Thesis (M.Ed.(Educational Psychology)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

D.Ed. (Didactic Education) / The school, society (from a cultural perspective) and the tension between forces of commonality and diversity form the theme of this thesis. The problem ofthis research revolves around the question of how the tension between commonality and diversity manifests itself in the school. The aims of the research are as follows: to identify elements which seek commonality and create diversity, which in the cultural context lead to tension in the community; to describe the way in which this tension manifests itself in the school; and to summarise the universal reaction of the school to this tension in categories which may serve as a model according to which the school can be studied. The results are as follows: a full array of elements through the ages could be identified which, because ofchange in the community, caused (causes) tension between commonality and diversity; commonality seeking or diversity creating tendencies influence the school as an instrument of enculturation; the school (of all times) then gives expression to this tension between commonality and diversity by means of dimensions which display specific universal features; these universal features are classifiedanddescribedin four categories: change takes place in the school because ofchange in the community; change gives expression to structuring in the school according to form and content; this takes place to create equilibrium in accordance with tendencies in the community in a situation of tension; and equilibrium is necessary to avert conflict; the four categories arc also interrelated in an equilibrium seeking and conflict averting manner - presumably optimum efficiency AND effectiveness can be reached when the school succeeds in maintaining a balance in the categorial structure; and to be able to do this, the probable option for the school is not an "eitheror" one, but an "and-and" choice - this means that the school should be structured because of changes in the community, in such a manner that it maintains equilibrium between commonality and diversity and simultaneously averts conflict. Finally the categories ofthe reaction ofthe school to the tensions betweencommonality and diversity are described from a South African perspective, in orderto ponray how the South African school adapted to change, how schools arc structured, how the school strives towards equilibrium and how it handles conflict. It again becomes clear that in the South African situation only one school model does not contribute to averting conflict in its equilibrium seeking role. Therefore, a multiple-model approach to both commonality seeking and diversity creating needs of the community, seems probably to be the most desirable option for schools to fulfill their mission.

This study examines the symbolic meaning of education in trades culture. It explores how trades culture in this context is infused with status, and how education is an element of how tradespeople experience status in everyday working life. Education is connected with status in two ways. First, education is associated with prominent status markers, specifically wealth, mental work, and textual authority. Second, in light of these associations, tradespeople see education as having nothing to do with their own lives and work. Trades education does not count as education the same way university does. In its status associations, and perceived irrelevance to trades life, education is a symbol of an elite, prestigious, "insiders" world, of which the trades play little part. This study is located within the interpretive tradition of social inquiry most influentially first articulated by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz. The perspective on status which frames the interpretation owes much to Michael Walzer's philosophical explorations of equality and distributive justice. The empirical basis of the interpretation is drawn from an ethnographic study of a single trades setting in the non-union sector of the building industry. The main participants in the study were a crew of carpenters and other tradespeople building an expensive custom-designed family home. Fieldwork took place between October 1992 and October 1993. Site visits took place several times per week for three to four hours per visit, and involved watching, talking, listening, taking notes and photographs, and helping with routine work tasks. Field observations were augmented by interviews with crew members and other tradespeople. During the interpretive stage of the research process, "backstage tales" and "textual authority" came to be seen as key cultural vehicles for the expression of status in everyday practice. The findings of this study suggest that the exclusive status associations of education in the trades are important to recognize for at least two reasons. First, they are counter to the prevailing discourse about education which emphasizes a direct, positive link between education, economic growth, and employment. Second, the status associations of education connect it not necessarily with knowledge and learning, but with a blockage in the flow of ideas. Because their status is lesser, tradespeople's work is not esteemed, and their conceptual input is seldom recognized, sought or credited. From the vantage point of trades culture, education does not look like the tool for economic success it is often portrayed as being. This perspective is important to take into account, if educational objectives are to be egalitarian, realistic, and able to achieve their desired ends. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Inhabitants of Sumapaz, a mountainous and underpopulated region in the Colombian Eastern Highlands, have been engaged in a longstanding history of social organization for defending their rights as peasants, and protecting themselves from violent processes that endanger their ways of living and their lives. Educational and literacy practices have been an important part of their organization. However, these practices are frequently undervalued or erased because of ideologies that portray peasants as violent, ignorant, and illiterate, or that define them only based on specific forms of production. Based on ethnographic methods, and a reflective and recursive approach, this study reveals specific instances of these ideologies in sources such as stories, films, papers, and speech acts. These sources are interpreted as traceable utterances of specific prejudices that interact with each other. Aiming to reveal literacy and educational practices that go beyond prejudice, the researcher engaged in about one year of participant observation focused on one family and their consociates. Accounts collected during this fieldwork are presented as a journey in which ethnographic vignettes dialogue with a theoretical exploration. Based on this journey, and drawing on theories from Literacy Studies, Glottopolitics, and Anthropology and Education, this study proposes that literacies are a constant becoming of pluralistic repertoires of ways of writing, not necessarily tied to standardized languages. The inhabitants of Sumapaz with whom this study was conducted created organizations, and kept maintaining and challenging them, in a process that can be interpreted as educative in the sense that, in the face of uncertainty and while carrying many sorrows, they assembled actors and sequences in complex dynamics of instruction and deliberation. These dynamics include their environment (páramos), social categories they self-identify with (peasantries), and their constant becoming of ways of writing (literacies).

