Showing papers in "Anthropology & Education Quarterly in 2000"
TL;DR: In this paper, the ideological paradox inherent in transforming a standardizing education into a diversifying one and constructing a national identity that is also multilingual and multicultural is explored, with implications for educational practice in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms.
Abstract: Recent developments in language policy and education reform in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, paralleling similar developments in the United States and elsewhere, have opened up new possibilities for indigenous languages and their speakers through bilingual intercultural education Examining the use and meanings of the term interculturality in policy documents and short practitioner narratives, this article explores the ideological paradox inherent in transforming a standardizing education into a diversifying one and in constructing a national identity that is also multilingual and multicultural It concludes with implications for educational practice in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms
159 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the shifting nature of the cultural practice of basketball as players move from middle school to high school play and related shifts in players' statistical evaluations linked to play was examined.
Abstract: This study examines the shifting nature of the cultural practice of basketball as players move from middle school to high school play and related shifts in players' statistical evaluations linked to play. Thirty-four middle and high school African American basketball players were observed and interviewed as they participated in the practice of basketball. Results show that the practice of basketball differs at these two levels of play corresponding to differences in mathematics linked to play.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the lives of three Latina faculty members teaching in state colleges of education were described and their personal and professional experiences reflected tokenism in the academy, varying levels of support, and perceived burdens and expectations.
Abstract: This article shares the lives of three Latina faculty members teaching in state colleges of education. Interviews revealed that the personal and professional experiences they encountered on a daily basis reflected tokenism in the academy, varying levels of support, and perceived burdens and expectations. All three women saw knowledge as contextual and often relied on feelings and intuition to describe and assess their lives in the academy. Recommendations for change within the academy are offered.
95 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Boyte and Evans call free spaces, those spaces in which hope is nourished in spite of impoverished material circumstances, and they provide a wider theoretical frame for understanding the social psychology of these spaces.
Abstract: In our recent interviews with 154 poor and working-class young adults, male and female, across racial and ethnic groups, we hear whispers of hope amid the narratives of despair. In both jersey City and Buffalo, we have wandered through communities that have been ravaged by deindustrialization and a withering of the public sphere. Here we turn our attention to what Boyte and Evans call ‘free spaces’—those spaces in which hope is nourished in spite of impoverished material circumstances. Offering a wider theoretical frame for understanding the social psychology of these spaces than has been offered in previous work, we provide two examples from ethnographic investigations (of an arts community and a spiritual community) as emblems of pluralistic sites. Our goal here is to deepen the theoretical lenses through which we assess such spaces as community-based educational sites, offering ethnographic data drawn from two sites situated in urban areas.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the messages that a university transmits to prospective students during a particular campus tour and discuss the ways that members of a university communicate their expectations with respect to becoming contributing members of the academic community.
Abstract: This study examines the messages that a university transmits to prospective students during a particular ritual—the campus tour. Specifically, the article discusses the ways that members of a university communicate their expectations with respect to becoming contributing members of the academic community. Three community discourses serve as the theoretical foundation for the analysis. The conclusion discusses ways that rituals could be examined and modified to create multicultural and democratic communities.
79 citations
Journal Article•
62 citations
TL;DR: The authors describes how a team of urban middle school educators in Philadelphia were developing a dual-language program to address the needs of their low-income, predominantly Puerto Rican population, and demonstrates how the structural, sociolinguistic, and ideological context influenced the way that this bilingual program functioned on the local level.
Abstract: This article describes how a team of urban middle school educators in Philadelphia were developing a dual-language program to address the needs of their low-income, predominantly Puerto Rican population. It demonstrates how the structural, sociolinguistic, and ideological context influenced the way that this bilingual program functioned on the local level, and it challenges the dichotomous thinking that characterizes most discussions of bilingual education.
58 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a true story about a Chinese teacher who applied an innovative pedagogy in her rural hometown in mainland China is described, revealing the highly complex and often dangerous remaking of ideologies and power relations inherent in pedagogical reform as a microcosm of other concomitant changes in the society at large.
Abstract: This article is based on a true story about a Chinese teacher who applied an innovative pedagogy in her rural hometown in mainland China. It unfolds the highly complex and often dangerous remaking of ideologies and power relations inherent in pedagogical reform as a microcosm of other concomitant changes in the society at large. It also reflects the inadequacy of teacher education in preparing teachers to survive the micropolitics of the seemingly neutral or beneficial-to-all education reform.
