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Leading team learning: what makes interprofessional teams learn to work well?

    PubMed

    Chatalalsingh, Carole; Reeves, Scott

    2014-11-01

    This article describes an ethnographic study focused on exploring leaders of team learning in well-established nephrology teams in an academic healthcare organization in Canada. Employing situational theory of leadership, the article provides details on how well established team members advance as "learning leaders". Data were gathered by ethnographic methods over a 9-month period with the members of two nephrology teams. These learning to care for the sick teams involved over 30 regulated health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians and other healthcare practitioners, staff, students and trainees, all of whom were collectively managing obstacles and coordinating efforts. Analysis involved an inductive thematic analysis of observations, reflections, and interview transcripts. The study indicated how well established members progress as team-learning leaders, and how they adapt to an interprofessional culture through the activities they employ to enable day-to-day learning. The article uses situational theory of leadership to generate a detailed illumination of the nature of leaders' interactions within an interprofessional context.

  17. "Reading All that White Crazy Stuff:" Black Young Women Unpacking Whiteness in a High School British Literature Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Stephanie Power

    2007-01-01

    The article uses sociolinguistic and ethnographic methods and Black feminist theory to explore the classroom interactions of Pam and Natonya, two Black young females, during one event in a required high school British literature classroom. The event is presented as a telling case to explore gendered and racial complexities facing young Black…

  18. An Exploration of the Use of Disruption as a Pedagogic Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwabenland, Christina

    2009-01-01

    This article describes a journey of exploration in which I take a hitherto unexamined aspect of my teaching practice, the use of disruption, and subject it to interrogation. The journey is an exercise in auto-ethnographic research in that I am my own subject, located within the context of the classroom. My purpose is to surface the beliefs that…

  19. Power, Agency and Participatory Agendas: A Critical Exploration of Young People's Engagement in Participative Qualitative Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holland, Sally; Renold, Emma; Ross, Nicola J.; Hillman, Alexandra

    2010-01-01

    This article critically explores data generated within a participatory research project with young people in the care of a local authority, the (Extra)ordinary Lives project. The project involved ethnographic multi-media data generation methods used in groups and individually with eight participants (aged 10-20) over a school year and encouraged…

  20. Empowerment, environment and person-centred care: A qualitative study exploring the hospital experience for adults with cognitive impairment.

    PubMed

    Prato, Laura; Lindley, Lyndsay; Boyles, Miriam; Robinson, Louise; Abley, Clare

    2018-01-01

    It is acknowledged that there are many challenges to ensuring a positive hospital experience for patients with cognitive impairment. The study ('Improving hospital care for adults with cognitive impairment') aimed to explore the positive and negative experiences of older adults with cognitive impairment (dementia and delirium) and their relatives and/or carers, during an acute hospital stay, from admission to discharge, using a qualitative, case study methodology. Six participants with cognitive impairment, eight relatives and 59 members of the health care team were recruited. Data was collected via ethnographic, observational periods at each stage of the hospital journey and through the use of semi-structured interviews with relatives, carers and health care staff including: medical staff; nursing staff; physiotherapists and ward managers. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to facilitate data analysis. 52 hours 55 minutes of ethnographic observations and 18 interviews with ward staff and relatives were undertaken. Three superordinate themes emerged from the data as crucial in determining the quality of the hospital experience: valuing the person; activities of empowerment and disempowerment and the interaction of environment with patient well-being. Whether the patient's hospital experience was positive or negative was powerfully influenced by family involvement and ward staff actions and communication. Participants identified a requirement for a ward based activity service for patients with cognitive impairment. Further research must be undertaken focusing on the development of ward based activities for patients with cognitive impairment, alongside a move towards care which explores measures to improve and expand relative involvement in hospital care.

  1. Writing and Retelling Multiple Ethnographic Tales of a Soup Kitchen for the Homeless.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Dana L.; Creswell, John W.; Olander, Lisa

    An ethnographic study narrated three tales about a soup kitchen for the homeless and the near-homeless. To provide a cultural, ethnographic analysis, and share fieldwork experiences the study began with realist and confessional tales. These two tales emerged from the initial writing and presenting of the soup kitchen ethnography to qualitative…

  2. The Role of Ethnographic Interviewing in Climate Change Evaluation Research: Investigating Intended and Unintended program effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lloro-Bidart, T.

    2012-12-01

    Ethnographic interviewing is an under-utilized tool in climate change evaluation research, even though it has the potential to serve as a powerful method of data collection. The utility of the ethnographic interview lies in its ability to elicit responses from program participants describing what a program is in practice, shedding light on both intended and unintended program impacts. Drawing on evaluation work involving a federally-funded climate change grant at the University of California, Riverside, I will discuss how to design an ethnographic interview protocol in an effort to share "best practices" with other climate change evaluators. Particular attention will be given to applying ethnographic approaches to various program types, even those differing from the one discussed. I will share some of the concrete findings from my work on this grant, to serve as examples of the kinds of data evaluators can collect when employing an ethnographic approach to interviewing. UC Riverside's climate change grant is multi-faceted, however the component studied ethnographically was a science fair mentoring program. About twenty K-12 students from high poverty, ethnically diverse schools who expressed an interest in participating in science fair were paired up with graduate student mentors to simultaneously research climate change and design authentic science fair projects to compete at various levels. Since one of the stated goals of the grant is to "stimulate…students to consider climate science as a career track through experiential education activities" I was particularly interested in how student experiences with the project might differ from school science which has historically "pushed out" ethnically diverse students like those in many of Riverside's schools. (In the program students are able to interact one-on-one with a mentor and in school settings there is typically one teacher for more than thirty students). I also sought to understand student perceptions of the project design and implementation and how these perceptions might influence their thinking about science as a career. Further, I aimed to explore how mentor pedagogical philosophies might impact student experiences with the projects, since the scholarly literature supports the idea that teaching practices are linked to student success and interest in science. The key to ethnographic interviewing, which sets it apart from survey research and other interviewing styles is that the evaluator or researcher designs guided, yet open-ended questions, allowing informants to discuss what is important to them. This type of questioning affords the researcher the opportunity to ascertain whether or not the grant met some of its intended goals and impacts, while simultaneously granting participants the freedom to discuss unintended impacts not anticipated by the principal investigator and evaluator.

  3. Family science: An ethnographic case study of the ordinary science and literacy experiences of one family

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCarty, Glenda M.

    Despite the copious research available on science learning, little is known about ways in which the public engages in free-choice science learning and even fewer studies have focused on how families engage in science to learn about the world around them. The same was true about studies of literacy development in the home until the 1980s when researchers (e.g. Bissex, 1980; Heath, 1983; Taylor, 1983) began documenting the literacy happenings and practices of young children in natural settings. Findings from intensive emergent literacy research studies have challenged traditional approaches to the teaching and learning of literacy, especially drawing attention to the active role children take in their own learning. Drawing upon those early literacy studies, this research project uses ethnographic case study methods along with a naturalistic inquiry approach, to document the daily explorations of one science-oriented family. Over a three year span, I have followed my own family, in our natural setting, through our day-to-day experiences with science and literacy as we seek to mediate and understand the world around us. In doing so, I have explored the ways we have shared knowledge and constructed learning through science books and read alouds, self-initiated inquiry learning, and communication. Throughout the three year research period, I have collected data and documented my own young children's understanding of the nature of science by observing their engagement with world around them.

  4. Being a Learner Using Social Media in School: The Case of Space2cre8

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vasbø, Kristin Beate; Silseth, Kenneth; Erstad, Ola

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this article is to gain knowledge about what it means to be a learner using social media in an educational setting. The article presents an ethnographic study of students in a multiethnic community in Oslo who participate in a social networking site called Space2cre8 (S28). In this article, we set out to explore the kind of space for…

  5. First Generation U.S.-Born Africans and the Expanded Nigrescence Theory: The Stretching of a Theory for a "Different" African American Experience at a Predominantly White Institution of Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Walt, Patrick S.

    2009-01-01

    This dissertation explores the applicability of a "stretched" Expanded Nigrescence theory (Cross and Vandiver 2001; NT-E) to the racial identities/attitudes of six First Generation U.S.-Born Africans (FGAs) at a predominantly White institution (PWI). This instrumental case study blended ethnographic techniques and surveys to tell the stories of…

  6. Achieving Affective and Behavioral Outcomes in Culture Learning: The Case for Ethnographic Interviews

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bateman, Blair E.

    2004-01-01

    This study sought to extend previous research on ethnographic interviews as a method of culture learning in foreign language classes by employing a qualitative case study methodology. Fifty-four university students in a first-year Spanish course worked in pairs to conduct a series of three ethnographic interviews with a native speaker of Spanish.…

  7. Comment on "Histories and Horoscopes: The Ethnographer as Fortune-Teller."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luttrell, Wendy

    1998-01-01

    Explores the analogy of the researcher as fortune teller and the parallels between research histories and horoscopes and discusses the tension between what the subject is and what he or she is imagined to be by others. (SLD)

  8. Globalization, the New Economy, and the Commodification of Language and Identity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heller, Monica

    2003-01-01

    Explores ways in which the globalized new economy has resulted in the commodification of language and identity, sometimes separately, sometimes together. The article is based on recent ethnographic, sociolinguistic research in francophone areas of Canada. (Author/VWL)

  9. Palpable Pedagogy: Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change in Social Justice Teacher Education (An Ethnographic/Auto-Ethnographic Study of the Classroom Culture of an Arts-Based Teacher Education Course)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barbera, Lucy Elizabeth

    2009-01-01

    "Palpable Pedagogy: Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change in Social Justice Teacher Education" is an arts-informed ethnographic study of the pedagogy and culture engendered when the expressive arts are employed in social justice teacher education. "Palpable Pedagogy" is a qualitative study that examines the power of the expressive arts to…

  10. "Un trago dulce pero adentro con sabor amargo" (A Bittersweet Swallow): Constructing Counterspaces to Explore Undocumented Status across Academic, Family, and Community Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arango, Obed; Flores, Sofia; Gallo, Sarah; Lara, María; Link, Holly; Arreguín, Diana; Peregrina, Itzel

    2016-01-01

    In this article a group of seven Latina/o immigrants, parents, advocates, and ethnographers draw on critical race theory to explore what it means to co-present on, and engage in, difficult conversations about immigration and documentation status. We theorize how, through critical collaboration motivated by our joint presentation, we co-constructed…

  11. Viewing Places: Students as Visual Ethnographers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powell, Kimberly

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a micro-ethnographic study that took place during a summer research course for six undergraduate and four graduate students majoring in the disciplines of architecture, art education, geography, landscape architecture and an integrative arts program. The research sought to implement ethnographic, visual methods as a means to…

  12. Integrating Quantitative and Ethnographic Methods to Describe the Classroom. Report No. 5083.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malitz, David; And Others

    The debate between proponents of ethnographic and quantitative methodology in classroom observation is reviewed, and the respective strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches are discussed. These methodologies are directly compared in a study that conducted simultaneous ethnographic and quantitative observations on nine classrooms. It is…

  13. Home Language: Refuge, Resistance, Resource?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGroarty, Mary

    2012-01-01

    This presentation builds on the concept of orientations to languages other than English in the US first suggested by Ruiz (1984). Using examples from recent ethnographic, sociolinguistic, and policy-related investigations undertaken principally in North America, the discussion explores possible connections between individual and group language…

  14. Socialising Multilingualism: Determinants of Codeswitching in Kenyan Primary Classrooms.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Merritt, Marilyn; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Using ethnographic observations of classroom interaction in three primary schools, determinants of teachers' language choice and codeswitching among English, Swahili, and mother-tongue were explored: official school policy, cognitive concerns, classroom management concerns, values and attitudes about societal multilingualism. (36 references)…

  15. Applying Ethnography in Educational Change.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schensul, Jean J.

    1985-01-01

    Explores reasons that anthropology has been applied only infrequently to the solution of education-related problems. Presents three case examples in which ethnographic research in the Hispanic community of Hartford, Connecticut, has been utilized to bring about changes in education-related services to Hispanics. (Author/GC)

  16. Clinically applied medical ethnography: relevance to cultural competence in patient care.

    PubMed

    Engebretson, Joan

    2011-06-01

    Medical anthropology provides an excellent resource for nursing research that is relevant to clinical nursing. By expanding the understanding of ethnographic research beyond ethnicity, nurses can conduct research that explores patient's constructions and explanatory models of health and healing and how they make meaning out of chronic conditions and negotiate daily life. These findings can have applicability to culturally competent care at both the organizational or systems level, as well as in the patient/provider encounter. Individual patient care can be improved by applying ethnographic research findings to build provider expertise and then using a cultural negotiation process for individualized patient care. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  17. Exploring the desires and sexual culture of men who have sex with male-to-female transgender women.

