STUDIESINEDUCATIONALETHNOGRAPHY VOLUME10 IDENTITY, AGENCY AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN EDUCATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY EDITEDBY GEOFF TROMAN OpenUniversity,U.K. BOB JEFFREY OpenUniversity,U.K. GEOFFREY WALFORD OxfordUniversity,U.K. 2004 Amsterdam–Boston–Heidelberg–London–NewYork–Oxford Paris–SanDiego–SanFrancisco–Singapore–Sydney–Tokyo IDENTITY, AGENCY AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN EDUCATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY STUDIES IN EDUCATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY Series Editor: Geoffrey Walford Volume1: ChildrenLearninginContext–Editors:Geoffrey WalfordandAlexanderMassey Volume2: ExplorationsinMethodology–Editors:Alexander MasseyandGeoffreyWalford Volume3: GendersandSexualitiesinEducationalEthnography– Editors:GeoffreyWalfordandCarolineHudson Volume4: EthnographyandEducationalPolicy–Editor: GeoffreyWalford Volume5: CriticalEthnographyandEducation–Editors: PhilFrancisCarspeckenandGeoffreyWalford Volume6: DebatesandDevelopmentsinEthnographic Methodology–Editor:GeoffreyWalford Volume7: DoingaDoctorateinEducationalEthnography– Editor:GeoffreyWalford Volume8: InvestigatingEducationalPolicyThrough Ethnography–Editor:GeoffreyWalford Volume9: Ethnographies of Educational and Cultural Conflicts: Strategies and Resolutions – Editors: Bob Jeffrey and GeoffreyWalford ELSEVIERB.V. 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ISBN:0-7623-1144-4 ISSN:1529-210X(Series) ∞(cid:1)ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstherequirementsofANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992(PermanenceofPaper).Printedin TheNetherlands. CONTENTS PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION Geoff TromanandBobJeffrey ix ARELATIONALAPPROACHONCHILDRENINTHECITY: THEIMPORTANCEOFPUBLICSPACE,NON-PLACESAND EPHEMERALRELATIONSHIPSFORLEARNING RuthSoenen 1 THECONSTRUCTIONOFIDENTITYONTHEINTERNET:A STUDYOFSWEDISHYOUNGPEOPLE’S SELF-PRESENTATIONINAWEBCOMMUNITY FarzanehMoinian 21 GOD’SGYPSYANDGOD’SENFORCER:THE EDUCATIONALSIGNIFICANCEOFCONSTRUCTIONSOF MOTHERHOODANDMOTHER-DAUGHTERRELATIONS JanetDonnellJohnson 43 HOWSTUDENTS,THEHOMEANDTHESCHOOLMEDIATE ISSUESRELATEDTOHOMEANDSCHOOL:ADYNAMIC OFDISTANCE? CarolineHudson 71 ANETHNOGRAPHICSTUDYOFGENDERDIFFERENCES: RACIALINTEGRATIONINSOUTHAFRICANSECONDARY SCHOOLS JongiKlaas 85 v vi WHYCAN’TWEJUSTDOMATH?EXPLORINGTHE TENSIONSWITHINTHEIN-BETWEENSPACEOFA CULTURALLYRESPONSIVECURRICULUM JoanParkerWebsterandJerryLipka 103 NEWAIMSANDOLDPROBLEMSINSWEDISHSCHOOLS: FLEXIBILITY,FREEDOMOFCHOICEAND SELF-RELIANCEINLEARNINGASPARTOFSOCIAL REPRODUCTION MarianneDovemarkandDennisBeach 123 LABSANDTHEQUALITYOFLEARNINGINSCHOOL SCIENCE:SCHOOLS,LABSANDCREATIVITY DennisBeach 141 THERESTRUCTURINGOFSWEDISHADULTEDUCATION: THEINVOLVEMENTOFECONOMISTSANDPOLITICIANS INEDUCATIONPOLICY MarieCarlson 163 THROUGHTHELOOKINGGLASSANDWHAT ETHNOGRAPHYFINDSTHERE:CRITICALINSIGHTSINTO THENEWDEALFORYOUNGPEOPLE’SVOLUNTARY SECTOROPTION GerryMitchell 187 “IGOTOGETAWAYFROMTHECOCKROACHES”: EDUCENTRICITYANDTHEPOLITICSOFEDUCATIONIN PRISONS AnitaWilson 205 ABOUTTHEAUTHORS 223 PREFACE Ethnography has become one of the major methods of researching educational settings. Its key strength is its emphasis on understanding the perceptions and culturesofthepeopleandorganizationsstudied.Throughprolongedinvolvement withthosewhoarebeingstudied,theethnographicresearcherisablegraduallyto entertheirworldandgainanunderstandingoftheirlives. Each volume of Studies in Educational Ethnography focuses on a particular theme relating to the ethnographic investigation of education. The volumes are closelylinkedtoanannualtwo-dayresidentialconferencewhichexploresvarious elementsofethnographyanditsapplicationtoeducationandschooling.These- riesofEthnographyandEducationconferencesbeganinthelate1970s,andwas originallyheldatSt.Hilda’sCollege,OxfordUniversity.Theserieslatermoved to the University of Warwick and then back to the Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford in 1996. Each year a broad theme for the confer- ence is chosen and participants are invited to contribute papers. The conference meetingitselfisaperiodofsharedwork:papersarepre-circulatedtoparticipants andcriticallyyetsupportivelydiscussedduringtheconference.Intheirrevisions forpossiblepublication,participantsarethusabletotakeaccountofthedetailed critiqueofferedbytheircolleagues. ThecontributionspresentedinthisvolumeofStudiesinEducationalEthnogra- phyarerevisedversionsofpaperspresentedatthe2003OxfordEthnographyand Education conference. They are selected on the basis of their high quality, their coherenceasagroupandtheircontributiontobothethnographicmethodologyand substantiveknowledge. The series recognizes that the nature of ethnography is contested, and this is takentobeasignofitsstrengthandvitality.Whiletheideathatthetermcanbe takentobealmostsynonymouswithqualitativeresearchisrejected,chaptersare includedthatdrawuponabroadrangeofmethodologiesthatareembeddedwithin alonganddetailedengagementwiththosepeopleandorganizationsstudied. Further details of the Oxford Ethnography and Education conference or the