55 citations
TL;DR: A study conducted on a university campus in the Northwest showed how men and women students position themselves differently for careers, marriage, and parenthood while sharing an ideology of gender difference as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the United States, female college students enter less prestigious occupations and earn far less than their male counterparts. Though some employers may discriminate against women, the “gender gap” in the workplace is also fostered by decisions made by women college students themselves. A study conducted on a university campus in the Northwest shows how men and women students position themselves differently for careers, marriage, and parenthood while sharing an ideology of gender difference.
43 citations
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TL;DR: The literature of higher education and campus rhetoric convey the impression that academic change is rampant as mentioned in this paper, however, the qualitative research community appears to avoid studies of the academy and the reasons for a collective "averted gaze" are examined.
Abstract: The literature of higher education and campus rhetoric convey the impression that academic change is rampant. Organizational gridlock and exceptionally limited change are more apt characterizations of campus life. Ethnographic studies of change in the academy would help to determine the validity of both assertions. The qualitative research community, however, appears to avoid studies of the academy. Reasons for a collective "averted gaze" are here examined.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a high school history teacher, wrote a series of stories about school experiences, using them as departure points for discussing, thinking, and writing about her ongoing practice in collaboration with the author.
Abstract: This article traces a systematic, respectful process for using narrative materials as vehicles for teachers' professional development. Ann, a high school history teacher, wrote a series of stories about school experiences, using them as departure points for discussing, thinking, and writing about her ongoing practice in collaboration with the author. The article outlines in detail the methods of narrative inquiry the author employed to safeguard Ann's voice and perspective while supporting her in critical reflection and changed practices.
TL;DR: The post-oppositional identity work of urban high school students is described in this article, where a central figure who forged symbolic and social links that enabled the youths to construct "true" selves and to express identities in ethical relation to others is described.
Abstract: The postoppositional identity work of urban high school students is described The youths had engaged in oppositional identity work that led to breakages with their worlds Lona was a central figure who forged symbolic and social links that enabled the youths to construct “true” selves and to express identities in ethical relation to others Lona's links engendered a politics of reconciliation that empowered marginalized youths to resituate their selves within, and transform, their worlds
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how African American women community college students portray their attempts to achieve upward social mobility via college attendance, focusing on the role of interpersonal relationships in this process.
Abstract: This article describes how African American women community college students portray their attempts to achieve upward social mobility via college attendance. We focus in particular on the role of interpersonal relationships in this process. All kinds of supportive relationships are seen as important, but unsupportive friends and faculty are generally ignored. However, unsupportive family members present real obstacles to the ability and desires of these women to achieve their educational goals.
TL;DR: This article examined some Japanese children's experiences at a U.S. elementary school, as well as their teachers' pedagogical responses, concluding that two discourses of difference, individual difference and social/cultural difference, worked against those children who had difficulty adjusting.
Abstract: This article examines some Japanese children's experiences at a U.S. elementary school, as well as their teachers' pedagogical responses. Two discourses of difference—“individual difference” and “social/cultural difference”—were used in the school in somewhat dichotomous ways, and the combination worked against those children who had difficulty adjusting. A third pedagogic discourse of difference needs to be constructed to aid teachersfacing essentializing dilemmas.
TL;DR: This paper examined the role that education plays in influencing Turkish immigrant girls' choice between a more secular and a more religious nationalism and found that their choice can be linked to the existence of strong forms of nationalism within their country of origin and to the concrete reality of the immigrant context.
Abstract: In this article, I examine the role that education plays in influencing Turkish immigrant girls' choice between a more secular and a more religious nationalism. Their choice can be linked to the existence of strong forms of nationalism within their country of origin and to the concrete reality of the immigrant context. Education proves to play a decisive role for immigrant girls in defining their places within a specific nationalistic worldview and, as a result, within Western society.
TL;DR: This paper investigated how classroom communicative competence was defined in a multilingual preschool classroom and identified problems that teachers face when they attempt to value the children's home languages at the same time that they socialize them into U.S. English-speaking classrooms.