    PubMed

    Mauk, Daniel; Perry, Ashley; Muñoz-Laboy, Miguel

    2013-07-01

    Men who have sex with transgender women (MSTW) currently constitute a gap in the research community's understanding of male sexuality and sexual desire. In an effort to address this lack of knowledge, an ethnographic study of MSTW in New York City was conducted between December 2005 and May 2007, including in-depth interviews with MSTW (n = 15), key informant interviews (n = 13), and ethnographic observation of semi-private "tranny" parties held at various venues throughout New York City. The specific objectives were to: (1) describe the sex marketplaces and the sexual experiences of an ethnographic sample of MSTW in New York City and (2) describe the ways MSTW construct their sexual partnering practices and the meanings attributed to those practices in relation to varying social contexts (in and outside the sex marketplace). In this analysis, we described the MSTW sex market landscape in New York and identified three major recurrent themes in the ways that MSTW organized their sexual desire for TW transitioning from sex marketplaces to social spaces in their lives: (1) phallus-centric trade sex market focus; (2) relational-companionship market focus; and (3) specialized market focus. Although the findings from the study are not representative of the broader MSTW population, they represent an important step in amassing a body of knowledge about an understudied and underserved sex market upon which future research is needed.

  18. An Ethnographic Investigation of Attitude Development in Vocational Education: The Importance of Ethnographic Meaning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Claus, John F.

    An ethnographic, case-study complement to a statewide survey in New York State attempted to shed light on the interwoven personal, social, economic, and program factors underlying secondary vocational education students' reports of improved attitudes. The survey assessed whether the state's two-year, half-day, separate-facility vocational programs…

  19. The Nature of Selected English Teachers' Online Participation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodesiler, Luke

    2015-01-01

    This article documents an investigation into the nature of selected secondary English teachers' online participation across platforms (i.e., blogs, microblogs, social networking sites) as they explored issues related to teaching, learning, and literacy. Ethnographic content analysis of online artifacts generated over approximately 10 months…

  20. Ethnographies of pain: culture, context and complexity

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    This article briefly introduces and discusses the value of ethnographic research, particularly research hailing from the discipline of social and cultural anthropology. After an introduction to ethnography in general, key ethnographic studies of pain are described. These show that ethnography provides a set of techniques for data collection and analysis, as well as a way of thinking about pain as socially and culturally embedded. Modern ethnographic writing is far removed from the literature of the past that sometimes described stereotypes rather than process and complexity. Ethnography provides the chance to describe the complexity and nuance of culture, which serves to counter stereotypes. The article concludes with an example from pain research conducted in a clinical setting. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the research study provided greater insight than other methods alone might have achieved. The article includes references for further reading should readers be interested in developing their engagement with ethnographic method and interpretation. PMID:26516554

  1. An Ethnographic Approach to Education: What Are You Doing in This Village?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yanik, Betül

    2017-01-01

    This study describes the ethnographic approach used in educational research, as seen through the eyes of an ethnographer. This work is the product of research that investigates the transition of young children to pre-school, within the cultural processes of their everyday lives. The article describes the village setting and the processes in which…

  2. The Dani of West Irian. An Ethnographic Companion to the Film "Dead Birds". Module 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heider, Karl G.

    The purpose of this study guide is to provide students of anthropology with an ethnographic accompaniment to Robert Gardiner's film about the Dani tribesmen, "Dead Birds." The first section offers an ethnographic profile of Dani culture, describing its most important features. These include: 1) their material culture, covering matters…

  3. An ethnographic exploration of the delivery of psychosocial care to children with cancer in Argentina.

    PubMed

    Brage, Eugenia; Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia

    2017-08-01

    The integration of psychosocial care in the routine care of cancer patients has been set as an international standard, but there are healthcare contexts where these services are lacking as psychosocial care providers are not incorporated in multidisciplinary teams and screening for psychological distress is not carried out routinely or systematically. In this article, we discuss the findings from an ethnographic study that focused on exploring the working experiences of psychosocial care providers from one children's hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study is based on 10 in-depth interviews with hospital staff members and participant observation in selected hospital areas. The transcripts from the interviews and fieldnotes from the observations were analyzed using thematic analysis. We found that psychosocial care providers encounter difficulties while attempting to deliver services to children and their families, produced mainly by their lack of collaboration with other professional groups, insufficient human resources, and a growing patient population. As a result of this situation, psychosocial care providers often prioritize some patients over others, leaving a considerable number of patients and family members without psychosocial support. The study highlighted the barriers psychosocial care providers encounter while attempting to deliver services to children and their families. Further work needs to be carried out to fully integrate psychosocial care in national health policies and ensure this type of support is available for all patients and their families. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A state of limbo: the politics of waiting in neo-liberal Latvia.

    PubMed

    Ozoliņa-Fitzgerald, Liene

    2016-09-01

    This article presents an ethnographic study of politics of waiting in a post-Soviet context. While activation has been explored in sociological and anthropological literature as a neo-liberal governmental technology and its application in post-socialist context has also been compellingly documented, waiting as a political artefact has only recently been receiving increased scholarly attention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at a state-run unemployment office in Riga, this article shows how, alongside activation, state welfare policies also produce passivity and waiting. Engaging with the small but developing field of sociological literature on the politics of waiting, I argue that, rather than interpreting it as a clash between 'neo-liberal' and 'Soviet' regimes, we should understand the double-move of activation and imposition of waiting as a key mechanism of neo-liberal biopolitics. This article thus extends the existing theorizations of the temporal politics of neo-liberalism. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.

  5. Raising adults as children? A report on milieu therapy in a psychiatric ward in Norway.

    PubMed

    Oeye, Christine; Bjelland, Anne Karen; Skorpen, Aina; Anderssen, Norman

    2009-03-01

    Milieu therapy is widely used as a therapeutic approach in psychiatric wards in the Nordic countries, but few studies exist that report on what practices a milieu therapy approach implies as seen from an ethnographic perspective. Therefore, there is a need to obtain insight into how milieu therapy unfolds in a psychiatric ward setting. The present ethnographic study aims to explore this in a locked-up psychiatric ward that was tied to a psychodynamic-oriented milieu therapy approach. Metaphors from traditional nuclear family life were widely used. Patients were often understood as harmed children and were taught self-management skills; the staff aimed at providing a caring atmosphere; and the patients seemed to behave, sometimes, in a childlike manner. In a Foucaultian framework, milieu therapy can be seen as a therapeutic normalization technique used to produce self-governing individuals. Milieu therapy "raises" patients in order to transform patients' odd behaviour and nonconforming lifestyles. We see this "raising children" approach as a type of intervention that nicely connects to the national policy of normalization and integration politics towards persons with psychiatric diagnoses.

  6. Among the Comparativists: Ethnographic Observations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schweisfurth, Michele

    2014-01-01

    This article imagines the comparative education community as a tribal grouping. Using traditional anthropological categories, it explores how tribal membership is established and the rites and rituals that bind the tribe; questions of kinship among the larger family groupings within the tribe; belief systems; questions of social stratification in…

  7. Sustaining a Nonlinear Integrative Learning Context: Middle Level Teachers' Perspectives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powell, Richard; And Others

    1997-01-01

    Explored how middle level integrativist teachers working in a conventional school district sustain their commitment to integrativist learning. Used ethnographic interviewing, which uncovered four themes in these teachers' perspectives: (1) the very different nature of relationships among teachers and with students; (2) struggles with instructional…

  8. Identity Work at a Normal University in Shanghai

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cockain, Alex

    2016-01-01

    Based upon ethnographic research, this article explores undergraduate students' experiences at a normal university in Shanghai focusing on the types of identities and forms of sociality emerging therein. Although students' symptoms of disappointment seem to indicate the power of university experiences to extinguish purposeful action, this article…

  9. Kamstrupp's Wow-Effect: Re-Examined and Expanded

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Elizabeth M.; Dickmann, Ellyn M.; Johnson, Barbara Z.

    2016-01-01

    This review examines Anne Katrine Kamstrupp's article "The wow-effect in science teacher education; technology; sociomateriality." In the discussion below we explore three key areas of her ethnographic research. First, we reconsider Kamstrupp's article through the lens of technology as a pedagogical choice and philosophy. This is…

  10. The Production of Schoolchildren as Enlightenment Subjects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Link, Holly; Gallo, Sarah; Wortham, Stanton E. F.

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates children's elementary school experiences, exploring how they become autonomous, rational individuals--the type of person envisioned in the European Enlightenment and generally imagined as the outcome of Western schooling. Drawing on ethnographic research that followed one cohort of Latinx children across five years, we…

  11. Peer Mentoring in a High School Jazz Ensemble

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goodrich, Andrew

    2007-01-01

    The use of peer mentoring in a successful high school jazz band was explored during one academic year of instruction using ethnographic techniques. Participants included primary informants (student jazz band members, director, assistant director, adult mentors) and secondary informants (guidance counselor, principal, parents, non-jazz band member…

  12. Corruption, NGOs, and Development in Nigeria.

    PubMed

    Smith, Daniel Jordan

    2010-01-01

    This article examines corruption in Nigeria's development sector, particularly in the vastly growing arena of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Grounded in ethnographic case studies, the analysis explores why local NGOs in Nigeria have proliferated so widely, what they do in practice, what effects they have beyond their stated aims, and how they are perceived and experienced by ordinary Nigerians. It shows that even faux NGOs and disingenuous political rhetoric about civil society, democracy, and development are contributing to changing ideals and rising expectations in these same domains.

  13. Poetic expressions of vigilance.

    PubMed

    Carr, Jeanine M

    2003-11-01

    In this article, the author explores poetic transcription as an experimental form of writing. Her previous ethnographic research, in which she explored the experience of vigilance for family members who stayed at the bedside of hospitalized relatives, provided the qualitative data for the poetic compositions. In this article, she describes the background and rationale for the research, the findings, and her use of the data to transcribe them into poetic expressions of the lived experience of vigilance.