StudiesinEducationalEthnographyseriesofvolumesareavailablefromtheSeries Editor. GeoffreyWalford SeriesEditor vii INTRODUCTION Geoff Troman and Bob Jeffrey Theprimefocusonthesocialprocessesofschoolingwithineducationalethnog- raphy has tended to marginalise or eschew, the importance of other “informal” educational sites. Other social institutions, such as family, community, media andpopularculture,workandprisonsaresalientarenasinwhichbehavioursand lives are regulated. They all interrelate and are all implicated in the generation, managementanddevelopmentofsocialidentitiesandthesocialandculturalre- productionofstructuresandrelations.Individuals,though,arenotmerelyshaped by these social institutions, their agency is evident in the way they creatively adaptandaccommodatetothetensionsandconstraintsofeconomic,educational and social policies. The maintenance of self in these situations requires identity work involving mediation, conflict, contestation and modes of resistance, which oftencontributetoacontinualreconstructionofsituationsandcontexts. This volume of Studies in Educational Ethnography focuses on identity and agencyinarangeofsocialinstitutionsineducationalethnography.Thecontrib- utors explore these themes in a wide rage of international contexts including; Belgium,Sweden,NorthAmerica,SouthAfricaandEngland.Theydemonstrate the capacity of educational ethnography to provide accounts of participants’ perspectivesandunderstandingstohighlighttheagencyofeducationalsubjects. InthefirstchapterRuthSoenenexplorestheeverydayrelationshipsofchildren inthecontextofAntwerp,amulticulturalEuropeancity,baseduponlongitudinal ethnographic study into the social relationships of city-dwellers, within a framework of community and conflict. In this research different city-dwellers were interviewed about their social relationships, a small number of individual city-dwellerswerefollowedintheireverydaylifeandparticipantobservationwas done in shops, in their homes and on public transport. Though the main focus wasonsocialrelationships,specialattentionwasgiventocrosscuttingties,across delineated social groups and geographical boundaries. The chapter focuses on children,andtheireverydaysocialrelationshipsinpublicspace(pavements,shops andpublictransport)andtheirinteractionswithtelevisionandPlayStationsinthe privatespaceofhome.Theurbanenvironmentandthesphereofmasscommodities ix x INTRODUCTION andcommunicationsareoftenseenasbeingofnolearningpotential.ButSoenen questions these anti-urban and anti-mass-culture sentiments, and finds there are spacesforephemeralandhorizontalrelationships,emergingcompetencies,prac- ticesandformsofbelonging.Shearguesthatchildrencanusetheircompetencies in both a positive or negative way in everyday life in the multicultural city. As social actors in their own right children are seen to contribute to conflicts but at thesametimetheirpresencecanenhancetemporaryformsofbelongingbetween differentpeople. Farzaneh Moinian’s chapter examines how some children and teenagers design self-presentations and construct their own identities and lives on the Internet.RecentlytherehavebeenanumberofresearcherswhonotethatInternet Communicationstechnologyhasthepotentialtogivechildrenaccesstoanarena wheretheycantranscendtheirmarginalizedpositioninthephysicalworld,while also being afforded the chance to make their voices heard in a global arena. Moinian explores children’s perspectives on their lives and schooling as it is presentedforotherchildrenandpeergroups.Shegainsan“insidepicture”ofthe thoughts,feelingsandconditionsofchildrenandyoungpeoplethroughstudying the texts and diaries they create on an open website: “Youngsters.” They are writtenbychildrenforotherchildrenandyoungpeople.Theyarenotwrittento fulfilanyadultorresearcher’srequest.“Youngsters”is,atthemoment,themost popularwebsiteamongyoungpeopleinSwedenandMoinianjoinedittogather the data. Her analysis explores the textual material created by young people and thus contribute to an understanding of the lives of children, their attitudes towardstheirownlifeandschoolinaverycomplexandrapidlychangingsociety. This research is methodologically interesting given that the data was accessed throughtheInternet. In her chapter Janet Donnell Johnson argues that much of the discourse in literature concerning teenage girls today focuses on body image and self mutilation,sexuality,andwaysforparents,counsellors,orteacherstocopewith their suddenly mysterious and sullen girls. These books view girls as “broken” and needing to be fixed through understanding, counselling, or other types of interventionstrategies.DonnellJohnson,however,explorestheseissuesthrough the girls’ perspectives on themselves, instead of how the outsider/expert sees them. She examines how teenage girls from working-class homes construct theiridentitiesthroughsignifyingpracticesthatexpressagencyandresistanceto cultural expectations of them as young, female, and working-class. The sample consistsofgirlsinanalternativehighschoolinMid-WesterntownintheU.S.A. whowere“at-risk”ofdroppingoutofschoolandsawthisphaseofschoolingas theirlastchancetogetahighschooldiploma.Theauthorfoundthatthemajorityof thegirls(16–18yearolds)camefrom“dysfunctional”familiesandhadlong-term