Abstract: This article investigates how classroom communicative competence was defined in a multilingual preschool classroom. Sociolinguistic analysis of a conflict event, and the larger classroom context, reveals the norms and values that influenced the behaviors of an English-speaking teacher, bilingual teaching assistant, and two Chinese-speaking preschoolers. The article identifies problems that teachers face when they attempt to value the children's home languages at the same time that they socialize them into U.S. English-speaking classrooms.
TL;DR: In this article, Bakhtin's theory of speech genres is applied to classroom discourse as a composite genre that reflects the history of teaching in each locality, and the analysis of a lesson observed in a rural school in Mexico shows how genres drawn from a variety of sources convey different sorts of knowledge.
Abstract: This article accentuates the cultural/historical nature of teaching. Drawing on Bakhtin's theory of speech genres, it approaches classroom discourse as a composite genre that reflects the history of teaching in each locality. The analysis of a lesson observed in a rural school in Mexico shows how genres drawn from a variety of sources convey different sorts of knowledge as they are woven into ongoing classroom conversation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that domestic violence is thoroughly embedded in the lives of a group of poor, white, middle school males living in an urban section of the postindustrial Northeast, and that institutions around which their lives were patterned become implicated in the normalization of abusive behavior.
Abstract: In this research, I contend that domestic violence is thoroughly embedded in the lives of a group of poor, white, middle school males living in an urban section of the postindustrial Northeast. The scope of the investigation spans one year of observation and interviews with 18 poor youth as they went about their days—at their bilingual school, on neighborhood streets, and in the local community center. By not disrupting the violent attitudes and tendencies expressed among those boys, I argue, the institutions around which their lives were patterned become implicated in the normalization of abusive behavior.
TL;DR: The authors describe a class entitled "Cultural Issues" in an affluent, predominantly white high school responding to recent neo-Nazi incidents, arguing that in focusing on cultural issues around the world rather than those close at hand, the course depoliticized ethnic difference and left unchallenged white privileging at the levels of classroom, school, and community.
Abstract: Describing a class entitled “Cultural Issues,” this article is drawn from an ethnographic study of an affluent, predominantly white high school responding to recent neo-Nazi incidents. I argue that in focusing on cultural issues around the world rather than those close at hand, the course depoliticized ethnic difference and left unchallenged white privileging at the levels of classroom, school, and community. This neutralizing urge is traced to collective emotions of shame and guilt, which prompted well-intentioned efforts to bolster the school's reputation but prohibited critical exploration of inequity and conflict.
TL;DR: The politics and poetics of place are central to anthropological practice as discussed by the authors and place is a social not physical configuration and is, as Arjun Appardurai (1997) argues, always a "work-in-progress".
Abstract: The politics and poetics of place are central to anthropological practice. Place, as both metaphor and actuality, is a social not physical configuration and is, as Arjun Appardurai (1997) argues, always a "work-in-progress." Thus, for anthropologists the "place" that we are from and the "place" that we go to do our fieldwork are not finished, preserved spaces. Instead, both of these places have porous borders, ever changing features, wide-ranging trajectories, and flexible boundaries. Though our lived experiences of a particular place are often powerful and distinct, place is never just lived in a simple, essential fashion. The ways in which we know and experience a particular place-whether a place we come from, a place we go to, or a place we have never been-are also caught up in how that place is represented to us. For example, a place we have never been can feel familiar and comforting because we "know" it through its representation. An acquaintance of mine commented that the first time he visited New York City he felt immediately at home; he "knew" the place because he watched so many movies and television shows that use New York as a setting. As travelers (whether as anthropologists or as tourists) we too "know" the places we are going, through films, academic books, the personal experiences of friends and family, and/or tourist pamphlets and travel books.
TL;DR: In this paper, a panorama anthropologique de son experience en tant qu'enseignant en anglais, observateur privilegie de la vie et du systeme educatif sri lankais.
Abstract: L'auteur presente succinctement les resultats de sa recherche en education dans une des regions les plus reculees et les moins developpees du Sri Lanka. Il propose un panorama anthropologique de son experience en tant qu'enseignant en anglais, observateur privilegie de la vie et du systeme educatif sri lankais.
TL;DR: In this paper, les histoires narrees par l'auteur a propos de ses experiences in Zimbabwe se recentrent autour de deux principaux themes qui sont intimement lies.
