This book is about schooling in the U.S. from the particular point of view of ethnography. It tries to show how ethnography, as the field arm of anthropology, can give fresh insights into perplexing educational problems.

Following a brief introduction to the nature and history of ethnography, Walford considers questions of site selection, access, and ethics in research. Each chapter is illustrated with practical examples for the authors' own works.

This book engages readers via the international contributions from “home” field sites around the world and international authors. Importantly, the various chapters address a wide spectrum of educational contexts – ranging from higher education, to K-12 public and private schools, to prison schools. The realistic accounts portrayed in each of the chapters address how local collaborations are instantiated through the research process, from access and data collection to the write-up phases. The major themes that emerge across the chapters highlight 1) positionality and negotiation of multiple roles, i.e., researcher, educator, colleague, friend, community member; 2) reconciling multiple, hybrid, and intersectional identities with varying insider/outsider statuses vis-à-vis research participants; 3) resulting power dynamics in connection to relational identities – sometimes conflicting, consolidating, equalizing, and/or elevating; 4) innovative methodological responses to these dilemmas; and 5) integrated research designs and research ethics, offering possibilities for participation and insights on the social impact of research findings. The book’s chapters thus individually and collectively treat and resolve local ways of doing home (field) work and highlight the creation and sharing of knowledge among researchers and research participants.

Ethnography is a distinctive approach for educational research. The authors argue that the last decade has seen ethnography come of age, not only as a way of doing research, but also as a way of theorizing and making sense of the world. Their approach is concerned with ethnography as process and ethnography as product. This critical celebration of ethnography explores what it can achieve in educational research. The book features: Thorough discussion of definitions of ethnography and its potential for use within educational research Critical introductions to the principal approaches to ethnography Discussions of data analysis and representation and of the challenges facing ethnography Use of educational examples from real research projects throughout. The book offers a distinctive contribution to the literature of ethnography, taking readers beyond a simplistic "how to" approach towards an understanding of the wider contribution ethnography can make to our understanding of educational processes. Ethnography for Education is of value to final-year undergraduates and postgraduates in education and social science disciplines as well as education professionals engaged in practice-based research. Christopher Pole is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Leicester. His research interests are in the areas of the sociology of education, sociology of childhood and the development of qualitative research methods. Recent publications include Practical Social Investigation: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Social Research and Hidden Hands: International Perspectives on Children's Work and Labour. Marlene Morrison is Reader in Education Leadership and Director of the Doctorate of Education programme at the University of Lincoln. Her academic background is in the sociology of education and includes research on race equality, health education, perspectives on educational policy and practice, and the ethnography of educational settings. She has researched widely in the education that has included school, further and higher education sectors, and other public services.

The following articles on ethnography and education are presented: (1) "A Retrospective Discussion of the State of the Art in Ethnography in Education," by P. Gilmore and D. M. Smith; (2) "Ethnography in Education: Defining the Essentials," by S. B. Heath; (3) "The Structure of Classroom Events and Their Consequences for Student Performance," by H. Mehan; (4) "Where's the Floor? Aspects of the Cultural Organization of Social Relationships in Communication at Home and in School," by J. Schultz, S. Florio, and F. Erickson; (5) "Combining Ethnographic and Quantitative Approaches: Suggestions and Examples from a Study on Puerto Rico," by E. Jacob; (6) "Competing Value Systems in the Inner-City Schools," by W. Labov; (7) "Ethnography of Children's Folklore," by R. Bauman; (8) "Play Theory of the Rich and for the Poor," by B. Sutton-Smith; (9) "Four Comments," by C. Cazden; (10) "An Educator's Perspective: Ethnography in the Educational Community," by R. Scanlon; (11) "Institutionalized Psychology and the Ethnography of Schooling," by R. McDermott and L. Hood; (12) "Anthropologists in Schools: School Ethnography and Ethnology," by P. Sanday. (AMH)

In this book, Fitzpatrick and May make the case for a reimagined approach to critical ethnography in education. Working with an expansive understanding of critical, they argue that many researchers already do the kind of critical ethnography suggested in this book, whether they call their studies critical or not. Drawing on a wide range of educational studies, the authors demonstrate that a methodology that is lived, embodied, and personal--and fundamentally connected to notions of power--is essential to exploring and understanding the many social and political issues facing education today. By grounding studies in work that reimagines, troubles, and questions notions of power, injustice, inequity, and marginalization, such studies engage with the tenets of critical ethnography. Offering a wide-ranging and insightful commentary on the influences of critical ethnography over time, Fitzpatrick and May interrogate the ongoing theoretical developments, including poststructuralism, postcolonialism, and posthumanism. With extensive examples, excerpts, and personal discussions, the book thus repositions critical ethnography as an expansive, eclectic, and inclusive methodology that has a great deal to offer educational inquiries. Overviewing theoretical and methodological arguments, the book provides insight into issues of ethics and positionality as well as an in-depth focus on how ethnographic research illuminates such topics as racism, language, gender and sexuality in educational settings. It is essential reading for students, scholars, and researchers in qualitative inquiry, ethnography, educational anthropology, educational research methods, sociology of education, and philosophy of education.

A Companion to the Anthropology of Education presents a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the field, exploring the social and cultural dimension of educational processes in both formal and nonformal settings. Explores theoretical and applied approaches to cultural practice in a diverse range of educational settings around the world, in both formal and non-formal contexts Includes contributions by leading educational anthropologists Integrates work from and on many different national systems of scholarship, including China, the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Colombia, Mexico, India, the United Kingdom, and Denmark Examines the consequences of history, cultural diversity, language policies, governmental mandates, inequality, and literacy for everyday educational processes