  14. Informed consent for blood tests in people with a learning disability.

    PubMed

    Goldsmith, Lesley; Woodward, Val; Jackson, Leigh; Skirton, Heather

    2013-09-01

    This article is a report of a study of informed consent in people with a learning disability. The aims of the study were to explore the information needs of people with mild-to-moderate learning disabilities with respect to consent for blood tests and to identify ways of facilitating informed consent. The recent political agenda for social change in the UK has emphasized the right of people with a learning disability to have more autonomy and make their own decisions. As in other countries, there has also been a shift towards shared decision-making in healthcare practice. Qualitative study using an ethnographic approach. An ethnographic approach was used for this qualitative study. Phase 1 involved observation of six participants with a learning disability having a routine blood test in general practice, followed by semi-structured interviews with 14 participants with a learning disability in Phase 2. Data were collected between February 2009-February 2010. The data showed that consent procedures were often inadequate and provision of information to patients prior to a blood test was variable. People with a learning disability expressed clearly their information requirements when having a routine blood test; this included not wanting any information in some cases. Healthcare practitioners and people with a learning disability need to be familiar with current consent law in their own country to facilitate valid consent in the healthcare context. This study demonstrated the value of qualitative research in exploring the knowledge and attitudes of people with learning disability. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  15. A Rhetoric of Turns: Signs and Symbols in Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rutten, Kris; Soetaert, Ronald

    2014-01-01

    In our research and teaching we explore the value and the place of rhetoric in education. From a theoretical perspective we situate our work in different disciplines, inspired by major "turns": linguistic, cultural, anthropological/ethnographic, interpretive, semiotic, narrative, literary, rhetorical etc. In this article we engage in the…

  16. Global Flows as Gendered Cultural Pedagogies: Learning Gangsta in the "Durty South"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Savage, Glenn C.; Hickey-Moody, Anna

    2010-01-01

    This article theorizes empirical data from an ethnographic project conducted in and around the economically disadvantaged suburb of Noble Park in southeast suburban Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). Exploring the politics around gendered identities of young people involved in the research, particularly Australian-Sudanese men, the authors theorize…

  17. The Chameleon on a Tartan Rug: Adaptations of Three Academic Developers' Professional Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kensington-Miller, Barbara; Renc-Roe, Joanna; Morón-García, Susan

    2015-01-01

    This paper builds on discussions of academic developers' identity experienced as a discomfiting, troubled, and often marginal space. Three experienced academic developers, located in research-intensive institutions in three different countries, using auto-ethnographic writing and a shared narrative inquiry, explore moments of congruence and…

  18. "Buried Alive": The Psychoanalysis of Racial Absence in Preparedness/Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chakrabarty, Namita

    2012-01-01

    Based on extracts from an ethnography produced during the ESRC 2009-10 research project, ""Preparedness Pedagogies" and Race: An Interdisciplinary Approach," this article explores the racialized culture of civil defence in the UK whilst also critiquing the world of higher education. The ethnographic artefacts of interviews,…

  19. The Epistemological Framing of a Discipline: Writing Science in University Oceanography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Gregory J.; Chen, Catherine; Prothero, William

    2000-01-01

    Examines how instruction in scientific writing in a university oceanography course communicated epistemological positions of the discipline. Uses an ethnographic perspective to explore how teachers and students came to define particular views of disciplinary knowledge. Identifies epistemological issues such as uses of evidence, role of expertise,…

  20. Youth Transitions and Interdependent Adult-Child Relations in Rural Bolivia.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Punch, Samantha

    2002-01-01

    Draws on ethnographic fieldwork in southern Bolivia to explore how rural Bolivian youth negotiate structural constraints on choices of work versus secondary education, including local versus urban location, economic resources, parental attitudes, gender, family characteristics, social networks and support, and peer role models. Suggests the notion…

  1. I Feel so Alive in the Boat!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magnussen, Leif Inge

    2012-01-01

    This paper explores the meaning Norwegian sea kayakers form in their engagement with nature and their reflections upon uncertainty and resistance. Findings in this paper stem from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a sea kayak community, with the aim of describing learning processes and experiences made outdoors by recreational sea kayakers. Sea…

  2. Playing with Power: An Outdoor Classroom Exploration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haywood-Bird, Eden

    2017-01-01

    In this ethnographic research, discovery of how preschool-aged children use play to wield their individual power in the outdoors is documented in a single classroom. Embedded as a participant-researcher and working from constructivist and critical theory orientations, the researcher seeks to understand how children use their play to construct the…

  3. Plague and Paideia: Sabotage in Devising Theatre with Young People

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wessels, Anne

    2012-01-01

    This ethnography, completed by the classroom teacher in a publicly funded secondary school in Mississauga, Canada, explores issues of conflict and sabotage that affected a devising project with suburban young people. The processes of devising generated ethnographic data that included a play script and videotaped rehearsals and performances. As…

  4. Collective Information Literacy in Massively Multiplayer Online Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Crystle; Steinkuehler, Constance

    2010-01-01

    This article explores the forms of information literacy that arise in commercial entertainment games like "World of Warcraft." Using examples culled from eight months of online ethnographic data, the authors detail the forms of information literacy that arise as a regular part of in-game social interaction, emphasizing (ironically) the…

  5. Worldview Formation, Reflexivity, and Personhood: Their Essential Connectivity in Thick Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geiger, Matthew W.

    2017-01-01

    This article is based on a collaborative ethnographic project involving three Episcopal high schools and explores how educating for worldview formation is necessarily educating for reflexivity and personhood. While religious educators frequently affirm the goal of worldview formation in religious education, a description of the practical and…

  6. Codeswitching and Stance: Issues in Interpretation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jaffe, Alexandra

    2007-01-01

    This article explores the long-standing problem of ascribing meaning to individual acts of codeswitching. Drawing on ethnographic data from bilingual classrooms in Corsica, I situate the analysis of codeswitching within the more general question of the interpretation of speaker stance, which is defined as speakers' positioning with regard to both…

  7. Engineering Objects for Collaboration: Strategies of Ambiguity and Clarity at Knowledge Boundaries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barley, William C.; Leonardi, Paul M.; Bailey, Diane E.

    2012-01-01

    Prior research suggests that boundary objects gain meaning through group interaction. Drawing from the literature on strategic ambiguity, we explore the possibility that individuals strategically create potential boundary objects in an attempt to shape the meanings that groups develop. From ethnographic observations of automotive engineers, we…

  8. Education, Employment and Household Dynamics: Brazilian Migrants in Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Paul

    2013-01-01

    By treating the household as a primary unit of analysis and social production, this article considers the mutually influential ways in which migrant families shape the educational pathways and experiences of Brazilian children living in Japan. Through an ethnographic exploration of relations between parents, children and their working siblings I…

  9. Language Education and Institutional Change in a Madrid Multilingual School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pérez-Milans, Miguel; Patiño-Santos, Adriana

    2014-01-01

    This article examines the institutional transformations of language-in-education programmes in Madrid, linked to wider socio-economic processes of change. Drawing on a research team's ethnographic revisit, we explore how wider processes are impacting everyday discursive practices in the Bridging Class (BC) programme, first implemented in 2003 to…

  10. Border Crossing in the Classroom through Performed Ethnography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldstein, Tara

    2016-01-01

    In this essay I share the ways I have used performed ethnography to explore the notion of border crossing in an undergraduate course called "Equity and Activism in Education." Performed ethnography involves turning the findings of ethnographic research into a play script. My students read two performed ethnographies, "Harriet's…

  11. Researching Ethnic "Others": Conducting Critical Ethnographic Research in Australia and Scotland

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Santoro, Ninetta; Smyth, Geri

    2010-01-01

    In many parts of the world, classrooms are characterised by cultural and ethnic diversity. Increasingly, researchers are interested in exploring these rich and socially complex contexts. However, research into "the ethnic other" can present complex ethical and methodological challenges. In this paper, the authors discuss, with reference…

  12. Racialized Bodies, Pliable Minds: Ethnography on the Fringe of Transnational Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pullman, Ashley

    2015-01-01

    Through ethnographic research, this paper explores narratives of failure constructed within a private Australian accounting college in China. The accounts provided by teachers and students are problematized in order to address how racialization is enacted through accounts of failure within the research site. Through an interpretive theoretical…

  13. "Tuki Ayllpanchik" (Our Beautiful Land): Indigenous Ecology and Farming in the Peruvian Highlands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth

    2016-01-01

    Based on ethnographic research with an Indigenous community in Junín, Peru, and involving over 21 participants, this article explores the link between Indigenous lands, environmental knowledge, cultural practices, and education. Drawing from traditional ecological knowledge and nature-mediated education, Indigenous community spaces as vital…

  14. The Wow-Effect in Science Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamstrupp, Anne Katrine

    2016-01-01

    This article explores the "wow-effect" as a phenomenon in science teacher education. Through ethnographic fieldwork at a teachers' college in Denmark, the author encounters a phenomenon enacted in a particular way of teaching that "wows" the students. The students are in the process of becoming natural science/technology and…

  15. Beginning Teachers' Challenges in Their Pursuit of Effective Teaching Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Confait, Steve

    2015-01-01

    This article explores the context and experiences of three beginning teachers in their effort to improve their teaching and to implement and align themselves with their schools' expectations of effective teaching practices. Research findings emerging from a sociocultural-ethnographic framework revealed that participants challenged their own…

  16. The Art of Moral Decision Making in Educational Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fetterman, David M.

    Moral decision-making is an essential element in educational research. The dilemmas examined and explored in this review were drawn from the author's experience as an ethnographic evaluator and consultant in a bay area educational research corporation for the last five years. The major concerns addressed include: conflicting expectations between…

  17. Street and working children of Delhi, India, misusing toluene: an ethnographic exploration.

    PubMed

    Seth, Rajeev; Kotwal, Atul; Ganguly, K K

    2005-01-01

    Our qualitative study explored: the perceptions of street children indulging in whitener fluid misuse; the social, economic, and cultural determinants of use; and users' views regarding effective preventive and control strategies. Forty-five in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted between March and December 2003. A purposive sample of those working children who were using toluene was selected by Snowball sampling. The paper discusses the: determinants of initiation and continued use; drug user social networks; psycho emotional deprivation and frustrations of these children; socio-cultural aspects like work driven need; others' attitudinal response towards them and their work; parental support or the lack of it; and strategies for prevention of this misuse.

  18. Using a cultural-ecological framework to explore dietary beliefs and practices during pregnancy and lactation among women in Adivasi communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India.

    PubMed

    Craig, Hope C; Jeyanthi, R; Pelto, Gretel; Willford, Andrew C; Stoltzfus, Rebecca J

    2018-01-01

    This article explores maternal dietary beliefs and practices gathered through interviews with mothers of infants and young children in Adivasi communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India. Guided by focused ethnographic study methods, interviews were conducted with 33 key informants. We used a cultural-ecological framework to analyze and interpret the texts that were elicited from women about dietary beliefs and eating patterns during pregnancy and lactation. We identify differences between what women were advised to eat, felt they should eat, and reported consuming. The findings offer guidance for interventions to improve maternal diets in this vulnerable population.

  19. After a child's acquired brain injury (ABI): An ethnographic study of being a parent.

    PubMed

    Rashid, Marghalara; Goez, Helly R; Caine, Vera; Yager, Jerome Y; Joyce, Anthony S; Newton, Amanda S

    2016-11-30

    To explore the meanings associated with being a parent of a child with an aquired brain injury (ABI). An ethnographic study was conducted with parents of children aged 3 to 10 years who had acquired a severe brain injury. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit parents from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. Data collection involved participant observation, fieldwork and semi-structured interviews. Field notes and interviews transcriptions were analysed using a thematic analysis framework and informed by symbolic interactionism theory. Six parent dyads (mothers and fathers) and 4 mothers participated in the study.Parents' meanings of `parenting' a child with severe brain injury were shaped by the injury, wide range of familial dynamics, and interactions. Six main themes related to parental meanings emerged from our data: (1) Getting `back to normal'; (2) Relying on a support system; (3) Worrying something bad may happen after the injury; (4) Going through a range of emotions following the injury; (5) Changing family dynamics after the injury; and (6) Ongoing performativity. Parents' meanings of `parenting' a child are extensively impacted by their child's functioning after the ABI. Having a greater appreciation of these experiences may be beneficial for medical professionals.

  20. An interactional ethnographic study of the construction of literate practices of science and writing in a university science classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sena, Nuno Afonso De Freitas Lopes De

    An interactional ethnographic study informed by a sociocultural perspective was conducted to examine how a professor and students discursively and interactionally shaped the basis for engaging in the work of a community of geologists. Specifically, the study examined the role the Question of the Day, an interactive writing activity in the lecture, in affording students opportunities for learning the literate practices of science and how to incorporate them in thinking critically. A writing-intensive, introductory oceanography course given in the Geological Sciences Department was chosen because the professor designed it to emphasize writing in the discipline and science literacy within a science inquiry framework. The study was conducted in two phases: a pilot in 2002 and the current study in the Spring Quarter of 2003. Grounded in the view that members in a classroom construct a culture, this study explored the daily construction of the literate practices of science and writing. This view of classrooms was informed by four bodies of research: interactional ethnography, sociolinguistics sociology of science and Writing In the Disciplines. Through participant observation, data were collected in the lecture and laboratory settings in the form of field notes, video, interviews, and artifacts to explore issues of science literacy in discourse, social action, and writing. Examination of participation in the Question of the Day interactive writing activity revealed that it played a key role in initiating and supporting a view of science and inquiry. As the activity permitted collaboration, it encouraged students to engage in the social process to critically explore a discourse of science and key practices with and through their writing. In daily interaction, participants were shown to take up social positions as scientist and engage in science inquiry to explore theory, examine data, and articulately reformulate knowledge in making oral and written scientific arguments. The activity was also shown to provide the professor with a valuable resource to inform his instructional practice, which resulted in enriching the experience of science of students by aligning lectures to address particular concerns. Implications for theory, the teaching of Writing across the Curriculum, and science instruction are discussed.

  1. An exploration of peer-assisted learning in undergraduate nursing students in paediatric clinical settings: An ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Carey, Matthew C; Chick, Anna; Kent, Bridie; Latour, Jos M

    2018-06-01

    Peer-assisted leaning relates to the acquisition of knowledge and skills through shared learning of matched equals. The concept has been explored within the field of nurse education across a range of learning environments, but its impact in practice is still relatively unknown. This paper reports on findings when observing paediatric undergraduate nursing students who engage in PAL within the clinical practice setting. The aim of this paper is to report the findings of a study undertaken to explore peer-assisted learning in undergraduate nursing students, studying children's health, in the clinical practice setting. A qualitative ethnographic study using non-participant observations. A range of inpatient paediatric clinical settings across two teaching hospitals. First, second and third year paediatric student nurses enrolled on a Bachelor of Nursing Programme. Non-participant observations were used to observe a range of interactions between the participants when engaging in peer-assisted learning within the same clinical area. A total of 67 h of raw data collected across all observations was analysed using framework analysis to draw together key themes. Of the 20 identified students across two hospitals, 17 agreed to take part in the study. Findings were aggregated into three key themes; 1. Peers as facilitators to develop learning when engaging in peer-assisted learning, 2. Working together to develop clinical practice and deliver care, 3. Positive support and interaction from peers to enhance networking and develop working structure. Peer-assisted learning in undergraduate children's nursing students stimulates students in becoming engaged in their learning experiences in clinical practice and enhance collaborative support within the working environment. The benefits of peer-assisted learning in current clinical practice settings can be challenging. Therefore, education and practice need to be aware of the benefits and their contribution towards future strategies and models of learning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Supervisors' pedagogical role at a clinical education ward - an ethnographic study.

    PubMed

    Manninen, Katri; Henriksson, Elisabet Welin; Scheja, Max; Silén, Charlotte

    2015-01-01

    Clinical practice is essential for health care students. The supervisor's role and how supervision should be organized are challenging issues for educators and clinicians. Clinical education wards have been established to meet these challenges and they are units with a pedagogical framework facilitating students' training in real clinical settings. Supervisors support students to link together theoretical and practical knowledge and skills. From students' perspectives, clinical education wards have shown potential to enhance students' learning. Thus there is a need for deeper understanding of supervisors' pedagogical role in this context. We explored supervisors' approaches to students' learning at a clinical education ward where students are encouraged to independently take care of patients. An ethnographic approach was used to study encounters between patients, students and supervisors. The setting was a clinical education ward for nursing students at a university hospital. Ten observations with ten patients, 11 students and five supervisors were included in the study. After each observation, individual follow-up interviews with all participants and a group interview with supervisors were conducted. Data were analysed using an ethnographic approach. Supervisors' pedagogical role has to do with balancing patient care and student learning. The students were given independence, which created pedagogical challenges for the supervisors. They handled these challenges by collaborating as a supervisory team and taking different acts of supervision such as allowing students their independence, being there for students and by applying patient-centredness. The supervisors' pedagogical role was perceived as to facilitate students' learning as a team. Supervisors were both patient- and student-centred by making a nursing care plan for the patients and a learning plan for the students. The plans were guided by clinical and pedagogical guidelines, individually adjusted and followed up.

  3. The ethics of data collection: unintended consequences?

    PubMed

    Wainwright, Delia; Sambrook, Sally

    2010-01-01

    The aims is to consider the political and ethical challenges involved in conducting ethnographic managerial/organisational behaviour research within the highly regulated health and social care context, in light of the emergence of more stringent "ethical approval" policies and requirements set by Local Research Ethics Committees in the United Kingdom. In the attempt and requirement to protect "vulnerable" employees, this paper aims to present an unintended paradox of consequences when participants voluntarily revealed themselves. The authors briefly review literature on research ethics and present an understanding of the ethical regulations currently existing within the British National Health Service. Within an ethnographic case study exploring the psychological contract, the authors consider the issues that arose during one stage of data collection: a qualitative questionnaire survey with 13 participants, including members of the lead author's team. Incorporating excerpts from the researcher's reflexive journal, the paper exposes the struggles of being an "insider" researcher and the tensions this raises for data analysis when participants voluntarily revealed themselves. Ethnography is at "risk" within health and social care and ethnographic "managerial" research is likely to be unduly restricted and potentially threatened. The evidence suggests that some employees either did not wish to be protected or, conversely, felt compelled to reveal their identities, raising questions of their motivation and creating a paradox of unintended consequences. This paper offers an insight into the challenges of conducting nurse-managerial ethnography in compliance with ethical guidelines, yet disrupted by participants. The findings will be useful to other nurse-researchers attempting to conduct insider research.

  4. Explore Locally, Excel Digitally: A Participatory Learning After-School Program for Enriching Citizenship On- and Offline

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Felt, Laurel J.; Vartabedian, Vanessa; Literat, Ioana; Mehta, Ritesh

    2012-01-01

    This paper discusses the design and implementation of a participatory culture pedagogy in the context of a pilot after-school program at LAUSD's Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. Ethnographic fieldnotes, instructor and student reflections, photographs, video recordings, and student work illustrate the program's culture of participatory…

  5. Applied Linguistics Redux: A Derridean Exploration of Alzheimer Lifehistories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramanathan, Vaidehi

    2008-01-01

    Advocating a position of self-critique, whereby we revisit our old research sites to dis-assemble our prior thinking in relation to our current cognitions, this paper offers, among other things, a critical revisitation and Derridean interpretation of one of my previous long-term, ethnographic endeavours: my extended work with the memories and…

  6. Qualifying Sociopolitical Consciousness: Complicating Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Faith-Based Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dallavis, Christian

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and faith-based schooling. The author presents a portion of a larger ethnographic research project conducted at a Catholic elementary school that serves a predominantly Latino population in urban Chicago. This work contributes to theories of culturally responsive education by…

  7. The 4Ps of Innovation Culture: Conceptions of Creatively Engaging with Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Theresa Dirndorfer

    2013-01-01

    The paper provides a distillation of findings emerging from an ongoing series of investigations of the research practices of academics in a university context to foreground the creativity in our engagements with information. The empirical research involved an ethnographic exploration of the scholarly practices of two scholars engaged in the…

  8. The Crossover Generation: Baby Boomers and the Role of the Public Library

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williamson, Kirsty; Bannister, Marion; Sullivan, Jen

    2010-01-01

    The article explores the concept of baby boomers as a "crossover" generation, one that embodies characteristics of previous and later generations. The context is the retirement of the baby boomers and its potential impact on the public library. Ethnographic method within a constructivist framework was used, employing the techniques of…

  9. Text Messaging in the School Lives of American High School Girls

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eisenhart, Margaret; Allaman, Erin

    2018-01-01

    Digital technologies open new windows for ethnographic explorations of cultural experiences. In this paper, we examine text messaging among academically talented teenage girls of colour at three US urban high schools. Texting introduced a new communication modality into the girls' lives and created a space for new discourses mediating their…

  10. "The C Words": Clitorises, Childhood and Challenging Compulsory Heterosexuality Discourses with Pre-Service Primary Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curran, Greg; Chiarolli, Steph; Pallotta-Chiarolli, Maria

    2009-01-01

    This paper reports on accidental ethnographic research. It arose unexpectedly out of the everyday teaching of first-year pre-service primary teachers at an Australian university. Via narrative, self-reflexivity, and student responses, we explore the interwoven workings of heteronormative, gendernormative and misogynist discourses when a chapter…

  11. Educational Discipline, Ritual Governing, and Chinese Exemplary Society: Why China's Curriculum Reform Remains a Difficult Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Jinting

    2016-01-01

    This article explores the exam-oriented, ritualistic, and exemplary Chinese education system through a double-layered historical and ethnographic analysis. Firstly, I examine three aspects of the educational governing complex--exemplarity, ritual, and examination. Historically, education has been a key locus to craft exemplary subjects through…

  12. Learning Processes and Social Mobilization in a Swedish Metropolitan Hip-Hop Collective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beach, Dennis; Sernhede, Ove

    2012-01-01

    Based on ethnographic research on the encounter between local culture and schools in multicultural suburban areas, this article explores possibilities suggested by autonomous learning activities in a hip-hop collective that may have a potential to break urban segregation patterns. The collective's artistic production raises questions that have not…

  13. Student Interactions at a College Canteen: A Critical Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spiteri, Damian

