Activist Network Ethnography: A Methodology for Documenting and Supporting Social Movements for Public Education

• In Event: Ethnographic and Participatory Approaches for Understating Multiple Facets of Educational Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential to use activist network ethnography to document and support social movements for educational justice. Activist network ethnography builds on the methods of multi-sited ethnography and network ethnography, as well the theoretical frameworks of critical and constructivist ethnography. This paper reviews the methodological benefits, challenges, and ethical complexities of using activist network ethnography to document social movements. It further offers insights from a research project using activist network ethnography to trace cultural processes within a national network of teachers organizing for educational justice. Lastly, it suggests potential future applications for the methodology of activist network ethnography to support educators’ and community members’ visions for public education.

Author

• Lauren Stark, University of Virginia