This thesis is, in large part, the story of the authors transformation from a teacher/researcher who studies others to one who studies himself. It is a story that unfolds against the backdrop of his experiences as a teacher, student, and researcher conducting qualitative research into issues of education in Louisiana and Mexico during the three-year period from the spring of 2001 to the spring of 2004a tumultuous time in American history by any measure.
At the heart of this thesis lies the decision to adopt a research approach that is more personal and open-ended than purposeful and intentional. It is an approach that employs narrative as a means of identifying issues for further exploration. The end result is that the researcher himself, as much as anything or anyone else, is the subject of the research.
Each of the five chapters of the thesis is divided into two parts: the first narrative, the second critical. The critical portion of each chapter addresses an issue that has arisen, directly or indirectly, in the accompanying narrative. The following issues are considered: relations between the United States and Mexico, the paradoxes of non-traditional research of the type presented by the thesis, current trends in education reform, public political discourse in the aftermath of 9/11, and the role of the teacher in loco parentis. Pertinent issues from post-colonial studies, including neo-colonialism, binarism, the Other/other, and othering, are addressed throughout. The paper closes with a discussion of professional self-formation wherein insights from all of the preceding chapters are brought to bear on a consideration of the teacher as a figure that has been marginalized, or othered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-08282004-132636 |
| Date | 31 August 2004 |
| Creators | Shock, John |
| Contributors | Nancy Nelson, Nina Asher, William F. Pinar |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-08282004-132636/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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