    2015-01-01

    Much has been written about the style of lecturing that is adopted by lecturers in institutions of further and higher education. However, little has been written about interactions that take place in the informal settings of college and university campuses. Using an ethnographic approach, this paper presents an exploration of how students at the…

  14. The Radical Promise of Reformist Zeal: What Makes "Inquiry for Equity" Plausible?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lashaw, Amanda

    2010-01-01

    Education reform movements often promise more than they deliver. Why are such promises plausible in light of seemingly perpetual education reform? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork based in a nonprofit education reform organization, this article explores the appeal of popular notions about "using data to close the racial achievement…

  15. Making Sense of Education: Sensory Ethnography and Visual Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, Ceri

    2017-01-01

    Education involves the engagement of the full range of the senses in the accomplishment of tasks and the learning of knowledge and skills. However both in pedagogical practices and in the process of educational research, there has been a tendency to privilege the visual. To explore these issues, detailed sensory ethnographic fieldwork was…

  16. "Body Practices--Exposure and Effect of a Sporting Culture?" "Stories from Three Australian Swimmers"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McMahon, Jenny; Penney, Dawn; Dinan-Thompson, Maree

    2012-01-01

    This paper contributes to sport, sociology and the body literature by exploring the "exposure and effect" of culture, in particular bodily practices placed on three adolescent swimmers immersed in the Australian swimming culture using an ethnographic framework. The research reported is particularly notable as it addresses two distinct…

  17. Sacralized Citizenship: Women Making Known Selves in an Islamic Teachers' College in Israel

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erdreich, Lauren

    2015-01-01

    Based on ethnographic fieldwork in an Islamic teachers' college in Israel and interviews with women lecturers, this article explores how the women combine education and religion to create a revitalized self and sense of belonging despite lived experiences of structural racial, national, and gender inequalities. The women's experience is understood…

  18. "We Dominate the Basement!": How Asian American Girls Construct a Borderland Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tokunaga, Tomoko

    2016-01-01

    This article, based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, explores the ways in which eight Asian American immigrant high school girls construct a borderland community, which they call the "Basement Group," after the place where they gather at school. While the girls struggle with displacement in the borderlands, including isolation in…

  19. Identifying Overlapping Language Communities: The Case of Chiriquí and Panamanian Signed Languages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parks, Elizabeth S.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, I use a holographic metaphor to explain the identification of overlapping sign language communities in Panama. By visualizing Panama's complex signing communities as emitting community "hotspots" through social drama on multiple stages, I employ ethnographic methods to explore overlapping contours of Panama's sign language…

  20. I Am, I Am Becoming: How Community Engagement Changed Our Learning, Teaching, and Leadership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Militello, Matthew; Ringler, Marjorie C.; Hodgkins, Lawrence; Hester, Dawn Marie

    2017-01-01

    We explore the development of community-engaged scholars and practitioners through two distinct lenses: faculty who facilitate engaged learning processes and student-practitioners who are enacting these processes in their work. We use an auto-ethnographic technique, our own stories, to describe the will (motivation) and capacity (knowledge) gained…

  1. Digital Ethnography: Library Web Page Redesign among Digital Natives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klare, Diane; Hobbs, Kendall

    2011-01-01

    Presented with an opportunity to improve Wesleyan University's dated library home page, a team of librarians employed ethnographic techniques to explore how its users interacted with Wesleyan's current library home page and web pages in general. Based on the data that emerged, a group of library staff and members of the campus' information…

  2. With the Eyes of Others: An Ethnography of an Academic Office

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ruth, Damian

    2016-01-01

    The author raises questions about ethnographic methodology through exploring the implications of using observations produced by his colleagues about his office as data for his research. This process blurred the boundaries between researcher, method and the object and subject of research. It meets some criteria for ethnography and not others, and…

  3. Sociolinguistic Variation and Acquisition in Two-Way Language Immersion: Negotiating the Standard

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starr, Rebecca Lurie

    2016-01-01

    This book investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in the early elementary school years of a Mandarin-English two-way immersion program in the United States. Using ethnographic observation and quantitative analysis of data, the author explores how input from teachers and classmates shapes students' language acquisition. The book…

  4. Broom Closet or Fish Bowl? An Ethnographic Exploration of a University Queer Center and Oneself

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teman, Eric D.; Lahman, Maria K. E.

    2012-01-01

    The authors detail an educational ethnography of a university queer cultural center's role on campus and in the surrounding community. The data include participant observation, in-depth interviews, and artifacts. The authors review lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, ally, and questioning (LGBTAQ) issues in higher education, heterosexual…

  5. How Much Do Young Children Know about HIV/AIDS?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bhana, Deevia

    2010-01-01

    This paper explores the ways in which young South African school children (aged between seven and eight) in a predominantly white primary school give meanings to HIV/AIDS. Using ethnographic methods and interview data, the analysis of young children's responses shows that their accounts of HIV/AIDS draw from their knowledge of disease more…

  6. Bilingual Intercultural Education in Indigenous Schools: An Ethnography of Teacher Interpretations of Government Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Valdiviezo, Laura

    2009-01-01

    This paper explores how teachers' beliefs and practices create spaces for the contestation and innovation of bilingual intercultural education (BIE) policy, a policy of indigenous culture and language revitalization in Peru. Based on ethnographic research, there are two central arguments developed throughout this paper. First, the author argues…

  7. Knowledge, Experts and Accountability in School Governing Bodies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young, Helen

    2017-01-01

    School governing bodies in England have considerable powers and responsibilities with regard to the education of pupils. This article explores how power relations operate, within governing bodies, through struggles over which types of knowledge are claimed and valued. The article draws on the analysis of policy and on ethnographic research in the…

  8. Navigating the Complexities at an LGTTQQI-Identified Charter School: An Ethnography of C/Overt Narratives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goodrich, Kristopher M.; Luke, Melissa

    2016-01-01

    The authors describe ethnographic research exploring the experiences of school stakeholders at a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex (LGBTQQI)-identified charter school. Participants evidenced use of an overt and covert narrative that appeared to reflect how they navigated the complexities at the…

  9. Elementary Forms of Cosmopolitanism: Blood, Birth, and Bodies in Immigrant New York City

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kromidas, Maria

    2011-01-01

    In this article, Maria Kromidas explores how nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-old children in a diverse neighborhood school in immigrant New York City navigated and often undermined hegemonic notions of difference and belonging offered by mainstream multiculturalism and raciology. Based on ethnographic research and utilizing a fine-grained…

  10. Grafting, Going to College and Working on Road: Youth Transitions and Cultures in an East London Neighbourhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunter, Anthony; Watt, Paul

    2009-01-01

    The local neighbourhood has an enduring significance for British urban, working-class youth in relation to their transitions, cultures and leisure practices. This paper examines these interrelated issues by drawing upon ethnographic research undertaken in "Manor", a deprived, multi-ethnic East London neighbourhood. It explores the…

  11. Rethinking Environmental Science Education from Indigenous Knowledge Perspectives: An Experience with a Dene First Nation Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Datta, Ranjan Kumar

    2018-01-01

    This auto-ethnographic article explores how land-based education might challenge Western environmental science education (ESE) in an Indigenous community. This learning experience was developed from two perspectives: first, land-based educational stories from Dene First Nation community Elders, knowledge holders, teachers, and students; and…

  12. Storing and Transmitting Skills: The Expropriation of Working Class Control. NALL Working Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Dorothy E.; Dobson, Stephan

    Researchers explored the relationships between the great working class communities and the industries they sustained and were sustained by in terms of production, storage, and transmission of skills. First, the ethnographic literature on industrial workplaces and the working class communities associated with them was reviewed. Next, lengthy…

  13. Narrating Beliefs: A Language Ideologies Approach to Teacher Beliefs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Razfar, Aria

    2012-01-01

    This article explores how we can better understand the language ideologies of teachers working with second language learners through narrative analysis. This analysis draws on ethnographic data collected in an urban high school with a predominant Latina/o population and nearly a quarter designated as English learners. This analysis illustrates how…

  14. Writing in the Wild: Writers' Motivation in Fan-Based Affinity Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curwood, Jen Scott; Magnifico, Alecia Marie; Lammers, Jayne C.

    2013-01-01

    In order to understand the culture of the physical, virtual, and blended spheres that adolescents inhabit, we build on Gee's concept of affinity spaces. Drawing on our ethnographic research of adolescent literacies related to The Hunger Games novels, the Neopets online game, and The Sims videogames, this article explores the nature of…

  15. Towards "Thick Description" of Educational Transfer: Understanding a Japanese Institution's "Import" of European Language Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rappleye, Jeremy; Imoto, Yuki; Horiguchi, Sachiko

    2011-01-01

    Globalisation and convergence in educational policy worldwide has reinvigorated, while rendering more complex, the classic theme of educational transfer. Framed by this wider pursuit of new understandings of a changing transfer/context puzzle, this paper explores how an ethnographic "thick description" might complement and extend recent…

  16. Boys' Anti-School Culture? Narratives and School Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jonsson, Rickard

    2014-01-01

    Boys' underachievement and oppositional behavior in school has for a long time been the target of various public debates. Drawing on ethnographic data from fieldwork in two Swedish secondary schools, this article explores how the influential theory of boys' anti-school culture can be interpreted as a master narrative that is reproduced, but also…

  17. Beyond decision making: class, community organizations, and the healthwork of people living with HIV/AIDS. Contributions from institutional ethnographic research.

    PubMed

    Mykhalovskiy, Eric

    2008-01-01

    The consolidation of antiretroviral therapy as the primary biomedical response to HIV infection in the global North has occasioned a growing interest in the health decision making of people living with HIV (PHAs). This interest is burdened by the weight of a behaviorist theoretical orientation that limits decision making to individual acts of rational choice. This article offers an alternative way to understand how PHAs come to take (or not take) biomedical treatments. Drawing on institutional ethnographic research conducted in Toronto, Canada, it explores how the "healthwork" of coming to take (or not take) treatments is organized by extended relations of biomedical knowledge. The article focuses on two aspects of the knowledge relations of coming to take pharmaceutical medications that transcend the conceptual and relational terrain of rational decision-making perspectives. First, it explores disjunctures between the everyday healthwork of poor, socially marginalized PHAs and the terms of biomedical decision making. Second, it investigates the knowledge-mediating activities of community-based organizations that help mitigate those disjunctures.