This thesis explores the experiences of adult immigrant students within four different classes of the course Swedish as a second language (svenska som andraspråk :SAS), which is a standardized course offered around Sweden.  This course is structured by the national school board in Sweden and is aimed as a social policy for integration through language acquisition and learning to navigate Swedish society.  By conducting anthropological research among these students, I sought to uncover more regarding the determinants for success within the course and how students mediate and experience the one-size-fits-all course structure despite the asymmetrically distributed forms of capital within the classroom. Students responded with resentment and frustration, which highlights how this structure for education can be ineffective and suffers from a lack of ‘pedagogic transmission.’ This thesis will highlight the determinants of success that should be incorporated into the structure and execution of SAS as well as putting the students’ voices on a platform that is not often regarded when designing curriculums.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg 2017. / This research investigates how ethnography acts as an instructional tool in teaching and learning anthropology. Through a classroom ethnography of a postgraduate anthropology course, it illustrates how ethnography as a ‘psychological tool’ mediates anthropological pedagogy. The author was a non‐participant observer for twelve weeks in a South African Ethnography seminar‐course, taught by a noted South African anthropologist. In a descriptive‐interpretive analysis of richly detailed ethnographic data, the researcher traces the micro‐genetic processes of concept development to illustrate the role of ethnography in mediating understanding of anthropological ways of thinking. The study is theoretically informed by the seminal work of Lev Vygotsky’s (1987) sociocultural‐historical approach to cognitive development and anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s (1988) view of ethnography as an instrument of communication, a vehicle of thought. Vygotksy’s theory is applied and extended in a triple‐stranded analysis incorporating neo‐Vygotskian activity‐theory (Wertsch, 1991) and signification‐theory (Miller, 2011) as these theories are integrated by Bakhtin’s (1986) theory of dialogicality, in a context of higher education as a community of practice. In extending Vygotsky’s sociocultural approach to cognitive development, the research argues that, and demonstrates that, ethnography as a psychological tool is a ‘model of’ and ‘model for’ the teaching and learning of anthropology. / MT2017

This dissertation draws on twenty-four months of fieldwork at Biocurious, a "garage lab" in Silicon Valley expressly designed to democratize science, and a self-described "new thing in the world." From that starting point, this dissertation poses the following questions: a) how does a "garage lab" come to be recognized as a "garage lab," and b) what kind of scientist works to what effect inside a "garage lab." These questions are taken up on two levels: theoretically through a critical engagement with anthropological approaches to design, an explication of the difficulties and paradoxes inherent in the relationship between expertise and democracy, and through the business of producing an audience for and presenting "new things in the world" to the public, also found in precursors such as Thomas Edison and P.T. Barnum. Empirically, these questions are taken up as a particular problem for a group of people in Silicon Valley as they go about the everyday work of making a "garage lab" and deliberating among themselves and their consociates over its perils and possibilities. Ethnographically, this dissertation is animated by my participation initially as a volunteer, then as a member of the "garage lab," and finally through my participation as a member of a community project at Biocurious. Theoretically, this dissertation furthers Flusser's (1999) theory of design as "a trick against nature [the given]" by pulling it tight to the traditional anthropological concern with cultural production and critically examines the claim to democratization, finding the claim to democratization at Biocurious a reordering rather than erasing the hierarchy of expertise. Finally, the dissertation considers the afterlife of "new things in the world," which fade into the background as they inevitably move from the made (cultured) to the given (natural) Following the text are two appendixes. Appendix One addresses the folklore of the modern laboratory by examining instructional stories told at the "garage lab," the unicorn in Silicon Valley, and the signs of domestic life in the "garage lab." Appendix Two constitutes notes towards a mechanical model that can account for the life of "new things in the world," as they inevitably form for the basis for further cultural productions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 9, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-118).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 447-463). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2009. / Vita. Appendices: leaves 254-295. Reproduction permission applies to print copy: Blanket permission granted per author to reproduce. Includes bibliographic references (leaves 296-311).