Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Insider Ethnography'

The orders of linkages that stabilise evolving media worlds are far from obvious. Often undertaken in media ‘laboratories’, the collaborative processes which combine a range of disciplines to develop media worlds are also far from straightforward. Enablers and constraints are as likely to be non-human as they are the people associated with the project. Plugs, wires, switches, protocols and standards - things whose detail can be mind numbingly boring - all have to be worked into effective and stable sets of associations. This thesis describes two knowledge pathways that track through such a project. The first describes the development of a prototype for a website, imagined as a portal for a range of interests around children and media in New Zealand/Aoteoroa. As media worlds are continually being reconfigured and as data circulates across increasingly linked access technologies, many non-government organisations are migrating their work to ‘the web’. ‘The Media Clearinghouse’ project was one of these. Latour’s analytical concept of immutable mobiles provides a way to make sense of some of the work observed whilst his direction to ‘simply follow’ worlds of interest provided the methodological challenge. The second pathway, traces the bibliographic threads of literatures that come from the descriptive genres of Science Technology Studies (STS). Significant amongst these are Leigh Star and Geoffrey Bowker who have elaborated the concept of boundary objects and infrastructures. Star and Griesemer’s seminal description of the Museum of Invertebrate Zoology is compared with a description of an early laboratory by Bruno Latour. These and other writers elaborate on methods that offer ways to render visible the messy, chaotic performances of design and invention. They follow inscriptions - tables, lists, maps, sketches and so on. These things work between the micro and the macro and enable very huge terrains to be assembled in small, ordered spaces. The thesis assembles a list of methods that have some utility for following and describing web design work and perhaps, other information worlds. Having followed and described this writer’s work through the invention of the prototype it is argued that a combinative method has successfully enabled a description that moves in and out of a new information ‘laboratory’.

Empirical methodologies have recently attracted increasing attention from the broader software engineering community. In particular, organisational issues and the human role in software development have been addressed. Qualitative research approaches have been identified as necessary for understanding human nature. One qualitative methodology which has become increasingly recognised in the software engineering community is ethnography. It is also the qualitative approach that is addressed in this thesis, i.e. ethnography in relation to software engineering. Ethnography emphasises the members point of view in an effort to understand the organisation of a social, cultural and technical setting. Until now, only a handful of ethnographic studies focusing on software engineering have been carried out in accordance with the original conception of ethnography; these studies have traditionally been performed by sociologists. The understanding and application of ethnography by software engineers differ from that of sociologists as it gives up the studied people's point of view in the analysis of data. The thesis is based on two independent ethnographic studies where the ‘inside’ perspective which complies with the original understanding of the methodology is applied. Using these examples as a basis, the relation between ethnography and software engineering research is explored. The objective of this thesis is to promote ‘ethnographic knowledge’ by giving an overview of ethnographic work within software engineering, presenting an original understanding of ethnography, comparing software engineers' understanding of ethnography with the original understanding of ethnography, demonstrating how the different implicit research attitudes of ethnographers and software engineers produce different research discourses, and finally pointing to an opportunity to combine ethnography, which contributes an ‘inside perspective’, with software engineering's need for constant improvement.

This thesis examines tap dance practice and performance in England. The study is based on a multi-sited ethnography of two tap dance communities in Manchester and London. Participants in the communities ranged in ages from eighteen to eighty and were from a variety of social backgrounds. The investigation focusses on the tap jam, an informal performance event that showcases improvised tap dance to live music. Many individuals disclosed that they joined the tap communities despite possessing limited knowledge and experience of tap improvisation. Improvisation in tap dance is traditionally studied within the context of performance technique and the historical evolution of tap practice in the United States. American tap practitioners and historians such as Hill (2010), Knowles (2002), Frank (1994), and Stearns and Stearns (1968) state that tap improvisation contributes to unique performance styles but do not clarify how these identities are achieved by tap dancers. In order to understand how performance styles are generated, a symbolic interactionist approach is applied to the act of tap improvisation in the two communities. Viewing tap improvisation through a symbolic interactionist framework revealed that the tap jams are a shared social process that does not limit participation based on dance training or socio-cultural background. The improvised performances at the tap jam created performance identities that focussed on the individual rather than on an English interpretation of tap dance. The thesis delivers an analysis and discussion of how the tap community members cultivate these identities within a social context, exploring how tap dance is evolving beyond American identity and practice.

The thesis offers a comprehensive comparative ethnographic case study of the influence of status as independent or voluntary-aided on the ethos of two Muslim primary schools. The analysis draws comparisons between the two schools in the case study, whilst also drawing on historical narratives of a further two Muslim primary schools which have made the transition from independent to voluntary-aided status. Research findings demonstrate that status as either independent or voluntary-aided had a significant influence on ethos, as the voluntary-aided school in the case study shared consistencies with the schools in the historical narratives following their own transition into the state sector. In the historical narratives the transition from independent to voluntary-aided status fundamentally changed infrastructure in both schools. Consistently with this the ethnographic case studies of the independent and voluntary-aided school show very different models of ethos. The model at the independent school demonstrated a distinctly Islamic ethos emphasising Islamicisation of the curriculum and promoting the concept of Islam as a way of life by an all-Muslim staff leading children by example. In contrast the model of ethos at the voluntary-aided school represented a duality of the Islamic and the educational, consistently with the schools in the historical narratives after acquiring voluntary-aided status. Against a theoretical backdrop of institutional isomorphism, the comparative case study demonstrates the ways independent or voluntary-aided status influenced ethos. Implications are that the voluntaryaided sector may only facilitate one particular approach to Islamic education which reinforces the concept of duality between Islamic objectives for the individual child, and the voluntary-aided requirements of the state.

In April 1997 Kainos Community in HMP The Verne, Dorset, England became the first faith-based prison unit to be established in the Western world. The foundations and ethos of Kainos are based on Christian concepts of ‘loving your neighbour’ and forgiveness. The community operates as a hybrid therapeutic community (TC) and cognitive behavioural programme (CBP). It is open to and inclusive of prisoners of all faiths and none. The aim of this study is to explore the Kainos community ethnographically, guided by the principles of grounded theory and thematic analysis, in order to investigate whether or not Kainos ameliorates some of the de-humanising aspects of prison, and if so, how it rehumanises the prison space. Theoretically, this study highlights the dehumanisation of imprisonment, and illuminates the role that a holistic, Christian-based approach can play in terms of making the prison environment ‘more human’. My findings reveal that on Kainos there are physical, liminal and spiritual spatial mechanisms, in which a family of sub-themes interact to enable flourishing to occur. Kainos has created a physical space in which spaces of architecture and design; sensory experience; movement; and home interact to enable flourishing, whereby prisoners feel ‘more homely’, ‘free’, safe, and calm. Kainos has created a liminal space in which spaces of atmosphere; identity; home; and creativity interact to enable flourishing, empowering prisoners in their self-expression; as a cathartic tool; and as a means of regaining or creating a new identity. Kainos has created a spiritual space in which spaces of Christian activism, love, and forgiveness enable self-worth, healing, transformation, and meaningful change. The implication is that Kainos has created spaces of flourishing, safety and peace within an otherwise dehumanising carceral space, and this plays an important role in the process of transformational change imperative in the desistance process. If society must have prisons, this study concludes that Kainos provides a model for how they should be.

This is an ethnographic study of the creation of a particular type of standard enterprise software package: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which support wide-ranging organisational functions within large and medium sized enterprises. Drawing upon the Social Shaping of Technology perspective and recent related attempts to theorise the Biography of Artefacts, this thesis addresses the under-researched area of ERP system development and ERP system support. In providing a system vendor’s viewpoint, it seeks to overcome current shortcomings in social research, notably from Information Systems and Organisational Studies, which focus almost exclusively on a user organisation perspective. Mostly concentrating on the moment of implementation, existing studies do not help us to better understand the software producer’s viewpoint or to find explanations as to how ERP systems are produced and supported in such a way that they can meet the specific requirements of their highly diverse users (the current market leader SAP had over 12 million users (2008)). Overall, we have very limited understanding of what happens within software package laboratories and how such organisations organise their relationship with their wide and diverse user base throughout the different phases of the product life cycle. Addressing this gap in the social study of software packages, this research offers an ethnographical insider’s perspective of the day-to-day working practices within one of the world’s leading ERP system providers, encompassing both its development and support functions. Based on rich ethnographic data, the study demonstrates first, how a supplier manages its relationship with its diverse user base during the moment when the system re-enters the vendor’s circle of responsibility through the software packages support channel. The sophisticated and mature mechanisms and policies are highlighted, which allow the vendor - not without challenges – to accommodate competing exigencies of its user base at this moment of product life cycle. Second, this research highlights how the software development phase is organised, by empirically describing and analysing from a social viewpoint, the software development process during a period of organisational change, in which the vendor reorganises itself in search for a new way to respond to the expectations of the market. Third, the account reveals unexpected communitarian behaviour amongst software developers at all levels, demonstrating the social character of programming, a feature which has not been adequately recognised by current studies in this area. Fourth, overall, this study highlights the need for a change of the current research agenda in social software package research towards a vendor organisation’s perspective, if we aim for a more complete understanding of the social aspects such type of technology.

