Ethnography, the Self, and the Image: Rethinking How we Use the Tools of Anthropology in Educational Research

• In Event: (Re)Imagining Social Studies Educational Research While Under Attack: Interrogating Methodologies to Repair Harm

Abstract

The author of this paper centers the notions of the self and the image to decolonize the traditional use of ethnography. He describes an ethnographic case study conducted with white, Midwestern middle and high school teachers who mainly taught African American students. The case study was employed to understand these teachers’ relationships in the classroom. The author used Carspecken’s (1996) conceptualization of critical ethnography as a framework for this study as well as photo-elicitation as a method to enhance his inquiry. The concept of self is demonstrated through the author’s exploration of his own positionality and through the featured teacher’s interrogation of his own whiteness. This presentation also describes how photo elicitation, an example of photo methods, helped teachers interact with photos of their practice and theorize about their teaching.

Author

• Michael L. Boucher, Texas A&M University - San Antonio