Innovations in Educational Ethnography: Theories, Methods, and Results

This volume focuses on and exemplifies how ethnography--a research tool devoted to looking at human interaction as a cultural process rather than individual psychology--can shed light on educational processes framed by the complex, internationalized societies in which we live today. Part I offers theoretical chapters about ethnography and examples of innovative ethnography from particular perspectives. In Part II, the emphasis is on the application of ethnographic approaches to educational settings. Each contribution not only takes the reader on a thoughtful and enlightening journey, but raises issues that are important to both educators and ethnographers, including the relationship of researcher to subject, the meaning of "participant" in participant observation, and ways to give voice to disenfranchised players, and on the complex ways in which all parties experience identities such as "race" in the modern world. Innovations in Educational Ethnography: Theory, Methods, and Results is a product of both continuity and change. It presents current writings from mentors in the field of ethnography and education, as well of the work of their students, and of educators engaged in cultural studies of their work. In many ways it provides fresh, new vistas on the old questions that have always guided ethnographic research, and can be used as a survey both of what ethnography has been and what it is becoming. This book is the work of many hands, and provides excellent examples of trends in both basic and applied ethnography of education. These two kinds of work augment and reinforce each other, and also represent important current research directions--in-depth reflection on the process of ethnography itself, and an application of its insights to teaching and learning in schools, universities, and communities. No one philosophy guides the contributions to this volume, nor were they chosen as exemplary of a particular approach, yet foundational understandings and principles of ethnography shine through the work, in both predictable and unexpected ways.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface. Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Explorations in Ethnography.R. McDermott, H. Varenne, Reconstructing Culture in Educational Research. K. Powell, Inside-Out and Outside-In: Participant Observation in Taiko Drumming. G. Spindler, Living and Writing Ethnography: An Exploration in Self-Adaptation and Its Consequences. M. Pollock, Race Wrestling: Struggling Strategically With Race in Educational Practice and Research. J.D. Raley, Finding Safety in Dangerous Places. I. Seyer-Ochi, Lived Landscapes of the Fillmore. Part II: Studying "Side by Side": Ethnographic Applications to Educational Settings.F. Erickson, Studying Side by Side: Collaborative Action Ethnography in Educational Research. J. Rosiek, Toward Teacher Education That Takes the Study of Culture as Foundational: Building Bridges Between Teacher Knowledge Research and Educational Ethnography. L. Hammond, Digging Deeper: Using Reflective Dialogue to Illuminate the Cultural Processes Inherent in Science Education. C. Brandt, Narratives of Location: Epistomology and Place in Higher Education. S. Nichols, D. Tippins, L. Morano, P. Bilbao, T. Barcenal, Community-Based Science Education Research: Narratives From a Filipino Barangay.

Review :
"I heartily recommend this book and enjoyed having an opportunity to review it. I will be using it in my classes this fall."--Janice E. Jones, Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, November 15, 2006, Vol. 51, No. 46 "This book is set up and laid out very thoughtfully. An exciting part of this book is how the authors have incorporated culture throughout the chapters....provides the reader with a clear picture of the theoretical background of ethnography and great examples of the application of ethnographic approaches to educational settings." —PsycCRITIQUES "Once again George Spindler has put together a collection of new (and original) essays....The contributors are all fine ethnographers with new and important research to share with the larger field." —Donna Deyhle, University of Utah "...presents new approaches to doing research as well as new ways of thinking about complicated issues related to ethnography and education....In addition to being one of the fathers of anthropology and education, Spindler is a superb writer and editor." —Jeffrey Shultz, Arcadia University