Abstract: Dans cet article, les histoires narrees par l'auteur a propos de ses experiences au Zimbabwe se recentrent autour de deux principaux themes qui sont intimement lies. Le premier montre tous les avantages de l'immersion culturelle en tant qu'experience d'apprentissage unique et valorisante. Le second demontre que l'enseignement dans une autre culture peut etre extremement benefique dans le cadre d'une reflexion introspective sur ses propres pratiques pedagogiques et sa philosophie.
TL;DR: The lives and stories of urban teenagers are described in this article, with a focus on gang life, peer power, and identity, and the meaning of the word 'peer' and 'peer'.
Abstract: Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity. Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998. 257 pp.
Angels' Town: Chero Ways, Gang Life, and Rhetorics of the Everyday. Ralph Cintron. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997. 264 pp.
Everyday Courage: The Lives and Stories of Urban Teenagers. Niobe Way. New York: New York University Press, 1998. 310 pp.
At Home in the Street: Street Children of Northeast Brazil. Tobias Hecht. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 267 pp.
TL;DR: This article explored Fast's two main themes and highlighted the need for similar learning opportunities for teachers even when they cannot travel to foreign countries or visit unfamiliar cultures, and pointed out that there is much for any reader to contemplate and better understand about teaching and learning in any culture.
Abstract: Having had the opportunity to observe in classrooms throughout Zimbabwe as an external examiner about ten years ago and having spent time in other African countries since then, I found myself closely connecting to Fast's stories of living and teaching in Zimbabwe. If readers have not had the opportunity to immerse themselves in a foreign culture, Fast's stories may, on the surface, appear intriguing but distant from their own lives and ways of functioning. From these appealing stories, however, there is much for any reader to contemplate and better understand about teaching and learning in any culture. In my response, I will explore Fast's two main themes and highlight the need for similar learning opportunities for teachers even when they cannot travel to foreign countries or visit unfamiliar cultures.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The Struggle of Latino/Latina University Students: In Search of a liberating education as mentioned in this paper, by Felix M. Padilla and James D. Vigil, 1997. 160 pp.
Abstract: Personas Mexicanas: Chicano High Schoolers in a Changing Los Angeles. James Diego Vigil. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1997. 160 pp.
The Struggle of Latino/Latina University Students: In Search of a liberating Education. Felix M. Padilla. New York Routledge, 1997. 245 pp.
TL;DR: Dobrev et al. as discussed by the authors argue that the dominance of U.S. popular culture has created a kind of youth so much engrossed in what is happening in that romanticized world far away that they have lost sight of the present world in which they live.
Abstract: Nadine Dolby's essay paints a fascinating picture of her experiences with students of a multiracial high school in South Africa. In this brief commentary I will focus on three observations, albeit giving unequal attention to each, that this essay raises for me. My first observation is that the author offers some important insights regarding the powerful influence of the "intense globalization of media culture." Media culture, among other things, presents the notion of place in a manner that impacts not just one's perspectives on/perceptions of place but also the very nature of reality construction and the development of a worldview. In South Africa-as in most other developing countries-this influence is epitomized by (though not limited to) the dominance of U.S. popular culture, which bombards and impacts youth culture and the way that young people perceive the world in general, including the world in their very own backyards.' I would argue that the dominance of U.S. popular culture has created a kind of youth so much engrossed in what is happening in that romanticized world far away that they have lost sight of the present world in which they live. In fact, the very world that these "Americanized" youths live in is seen and experienced through the lens of U.S. culture; and thus the notion of place assumes a state of flux. So it becomes less astonishing when the author encounters students who are "ambivalent about the end of apartheid," "credited F. W. de Klerk with ending apartheid," and know little about "the decades of organized political resistance that preceded de Klerk's freeing of Mandela in 1990"-because their "world" is totally removed from the one they physically inhabit, replaced by preoccupations with the one to which they aspire and through which they navigate mentally via the lifestyles that they exhibit in their everyday lives. This replacement culminates in a situation whereby we have young people who have no sense of who they are, where they come from, and how the present has been shaped by the past and who have a general lack of knowledge of their own culture. Clearly there is something inherently wrong with people who have no appreciation of their own culture (and history) but are quick to embrace (certain segments of) other people's culture. I would go so far as to argue that some of the problems that