  18. Exploring Unprotected Anal Intercourse among Newly Diagnosed HIV Positive Men Who Have Sex with Men in China: An Ethnographic Study

    PubMed Central

    Li, Haochu; Holroyd, Eleanor; Lau, Joseph

    2015-01-01

    Background Unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) is a major pathway towards secondary HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM). We explored the socio-cultural environment and individual beliefs and experiences conducive to UAI in the context of Southern China. Methods We employed an ethnographic approach utilizing a socio-ecological framework to conduct repeated in-depth interviews with thirty one newly diagnosed HIV positive MSM as well as participant observations in Shenzhen based healthcare settings, MSM venues and NGO offices. Results Some men (6/31) reported continuing to practice UAI after an initial diagnosis of being HIV positive. For MSM who had existing lovers or stable partners, the fear of losing partners in a context of non-serostatus disclosure was testified to be a major concern. MSM with casual partners reported that anonymous sexual encounters and moral judgments played a significant role in their sexual risk behaviors. Simultaneously, self-reported negative emotional and psychological status, perception and idiosyncratic risk interpretation, as well as substance abuse informed the intrapersonal context for UAI. Conclusion UAI among these HIV positive MSM was embedded in an intrapersonal context, related to partner type, shaped by anonymous sexual encounters, psychological status, and moral judgments. It is important that prevention and intervention for secondary HIV transmission among newly diagnosed HIV positive MSM in China take into account these contextual factors. PMID:26461258

  19. Cultivating a Caring, Environmental Self: Using the Figured World Concept to Explore Children's Environmental Identity Production in a Public School Garden Space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sulsberger, Megan Jane

    This ethnographic case study investigates the diverse means and processes by which environmental identities were produced by five first grade students as they participated in an emergent, public school garden space. The children's histories, choices, personal and social experiences, expressions, and corresponding narratives are explored alongside the garden structure and social context to unpack the individualized and layered nature of children's environmental identity and care development. To locate and analyze children's engagements in the garden space, ethnographic, discourse, and narrative analysis methods are employed. The figured world concept is used to theorize and study the caring, environmental identities taken up and enacted by the children in this context. Through participation in emergent provocations, the creation and leveraging of garden artifacts, and investments in caring relationships, the children in this study shaped and cared for the garden space while it simultaneously shaped and cared for them. The environmental identity stories presented in this work broaden the definition of environmental identity to be more inclusive and less normalizing, thus, creating new spaces and moments for children to identify as environmentalists. The stories also raise implications for environmental education researchers to utilize more rigorous frameworks for investigating environmental care and identity development in the field. Findings from this research indicate that emergent garden spaces are potential sites for children to build relationships with nature in the public school. This is a significant practice for schools, as children today lack spaces in which to form environmental identities that implicate environmental care behaviors.

  20. From diminished men to conditionally masculine: sexuality and Australian men and adolescent boys with intellectual disability.

    PubMed

    Wilson, Nathan J; Parmenter, Trevor R; Stancliffe, Roger J; Shuttleworth, Russell P

    2013-01-01

    Men and boys with intellectual disability represent a unique group who have hitherto been overlooked by researchers and theorists exploring men and masculinities. Qualitative data from an Australian ethnographic study focused on the sexual health needs of men and adolescent boys with moderate to profound intellectual disability. Findings suggest that masculinity for this group of men is more a biopsychosocial phenomenon than a social construct organised around heteronormative ideals. The conditional masculinity of the men participating in the study was based instead on a number of intrinsic and external factors, which are described in detail.

  1. Informed consent, anticipatory regulation and ethnographic practice.

    PubMed

    Murphy, Elizabeth; Dingwall, Robert

    2007-12-01

    In this paper we examine the application of informed consent to ethnographic research in health care settings. We do not quarrel with either the principle of informed consent or its translation into the requirement that research should only be carried out with consenting participants. However, we do challenge the identification of informed consent with the particular set of bureaucratic practices of ethical review which currently operate in Canada, the US and elsewhere. We argue that these anticipatory regulatory regimes threaten the significant contribution of ethnographic research to the creation of more efficient, more effective, more equitable and more humane health care systems. Informed consent in ethnographic research is neither achievable nor demonstrable in the terms set by anticipatory regulatory regimes that take clinical research or biomedical experimentation as their paradigm cases. This is because of differences in the practices of ethnographic and biomedical research which we discuss. These include the extended periods of time ethnographers spend in the research setting, the emergent nature of ethnographic research focus and design, the nature and positioning of risk in ethnographic research, the power relationships between researchers and participants, and the public and semi-public nature of the settings normally studied. Anticipatory regulatory regimes are inimical to ethnographic research and risk undermining the contribution of systematic inquiry to understanding whether institutions do what they claim to do, fairly and civilly and with an appropriate mobilisation of resources. We do not suggest that we should simply ignore ethics or leave matters to the individual consciences of researchers. Rather, we need to develop and strengthen professional models of regulation which emphasise education, training and mutual accountability. We conclude the paper with a number of suggestions about how such professional models might be implemented.

  2. Informant-Ethnographers in the Study of Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feer, Michael

    1975-01-01

    In the context of an anthropology curriculum, public high school students performed as informant-ethnographers of their own social milieu. Using the film and fieldwork techniques, students demonstrated that with training and sensitivity such studies could be more than simple academic exercises. (AUTHOR/NQ)

  3. Being-in-the-Chemotherapy-Suite versus Being-in-the-Oncology-Ward: An Analytical View of Two Hospital Sites Occupied by People Experiencing Cancer †

    PubMed Central

    Hughes, Catherine; van Heugten, Kate; Keeling, Sally; Szekely, Francisc

    2017-01-01

    How do people with cancer occupy places within the health system during their journey through palliative care? The answer to this question was explored by the authors as part of a wider ethnographic study of eight people’s journeys from referral to palliative care services to the end of life. This article reports on findings that have emerged from ongoing analysis that has been completed in the years proceeding data collection. An ethnographic research design was used to collect data about the participants and their family members over a three-year period. Data was collected using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Over 380 transcripts based on field note entries and taped interviews were produced during the 1121 h of contact with participants and family members that made up the research period. Analysis of these texts identified two focal sites within Christchurch Hospital that were occupied by the participants. These were the Chemotherapy Suite and the Oncology Ward. Drawing on literature concerning previous anthropological analysis, research was conducted to understand how places affect people and how people affect places. The researchers have used a model outlined by the American ethnographer Miles Richardson to analyse two distinct sites within one hospital. As explained in Richardson’s article, whose title is used to model the title of this article, a sense of place becomes apparent when comparing and contrasting two sites within the same location. Richardson’s article is highly interpretative and relies not only on pre-existing theoretical frameworks but also on personal interpretation. The same approach has been used in the current article. Here, ethnographic methods require the researcher’s interpretation of how participants occupied these sites. Following this approach, the Chemotherapy Suite is presented as a place where medicine dominates illness, and appears as distinct from the Oncology Ward, where disease predominates and death is secreted away. PMID:28587264

  4. An Ethnographic Study of a Developing Virtual Organization in Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Couch, Stephanie R.

    2012-01-01

    This ethnographic study answers calls for research into the ways that virtual organizations (or innovation-driven collaborative teams) form and develop, what supports and constraints their development, and the leadership models that support the organizations' work. The study examines how a virtual organization emerged from an intersegmental…

  5. An Ethnographic Study of Elementary Teachers', Paraprofessionals', and Students' Language Exchanges during Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aaron-Stanton, Desiree

    2014-01-01

    This ethnographic study of language shows the importance of educators' appropriate use of linguistic, nonlinguistic, and paralinguistic communication techniques when working with elementary students within two classrooms who have behavioral and emotional disorders. This study focused on communication techniques used by teachers and…

  6. Nature's Classroom: An Ethnographic Case Study of Environmental Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owens, Dorothea Jody

    2012-01-01

    This ethnographic case study examines the dynamic relationship between culture and environmental education within the context of a specific Florida-based public education program. The School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC) offers the program through a three-day field trip to the study site, Nature's Classroom, and accompanying classroom…

  7. An Ethnographic Case Study on the Phenomena of Blended Learning Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tiell, Lauren Renae

    2017-01-01

    This study determined the teacher-perceived experiences within the blended learning environment to fill a void in previous data. The three research questions defined blended learning, explained strengths and challenges, and provided feedback on teaching programs. This qualitative case study used an ethnographic framework through interviews,…

  8. [Ethnography for nursing research, a sensible way to understand human behaviors in their context].

    PubMed

    Bourbonnais, Anne

    2015-03-01

    Understanding human behaviours is at the heart of the nursing discipline. Knowledge development about behaviours is essential to guide nursing practice in the clinical field, for nursing education or in nursing management. In this context, ethnography is often overlooked as a research method to understand better behaviours in their sociocultural environment This article aims to present the principles guiding this qualitative method and its application to nursing research. First, the ethnographic method and some of its variants will be described. The conduct of an ethnographic study will then be exposed. Finally, examples of ethnographic studies in nursing will be presented. This article provides a foundation for the development of research protocols using ethnography for the advancement of nursing knowledge, as well as better use of ethnographic findings to improve care practices.

  9. Training Drug Treatment Patients to Conduct Peer-Based HIV Outreach: An Ethnographic Perspective on Peers' Experiences

    PubMed Central

    Guarino, Honoria; Deren, Sherry; Mino, Milton; Kang, Sung-Yeon; Shedlin, Michele

    2010-01-01

    From 2005 to 2008, the Bienvenidos Project trained Puerto Rican patients of New York City and New Jersey methadone maintenance treatment programs to conduct peer-based community outreach to migrant Puerto Rican drug users to reduce migrants' HIV risk behaviors. Ethnographic research, including focus groups, individual interviews and observations, was conducted with a subset of the patients trained as peers (n=49; 67% male; mean age 40.3 years) to evaluate the self-perceived effects of the intervention. Results of the ethnographic component of this study are summarized. The role of ethnographic methods in implementing and evaluating this kind of intervention is also discussed. PMID:20141456

  10. Introduction

    PubMed Central

    Taussig, Karen-Sue; Gibbon, Sahra Elizabeth

    2013-01-01

    We introduce this special issue of Medial Anthropology Quarterly on public health genomics by exploring both the unique contribution of ethnographic sensibility that medical anthropologists bring to the study of genomics and some of the key insights offered by the essays in this collection. As anthropologists, we are concerned with the power dynamics and larger cultural commitments embedded in practices associated with public health. We seek to understand, first, the broad significance of genomics as a cultural object and, second, the social action set into motion as researchers seek to translate genomic knowledge and technology into public health benefits. PMID:24214906

  11. Corruption, NGOs, and Development in Nigeria

    PubMed Central

    Smith, Daniel Jordan

    2013-01-01

    This article examines corruption in Nigeria’s development sector, particularly in the vastly growing arena of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Grounded in ethnographic case studies, the analysis explores why local NGOs in Nigeria have proliferated so widely, what they do in practice, what effects they have beyond their stated aims, and how they are perceived and experienced by ordinary Nigerians. It shows that even faux NGOs and disingenuous political rhetoric about civil society, democracy, and development are contributing to changing ideals and rising expectations in these same domains. PMID:24265511

  12. [Competencies and Role Experiences of Peer Support - A Participatory Research Report].

    PubMed

    Heumann, Kolja; Schmid, Christine; Wilfer, Antje; Bolkan, Suzan; Mahlke, Candelaria; von Peter, Sebastian

    2018-05-25

    This study explores the peer support providers' competencies and role experiences. A multiple coding approach has been used to collaboratively analyze and discuss ethnographic material. Compared to other professionals, peer support provider engage with patients in a more open and less classificatory way. Their role is often unclear and defined by both more flexibility and dependencies. It is important to clearly define the competencies and roles of peer support providers and balance them with the expectations of the other professionals. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  13. Ethnographic Auditing: A New Approach to Evaluating Management in Higher Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fetterman, David

    Ethnographic auditing is the application of ethnographic or anthropological concepts and methods to the appraisal of administrative controls over resources. Ethnographic auditing highlights the role of culture, subculture, values, rituals and physical environment in management in higher education. The ethnographic auditor measures the fiscal and…

  14. Social Capital, Narratives of Fragmentation, and Schizophrenia: An Ethnographic Exploration of Factors Shaping African-Caribbeans’ Social Capital and Mental Health in a North London Community

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Recent research studies have proposed the concept of social capital—broadly defined as social networks, community cohesion, and participation—as a social risk factor for health disparities and the high rates of schizophrenia among individuals of Caribbean heritage in England. However, many of the existing studies lack sociohistorical contexts and do not capture the experiential dimensions of individuals’ social capital. This paper adds to the debate by examining the mechanisms and sociocultural processes that shape the understandings and experiences of social capital in a sample of British African-Caribbeans. Drawing on ethnographic and survey data collected over 2 years in a North London community, the paper focuses on participants’ every day experiences and the stories they tell about their community and social fragmentation. These stories suggest that social changes and historical forces interact to affect the social capital and emotional well-being of local African-Caribbean residents. I argue that my participants’ collective narratives about their social environment contribute to the emotional tone of the community, and create added stressors that may impact their mental health. PMID:23832434

  15. Representations of Death Among Italian Vegetarians: An Ethnographic Research on Environment, Disgust and Transcendence.

    PubMed

    Testoni, Ines; Ghellar, Tommaso; Rodelli, Maddalena; De Cataldo, Loriana; Zamperini, Adriano

    2017-08-01

    This paper focuses on the motives for vegetarian choices in contemporary Italian food culture, with specific reference to the role of the representations of death. The study adopts a qualitative research design aimed at an in-depth exploration of the reasons for avoiding meat, following an ethnographic method. Twenty-two participants (55% women, 45% men) aged 19-74, all vegetarians or vegans, mainly from Northern and Central Italy, were involved. Data from the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis were examined according to the qualitative thematic analysis: the results show the role of death in the construction of disgust towards meat, running parallel with an emphasis on spirituality, ethical treatment of animals and the environment as reasons for avoiding meat, in particular, the concern-generating disgust and its relationship with the representation of death as a contaminating essence. The basis of disgust lies in this connection, from which the idea that oral consumption of contaminants characterized by corruptive properties, passing through the flesh of dead animals to humans, derives. The role of anti-speciesism is considered as a latent perspective, which may influence the vegetarian and vegan choices.

  16. “People Knew They Could Come Here to Get Help”: An Ethnographic Study of Assisted Injection Practices at a Peer-Run ‘Unsanctioned’ Supervised Drug Consumption Room in a Canadian Setting

    PubMed Central

    McNeil, Ryan; Small, Will; Lampkin, Hugh; Shannon, Kate; Kerr, Thomas

    2013-01-01

    People who require help injecting are disproportionately vulnerable to drug-related harm, including HIV transmission. North America’s only sanctioned SIF operates in Vancouver, Canada under an exemption to federal drug laws, which imposes operating regulations prohibiting assisted injections. In response, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) launched a peer-run unsanctioned SIF in which trained peer volunteers provide assisted injections to increase the coverage of supervised injection services and minimize drug-related harm. We undertook qualitative interviews (n=23) and ethnographic observation (50 hours) to explore how this facility shaped assisted injection practices. Findings indicated that VANDU reshaped the social, structural, and spatial contexts of assisted injection practices in a manner that minimized HIV and other health risks, while allowing people who require help injecting to escape drug scene violence. Findings underscore the need for changes to regulatory frameworks governing SIFs to ensure that they accommodate people who require help injecting. PMID:23797831

  17. An Ethnographic Case Study of the Administrative Organization, Processes, and Behavior in a Model Comprehensive High School.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zimman, Richard N.

    Using ethnographic case study methodology (involving open-ended interviews, participant observation, and document analysis) theories of administrative organization, processes, and behavior were tested during a three-week observation of a model comprehensive (experimental) high school. Although the study is limited in its general application, it…

  18. Child-Initiated Pedagogies in Finland, Estonia and England: Exploring Young Children's Views on Decisions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robertson, Leena Helavaara; Kinos, Jarmo; Barbour, Nancy; Pukk, Maarika; Rosqvist, Leif

    2015-01-01

    This paper focuses on child-initiated pedagogy that is based on the process of co-construction of learning experiences between children, adults and the environment, being part of longitudinal research project that analyses child-initiated pedagogies in formal early years settings with 3-6-year-old children. Drawing on an ethnographic approach this…

  19. Assessing Language Needs Within an Institutional Context: An Ethnographic Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holliday, Adrian

    1995-01-01

    This article describes an analysis of English-language needs of an oil company in the Middle East, exploring the role of ethnography in carrying out the holistic research necessary to obtain a clear picture of the company's needs. It includes a discussion of the project's findings and recommendations for language training. (11 references) (MDM)

  20. "Brothers Gonna Work It Out:" Understanding the Pedagogic Performance of African American Male Teachers Working with African American Male Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Anthony L.

    2009-01-01

    Drawing from ethnographic data, this paper explores how African American male teachers working with African American male students performed their pedagogy. This paper highlights how teachers' understanding of African American males social and educational needs shaped their pedagogical performance. Interestingly however, teachers' performance was…

  1. Try This! Imitation and Copying in the Outdoor Learning World of Sea Kayaking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magnussen, Leif Inge

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the relationships between sea kayakers and their socio-cultural environment to explore the use of copying and imitation as learning strategies. The research involved ethnographic fieldwork conducted in sea kayak communities of south-eastern parts of Norway, between late autumn 2006 until the fall of 2008. Some of the key…

  2. Teacher and Student Language Practices and Ideologies in a Third-Grade Two-Way Dual Language Program Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henderson, Kathryn I.; Palmer, Deborah K.

    2015-01-01

    This article provides an in-depth exploration of the language ecologies of two classrooms attempting to implement a two-way dual language (TWDL) program and its mediating conditions. Drawing on ethnographic methods and a sociocultural understanding of language, we examined both teachers' and students' language ideologies and language practices,…

  3. Hatching Plans: Pedagogy and Discourse within an El Sistema-Inspired Music Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobson, Nicolas

    2016-01-01

    In this article, I draw on my experience as an instrumental tutor with a music program inspired by and explicitly linked to El Sistema, to explore new perspectives on Sistema-based pedagogy and management. Detailed ethnographic description of an orchestral session provides a first-hand account of the program's pedagogy, which I then contextualize…

  4. Available Motherhood: Legal Technologies, "State of Exception" and the Dekinning of "War-Babies" in Bangladesh

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mookherjee, Nayanika

    2007-01-01

    This article takes an ethnographical approach to explore the "state of exception" through which legal technologies of abortion and adoption of "war-babies" (children born as a result of wartime rapes) in the Bangladesh war enabled the dekinning and elimination of certain childhoods while the raped women were rekinned within…

  5. Fabricating "Pacific Islander": Pedagogies of Expropriation, Return and Resistance and Other Lessons from a "Multicultural Day"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Youdell, Deborah

    2012-01-01

    This paper is concerned with the potential for pedagogic practices that unsettle race hierarchies and open up possibilities for young people who are minoritised and excluded through these race hierarchies to be recognised as legitimate students and learners. It explores these possibilities through an analysis of an ethnographic account of the…

  6. A Transnational Community of Pakistani Muslim Women: Narratives of Rights, Honor, and Wisdom in a Women's Education Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khurshid, Ayesha

    2012-01-01

    Using ethnographic data, this article explores how Muslim women teachers from low-income Pakistani communities employ the notion of "wisdom" to construct and perform their educated subjectivity in a transnational women's education project. Through Butler's performativity framework, I demonstrate how local and global discourses overlap to…

  7. "Religion Is Not a Monolith": Religious Experience at a Midwestern Liberal Arts College

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lane, Amy M.; Allis, Sarah; Allman, Nicole; Pettys, Alicia; Quinlan, Meredith; Seifert, Britta

    2013-01-01

    This ethnographic project explored the extent to which the campus culture at a small liberal arts college was open to student experiences and expressions of the spiritual and the religious. The authors found that despite the college's reputation for valuing diversity and a commitment to social justice, students shared a narrative of religious…

  8. Mis/Representations in School-Based Digital Media Production: An Ethnographic Exploration with Muslim Girls

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dahya, Negin; Jenson, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    In this article, the authors discuss findings from a digital media production club with racialized girls in a low-income school in Toronto, Ontario. Specifically, the authors consider how student-produced media is impacted by ongoing postcolonial structures relating to power and representation in the school and in the media production work of…

  9. Heroin Abuse and Collective Identity: Correlates and Consequences of Geographical Place

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Furst, R. Terry; Balletto, Rebecca

    2012-01-01

    Ethnographic and qualitative research were utilized to examine how the effects of geographic place can be related to heroin abuse and collective identity in non-metropolitan areas (NMAs) in the mid-Hudson region of New York State, U.S. The socio-geographic consequences of this interrelationship are explored. In-depth interviews were conducted with…

  10. Contract Research, Curricular Reform, and Situated Selves: Between Social Justice and Commercialized Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturges, Keith M.

    2014-01-01

    Using a critical ethnographic perspective, I describe how social scientists actively transition into the evaluation industry in a reform environment that is marked by increased privatization of all aspects of public education. I do this by exploring adaptations that contract evaluators use to enhance a sense of personal connection to their work…

  11. The "Power" of Value-Added Thinking: Exploring the Implementation of High-Stakes Teacher Accountability Policies in Rio de Janeiro

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Straubhaar, Rolf

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to ethnographically document the market-based ideological assumptions of Rio de Janeiro's educational policymakers, and the ways in which those assumptions have informed these policymakers' decision to implement value-added modeling-based teacher evaluation policies. Drawing on the anthropological literature on…

  12. Towards a Political Ecology of Education: The Educational Politics of Scale in Southern Pará, Brazil

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meek, David

    2015-01-01

    Social movements have initiated both academic programs and disciplines. I present ethnographic data that I gathered during 17 months of fieldwork with the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in southeastern Pará, Brazil, to explore the MST's role in creating agroecological education opportunities. My analysis highlights three factors in…

  13. Making Visible the Behaviors that Influence Learning Environment: A Qualitative Exploration of Computer Science Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Lecia J.; Garvin-Doxas, Kathy

    2004-01-01

    The authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of a selection of computer science classrooms at a large, research university in the United States. Categories emerging from data analysis included (1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and (2) the creation and maintenance of informal…

  14. Cultural Congruence and Unbalanced Power between Home and School in Rural Ghana and the Impact on School Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Masko, Amy L.; Bosiwah, Lawrence

    2016-01-01

    This ethnographic inquiry examines the cultural congruence between home and school in rural Ghana, exploring the cultural norms of child-rearing practices within families and the institution of schooling. The data illustrate both the agreement between home and school in regard to discipline practices and instruction in morality, while…

  15. An Anthropologist among the Psychometricians: Assessment Events, Ethnography, and Differential Item Functioning in the Mongolian Gobi

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maddox, Bryan; Zumbo, Bruno D.; Tay-Lim, Brenda; Qu, Demin

    2015-01-01

    This article explores the potential for ethnographic observations to inform the analysis of test item performance. In 2010, a standardized, large-scale adult literacy assessment took place in Mongolia as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). In a novel form…

  16. Exploring Instructional Strategies to Develop Prospective Elementary Teachers' Children's Literature Book Evaluation Skills for Science, Ecology and Environmental Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hug, J. William

    2010-01-01

    This article is an auto-ethnographic account of the development of a children's literature book critique assignment by a science teacher educator sharing instructional dilemmas and pedagogical responses. Prospective elementary teachers enrolled in an elementary school science teaching methods course in the US selected and evaluated children's…

  17. More than "Sluts" or "Prissy Girls": Gender and Becoming in Senior Secondary Drama Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lambert, Kirsten; Wright, Peter R.; Currie, Jan; Pascoe, Robin

    2017-01-01

    This article examines the relationships between the embodiment of dramatic characters, gender, and identity. It draws on ethnographic data based on observations and interviews with 24 drama teachers and senior secondary drama students in Western Australia. We explore how student becomings in year 12 drama classrooms are mediated and constituted…

  18. The Multiple Influences on Nonformal Instructional Practices in Rural Mozambique: Exploring the Limits of World Culture Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Straubhaar, Rolf

    2014-01-01

    This article presents findings from 12 months of ethnographic observations of nonformal adult education classes offered by an internationally funded nonprofit, referred to in this article as Comunidades de Poder (CDP). The primary objective of this article is to examine the various contextual factors that influenced CDP teachers' instruction and…

  19. Types and Dynamics of Gendered Space: A Case of Emirati Female Learners in a Single-Gender Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alzeer, Gergana

    2018-01-01

    This article is concerned with gendered spaces as they emerge from exploring Emirati female learners' spatiality in a single-gender context. By conducting ethnographic research and utilising Lefebvre's triad of perceived, conceived and lived space for the analysis and categorisation of students' spaces, three types of gendered spaces emerged:…

  20. Countering Deficit Thinking: Agency, Capabilities and the Early Learning Experiences of Children of Latina/o Immigrants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colegrove, Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki; Adair, Jennifer Keys

    2014-01-01

    This article documents what happened in a first grade classroom when young Latina/o children of immigrants had consistent classroom-based opportunities to use their agency in their learning. Applying theoretical constructs from development economics to data from the Agency and Young Children ethnographic project, we explore three forms of agency…

  1. "Doing Gender," Ensuring Survival: Mexican Migration and Economic Crisis in the Rural Mountain West

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schmalzbauer, Leah

    2011-01-01

    This article draws on ethnographic research to explore the impacts of the current economic crisis on Mexican migrant families in rural Montana. It looks specifically at the ways rural families negotiate gender roles and expectations as they devise survival strategies in response to major economic shifts. My analysis suggests that traditional…

  2. Naming Their World in a Culturally Responsive Space: Experiences of Hmong Adolescents in an After-School Theatre Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ngo, Bic

    2017-01-01

    This article draws on ethnographic research of a youth theatre program within a Hmong arts organization to explore the ways in which a culturally responsive program nurtured critical consciousness among Hmong immigrant youth. Hmong youth "named" struggles with stereotypes and acculturation expectations, and constructed positive ethnic…

  3. "Let Them See a Different Path": Social Attitudes towards Sport, Education and Development in Samoa

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kwauk, Christina Ting

    2016-01-01

    Drawing on ethnographic data collected over 12 months of field research, this paper contributes to the growing body of literature on sport for development (SFD) by giving voice to alternative constructions of the educative potential of SFD. It does this by exploring the social attitudes of youth, educators, community leaders and government…

  4. Making Trouble: Ethnographic Designs on Ruling Relations for Students and Teachers in Non-Academic Pathways

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Doherty, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    Since 2009, all Australian states require young people to be "earning or learning" until age 17. Secondary schools and vocational colleges now accommodate students for whom the conventional academic pathways of the past were not designed. The paper reflects on a project designed to explore the moral orders in these institutional settings…

  5. Parental Perspectives of Communication about Sexuality in Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ballan, Michelle S.

    2012-01-01

    To explore the content of communication about sexuality between parents and children with autism spectrum disorders, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 parents of children ages 6-13. Content analysis and ethnographic summary were used to interpret the data. Findings suggest that parent's perceptions of a child's behaviors and…

  6. Opportunities for Learning LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes: A Classroom Ethnography of an Undergraduate Shakespeare through Performance Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Went, Jeanine Belcastro

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this classroom ethnography was to explore what opportunities for learning, aligning with LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) categories, could be found in an upper-level theatre course for theatre majors at a small, selective, baccalaureate degree granting institution in the Northeastern United States. Using ethnographic data…

  7. Becoming "Spanish Learners": Identity and Interaction among Multilingual Children in a Spanish-English Dual Language Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martínez, Ramón Antonio; Durán, Leah; Hikida, Michiko

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the interactional co-construction of identities among two first-grade students learning Spanish as a third language in a Spanish-English dual language classroom. Drawing on ethnographic and interactional data, the article focuses on a single interaction between these two "Spanish learners" and two of their…

  8. Maximum Security. The Culture of Violence in Inner-City Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Devine, John

    In an ethnographic reflection on 10 years experience working in the high schools of inner-city New York, issues of school safety, discipline, and violence are explored. The central proposition is that the mentality that relies on paramilitary security measures and technological devices, such as metal detectors, to achieve safe schools is only an…

  9. The Impact of a High Stakes Teacher Evaluation System: Educator Perspectives on Accountability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moran, Renee M. R.

    2017-01-01

    The use of student achievement data to evaluate an individual teacher's effectiveness has become a new focus in educational policy. This article focuses on the underresearched teacher perception of this new policy measure. Drawing on ethnographic research procedures, this article explores how first-grade teachers in one state navigated a new…

  10. An Ethnographic Inquiry Connecting Home to School for Literacy and Mathematics Learning of Hispanic Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duenas, Gilbert

    2011-01-01

    There is limited research on bilingual classroom teachers who conduct household visits of non-English speaking Hispanic families. The author and teacher explored (a) ways that three migrant, Hispanic families were involved with their children's school to promote mathematics and language literacy learning and communication; and (b) how these…

  11. Voicing as an Essential Problem of Communication: Language and Education of Chinese Immigrant Children in Globalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dong, Jie; Dong, Yan

    2013-01-01

    This article explores voicing processes of identity construction among labor immigrants both inside China and in the Dutch Chinese Diaspora. We provide ethnographically grounded data oriented toward a theoretical point: voicing is an essential problem in communication. Whether one is able to achieve his voice--an outcome of a communicative…

  12. Calming the Spirit and Ensuring Super-Vivencia: Rural Mexican Women-Centred Teaching and Learning Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galvan, Ruth Trinidad

    2010-01-01

    The changing social, cultural and economic conditions of transmigrant communities in rural Mexico require that women who stay behind, while their loved ones travel back and forth to the USA, create social relations that ensure their survival. From over five years of ethnographic research, this article explores the healing potential of…

  13. The Continuum of Learner Disengagement: Ethnographic Insights into Experiential Learning in Marketing Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunter-Jones, Philippa

    2012-01-01

    This article explores the changing worldview of a new generation of learners and the threat that this poses to the future of experiential learning (EL). Initially the differing characteristics of three generations of learners, X, Y, and Z, are outlined, along with key educational reforms they have been subject to, particularly in the United…

  14. Affiliation or Appropriation? Crossing and the Politics of Race among Children in New York City

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kromidas, Maria

    2012-01-01

    Based on ethnographic research in a diverse New York City neighborhood, this article examines issues surrounding the practice of crossing from children's perspectives. Crossing refers to the use of language varieties to which one does not have conventional access, practices that could be disparaging or affiliative. The author explores how children…

  15. Creating Schools of Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of War and Violence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavanagh, Tom

    2009-01-01

    In this post 9/11 era Western cultures are focusing on values that support war and violence. In this article an ethnographer explores the impact of these values on schools. These values, seen through the lens of restorative justice, include: (a) punishment, (b) adversarial relationships, (c) monopolization of power, (d) problemization and…

  16. Medical students' opportunities to participate and learn from activities at an internal medicine ward: an ethnographic study

    PubMed Central

    Hägg-Martinell, A; Hult, H; Henriksson, P; Kiessling, A

    2017-01-01

    Objectives To optimise medical students’ early clerkship is a complex task since it is conducted in a context primarily organised to take care of patients. Previous studies have explored medical students’ perceptions of facilitation and hindrance of learning. However, the opportunities for medical student to learn within the culture of acute medicine care have not been fully investigated. This study aimed to explore how medical students approach, interact and socialise in an acute internal medicine ward context, and how spaces for learning are created and used in such a culture. Design and setting Ethnographic observations were performed of medical students' interactions and learning during early clerkship at an acute internal medicine care ward. Field notes were taken, transcribed and analysed qualitatively. Data analysis was guided by Wenger's theory of communities of practice. Participants 21 medical students and 30 supervisors participated. Results Two themes were identified: Nervousness and curiosity—students acted nervously and stressed, especially when they could not answer questions. Over time curiosity could evolve. Unexplored opportunities to support students in developing competence to judge and approach more complex patient-related problems were identified. Invited and involved—students were exposed to a huge variation of opportunities to learn, and to interact and to be involved. Short placements seemed to disrupt the learning process. If and how students became involved also depended on supervisors' activities and students' initiatives. Conclusions This study shed light on how an acute internal medicine ward culture can facilitate medical students' possibilities to participate and learn. Medical students' learning situations were characterised by questions and answers rather than challenging dialogues related to the complexity of presented patient cases. Further, students experienced continuous transfers between learning situations where the potential to be involved differed in a wide variety of ways. PMID:28196948

  17. A Sociocultural Perspective on Young Deaf Children's Fingerspelling: An Ethnographic Study in a Signing Setting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roos, Carin

    2014-01-01

    This study, which is part of a larger longitudinal ethnographic study of young deaf children, reports on deaf children's use of fingerspelling. The children observed were early signers using Swedish Sign Language (SSL) in communication with teachers and peers. This study centres on the functions of fingerspelling in the children's everyday…

  18. The pros and cons of researching events ethnographically

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Events (remarkable, disruptive happenings) are important subjects of study for understanding processes of change. In this essay, I reflect upon the issue of what the ethnographic method has to offer for the analysis of this social phenomenon. To do so, I review three recently published ethnographic studies of events. My conclusion is that it is indeed a very useful method for understanding the feelings and ideas of people who are experiencing eventful situations, for instance around protests or natural disasters. However, using this method also brings about practical difficulties, such as the ‘luck’ that an event occurs at the ethnographic fieldwork site. Next, as transformative responses to events are not bound by the place or time of the happening, other methods (interviews, discourse analysis, surveys) that make it easier to follow them in varying locations and periods might be more suitable for getting a comprehensive picture of their meaning-making dynamics. PMID:29081715

  19. WWOOF Ecopedagogy: Linking "Doing" to "Learning"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nakagawa, Yoshifumi

    2017-01-01

    WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) is an increasingly popular form of ecotourism in Australia. An ethnographic study of 10 young adult international tourists was conducted at five rural Victorian WWOOF sites. The objective was to examine the participants' nature experience. As part of the ethnographic study, this article selectively reports…

  20. Implementing a Critically Quasi-Ethnographic Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murtagh, Lisa

    2007-01-01

    This paper provides an account of the methodological approach of a study designed to address some fundamental questions relating to formative assessment. The paper reports on the use of a critically quasi-ethnographic approach and describes the practicalities of adopting such an approach. The validity of the study is also considered, reflecting on…

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