Performance Pedagogy through Visual Ethnography: Examples from College Life

• In Event: Communities of Practice: Negotiating Identities in Church, College, a Small Town, and a Family of Fisherman

Abstract

I present findings from a photo-ethnography and explicate how similar projects can inform pedagogical praxis. As part of a three-year ethnographic study of student life, I asked students to take photographs of objects and scenes that represent their college experience. Two themes—home and economy—are central to students’ everyday cares and concerns. I present these themes and suggest that educators should use similar projects, along with performance pedagogy theory, to contextualize classroom discussions.

Author

• Craig Engstrom, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale