Search results for "ethnography."
showing 10 items of 312 documents
Constructing relational space in early childhood education
2014
This paper examines early childhood education (ECE) by applying and developing relational-spatial perspectives on everyday life in educational institutions for young children. The aim is to investigate the dynamic process of construction of space and to illustrate with selected empirical episodes how this process occurs in ECE. Drawing on authors such as Soja and Bourdieu, the starting point for the analysis is that space is socially produced in everyday interactions in a process that intertwines the physical environment and concrete objects, personal interpretations of physical and cultural space, and cultural and collective views about space in ECE. We illustrate this process with ethnogr…
The teacher's lap – a site of emotional well-being for the younger children in day-care groups
2014
This study focuses on a particular relationship between teachers and one- to three-year-old children: the child in the teacher's lap. When, in what situations, does this happen? Who are the children in the teacher's lap? Why are they there? How do children express emotional well-being when in the teacher's lap? Relational, sociocultural and revised attachment approaches to emotional well-being supplied the theoretical framework of the study. Data were collected by ethnographic methods and analysed qualitatively. Two day-care groups in Finland participated. For most of the day, at least one child was in a teacher's lap. The teacher's lap signified, for example, not only consolation and confi…
Flexibly Scheduled Early Childhood Education and Care: Finnish Mothers’ and Educators’ Perceptions on Young Children’s Experiences and Child-Responsi…
2018
The study explores Finnish mothers' and educators' perceptions on young children's experiences and child-responsive practices related to flexibly-scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC). Data were gathered by ethnography-based interviews with mothers and educators of oneto three-year-old children attending this form of ECEC and qualitatively analysed using the method of inductive content analysis. According to the interviewees, young children experienced a multitude of feelings related to flexibly-scheduled ECEC, ranging from the undesirable, such as strain, distress and confusion, to the desirable, such as comfort, satisfaction and understanding. The children's feelings were as…
Kindergarten space and autonomy in construction - Explorations during team ethnography in a Finnish kindergarten
2018
Abstract Children’s autonomy is a cultural ideal in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). In this article we examine autonomy in spatial terms. The theoretical background is developed by applying spatial sociology. Our starting point is that space is relationally produced, thus, we understand space as continuously negotiated, reconstructed and reorganized phenomena. In this article, we investigate the production of space by different actors in ECEC and seek to show how autonomy is also continuously produced and re-produced in the negotiation of space. For this investigation we use data collected as part of a team ethnographic project in a Finnish kindergarten. The project inclu…
Spaces of encounter–displacement: contemporary labour migrants' return visits to latvia
2014
The context of this paper is return visits to the homeland of labour migrants in Europe. The paper draws on data from the author's ethnographic fieldwork on the island of Guernsey and in Latvia dur...
Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research
2020
Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research: Ethnography with a Twist seeks to rethink ethnography ‘outside the box’ of its previous tradition and to develop ethnographic methods by critically discussing the process, ethics, impact and knowledge production in ethnographic research. This interdisciplinary edited volume argues for a ‘twist’ that supports openness, courage, and creativity to develop and test innovative and unconventional ways of thinking and doing ethnography. ‘Ethnography with a twist’ means both an intentional aim to conduct ethnographic research with novel approaches and methods but also sensitivity to recognize and creativity to utilize different kinds of ‘twist mome…
Rules and agreements — And becoming a preschool community of learners
2005
SUMMARY The study presented here discusses rules and agreements in a preschool group from the viewpoint of the development of a community of learners. What kinds of rules and agreements exist in the preschool group, how they are articulated and how they are adopted at the beginning of the preschool year were the questions addressed in this small-scale ethnographic study. Three types of rules, often called agreements in preschools, were found in the group: conventional, moral and prudential rules. Conventional rules were mentioned and referred to most frequently, by both teachers and children. The most typical way of articulating a rule was stating the rule or reminding others of it. Many ru…
Ethnographic Monitoring: Hymes's Unfinished Business in Educational Research
2011
This essay describes the process of Hymesian monitoring, a collaborative effort to understand voice in education, so crucial in Hymes's later work. A report of ethnographic monitoring in 1970s Philadelphia and a recent collaborative project in the Caribbean demonstrate how one can work from the voice of the pupil, through that of the analyst toward that of the teacher and back, checking what each party brought into the analysis and treating each of these voices as legitimate. [Hymes, ethnographic monitoring, Philadelphia, Barbados, ethnopoetics]
When care situations evoke difficult emotions in nursing staff members: an ethnographic study in two Norwegian nursing homes
2015
Background Caring practice in nursing homes is a complex topic, especially the challenges of meeting the basic needs of residents when their behaviour evokes difficult emotions. Cognitive and physical changes related to aging and disability can contribute to behaviours considered to be unacceptable. For example, resident behaviours such as spitting, making a mess with food or grinding teeth are behaviours that most people do not want to see, hear or experience. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how nursing home staff members deal with such behaviours in care situations. Methods This article draws on ethnographic data to describe how nursing home staff members manag…
The effects of the English language on the cultural identity of Chinese university students
2011
Tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää kuinka englannin kieli on vaikuttanut kiinalaisten yliopistotason englannin pääaineopiskelijoiden kulttuuri-identiteettiin. Englannin kieltä Kiinassa on tutkittu paljon, mutta ei juurikaan kulttuurin ja kulttuuri-identiteetin kannalta. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii vastaamaan seuraaviin kysymyksiin: 1) Onko englannin kielen lisääntynyt vaikutus Kiinassa vaikuttanut kiinalaiseen kulttuuriin ja ihmisiin? Jos on, koetaanko muutokset positiivisina vai negatiivisina, ja vaikuttavatko ne jotenkin kiinalaisten kulttuuri-identiteettiin? 2) Ovatko yliopisto-opiskelijoiden omat asenteet kiinalaista kulttuuria kohtaan muuttuneet englannin kielen ja läntisen kulttuurin vaik…