An ethnographic action research project: national curriculum,historical learning and a culturally diverse Melbourne primary school

ABSTRACT

This paper uses ethnographic action research to explore how the objectives of the Australian Curriculum Intercultural Understanding can be achieved in a culturally diverse Year 5/6 (ages 10–12) primary school class in Melbourne. It examines whether a history unit on migration, that uses a structured historical inquiry approach, encourages culturally diverse students to develop a more critical and reflexive understanding of multiculturalism. Using Banks’ multicultural framework and Bath’s approach to ethnographic action research, I argue that the oral history component of a Year 5/6 history unit supported students to develop their Intercultural Understanding. I suggest that ethnographic action research is an effective approach for investigating the implementation of new teaching initiatives.     

Literacy mediation as a form of powerful literacies in community-based organisations working with young people in a situation of precarity

This paper aims at understanding the complex relations between bureaucratic literacies, the lives of young people in a situation of precarity and the work of employees of two community-based organisations in Québec (Canada). Drawing on the perspective of the New Literacy Studies, the focus of this article is around the role of literacy mediators that can play youth workers. It also endeavours to clarify the meaning of the term precarity (précarité) by suggesting a multidimensional perspective on it. This paper reveals that literacy mediation can be a form of powerful literacies that offer opportunities to counteract dominant literacies and support new ways of learning. Finally, it suggests a reflection on the importance of the work of community-based organisations in countering the situation of precarity experienced by some young people. It underlines the fact that these organisations are also experiencing financial uncertainty and insecurity that affect their services.     

Between ‘enrichment’ and ‘endangerment’: ‘cultural diversity’ and the politics of belonging in the Berlin school choice discourse

Even though choice is not officially a feature in the German primary school system, some parents intervene in determining which school their child attends. Especially in urban contexts, the informal school market is growing. This demand is based on promises with respect to a certain quality of education as well as on issues that prevail in certain inner city schools. In looking at Berlin, as a global city, this article shows how contrary school choice practices gain traction in the face of ‘cultural differences’ that those practices produce discursively. Cultural semantics are activated with regard to the composition of the student body, when parents chose schools with a bilingual profile, but also when parents engage in the practice of ‘group enrolment’ into schools in inner city hotspots perceived as problematic. Our research shows how school choice practices may become acceptable despite being a public taboo, if parents argue by appeal to ‘cultural differences’.     

From Pioneer to Partner: Dismantling White Normativity in Ethnographic Theology

Abstract

In this racially-charged time, religious educators are engaging in research that transgresses traditional (white) norms. Such research can not only dismantle white normativity through the subjects investigated; it can also be practiced in ways that are transgressive. This article uses a particular experience of ethnographic theological research in diverse cultural contexts as a case study for learning about three postures that subvert white normativity built into assumptions and practices of ethnographic research. Using a two-pronged, auto-ethnographic approach to analyzing this case, three nuanced postures become critically apparent: improvised flexibility, the ability to change lenses, and immersive reflexivity.     

Trusting the method: an ethnographic search for policy in practice in an Australian primary school

The apparent simplicity of ethnographic methods – studying people in their normal life setting, going beyond what might be said in surveys and interviews to observe everyday practices – is deceptive. Anthropological knowledge is gained through fieldwork and through pursuing a reflexive flexible approach. This study carried out in a non-government primary school in Perth, Western Australia focused on the processes used by the teachers to implement reporting policy. The focus of this paper is not on the data of the research, but on the experiences of a researcher in the field for the first time. Despite being aware of what Schweder (1997) describes as the need to be open to the surprise of ethnography, the events which followed my first hours in the field still managed to disturb my equilibrium as they proceeded to unfold in unexpected ways. The factors which influenced the outcome of the research were serendipitous and for the researcher were vital in my initiation into ethnographic methods.     

制约我国科技创新能力提升诸要素的方法论研究

从宏观角度论证制约我国科技创新能力提升诸因素的研究是目前对于该问题探讨的主要方法。我们认为,除已有的宏观研究之外还需要微观的、经验的人类学研究来进行补充完善,然而对于该问题的经验研究究竟应该如何进行,以何种方式进行,国内目前并没有可参考的先例。沙伦·特拉维克、布鲁诺·拉图尔的相关研究成果对创新问题的微观研究具有方法论的启示价值。     

中国乡村传播研究(1982～2012)

国内乡村传播研究经历了从实证到理论总结的过程。当下中国乡村传播研究正经历着民族志转向,并逐渐出现了新的研究视角,其中社会传播网络视角成为中国乡村传播研究的新进路。中国乡村传播研究中还出现了参与式影像传播等新现象,从参与观察到参与传播,再到分享传播将是乡村传播研究的发展趋势。     

Researching school choice in regional Australia: what can this tell us about the ethnographic imaginary?

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 to outside forces. The place of the researcher is considered in relation to a regional context and the possibility that within such a context, the urban researcher could be a ‘stranger’. The notion of the ‘strange’ researcher is used to explore belonging and through it, geographic imaginaries of regionality. The case is made that the production of locality in this region contributed to a researcher ‘lock out’ because local knowledge about school choice was being unsettled. The paper takes up the question of how research in a region can contribute to understandings of ethnographic research as unbounded.     

教育人种学研究

教育人种学研究是运用现象学哲学方法论，借鉴教育人类学学科体系的研究方法，开创教育研究新视角。其具有以下特征：个案研究为重点；实地研究；解释的整体性；方法的描述性；结果的概括性；检验的多样性；研究意义的现实性。     

A new context for understanding civic responsibility: Relating Culture to Action at a Research University

Civic responsibility as an ideal of higher education is rarely considered through a cultural and theoretical lens. Swidler’s (1986, American Sociological Review, 51: 273–286) framework linking ideology, culture and action was used in this ethnographic study of a research university (a) to understand dominant institutional beliefs about civic responsibility and (b) to understand how institutional culture contributes to a unique approach to civic responsibility. This study examined campus ideologies and cultural forms that addressed five dimensions of civic responsibility: (a) knowledge and support of democratic values, systems and processes, (b) desire to act beneficially in community and for its members, (c) use of knowledge and skills for societal benefit, (d) appreciation for and interest in those unlike oneself, and (e) personal accountability. The “role model” approach emerged as a unique institutional approach to civic responsibility and aligned with Swidler’s framework. Findings are significant for both organization studies and student development research.