The aim of this study is to examine key features within the cultural context in a Canadian Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) environment as experienced by nurses, and to identify what these influences are and how they shape nurses’ intentions to remain at critically ill children’s bed-sides for the duration of their careers. This is a qualitative study which follows a critical ethnographic approach. Over 20 hours of observation and face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted. Approximately one third of the nursing population at the research site PICU were interviewed (N=31). Participants describe a complex process of becoming an expert PICU nurse that involved several stages. By the time participants became experts in this PICU they believed they had significantly narrowed the power imbalance that exists between nursing and medicine. This study illuminates the role both formal and informal education plays in breaking the power barrier for nurses in the PICU. This level of expertise and mutual respect between professions aids in retaining nurses in the PICU. The lack of autonomy and/or respect shown to nurses by administrators appears to be one of the major stressors in nurses’ working lives and can lead to attrition from the PICU. Family Centred Care (FCC) is practiced in paediatrics and certainly accentuated in the PICU as there is usually only one patient assigned per nurse, who thus afforded the time to provide comprehensive care to both the child and the family. This is considered one of the satisfiers for nurses in the PICU and tends to encourage retention of nurses in the PICU. However, FCC was found to be an inadequate term to truly encompass the type of holistic care provided by nurses in the PICU.

When women marry NFL players and subsequently become NFL wives, they are thrust out of the lives they have known and into a form of secondary socialization among other NFL wives. In this dissertation, I use ethnography and narrative inquiry, the first- person narratives of four NFL wives, interactive interviews with dozens of NFL wives, friendship as method, and my personal autoethnographic experiences to describe the social interactions between NFL wives, the themes of their marriages, and the trajectories of their identity formation and transformation of NFL wives during their time in the league. I also use autoethnography and writing as a method of inquiry to explore my own story before I was an NFL wife, while I was an NFL wife and after I was no longer an NFL wife, to uncover the processes of change in my own identity and marriage as I navigated both graduate school and the NFL.

This study of multimodal textmaking is focused on how resources from home and from school are used by one child in the middle years of elementary school. Kyle is the primary participant in this ethnographic case study, which spanned two school years. Analysis focused on how texts change, how resources and identities are constructed and reconstructed, and which texts and textmaking practices are valued and which are not. In response to the need to understand more fully how hybrid or ‘relocalized’ (Pennycook, 2010) texts are made, this study undertook an examination of a wide range of textmaking processes. Kyle’s use of the cultural resources of professional wrestling, amongst others, to make narrative and performative hybrid texts, is traced. His ‘rescripting’ of everyday experiences, in playful and parodic ways, is explored. Kyle’s writing within a mandated writing process, performance-based assessment is also examined and a sociocultural understanding of creativity is proposed. Insight into permeability of home and school boundaries is offered. An expanded definition of text to include multimodal forms suggests that all texts are multimodal, but also that many children are excluded from successful textmaking at school because the modes, forms, and resources with which they are familiar or have had success, are not included amongst the valued texts at school (Luke, 1997; Marsh, 2006; Nixon & Comber, 2006). Powerful practices and interpersonal influences are made visible in a way that is not possible when only polished or final versions of texts are considered. The potentials and possibilities offered by play and improvisation within textmaking, both in and out of school, are emphasized.

"A view from the inside" is based upon my three years as headteacher of Redland Primary School. A participant-observational, ethnographic methodology is employed to communicate the richness, complexity and reality of the headteacher's existence and my overarching aim is to "tell it like it really is". Chapter One introduces the principal actors involved in the ensuing social drama and describes the nature of the stage and the props. In short, the human and non-human components of the situation. Chapter Two maps the positive interaction of intra-institutional participants, providing an account of curriculum change and staff development. The headteacher's evolving management style is also catalogued. The negative aspects of these social processes are examined in Chapter Three and a number of conflict biographies are considered in some detail. A discussion of the headteacher's conflict management strategies provides a natural postscript to this section. Chapter Four marks a change of focus, moving from analysis of Redland School as a self-contained microcosm to a consideration of its location within its broader social context. The influence of extra-institutional personnel upon the school is rehearsed. Chapter Five involves a reversal of the same telescope, analysing how intra-institutional actors influence significant others within the supporting social network, by creating an "image". The disparate threads of the study are drawn together in Chapter Six and the headteacher's view from the inside is presented. A natural history of my research and an overview of ethnographic methodology is provided in Chapter Seven. Finally, the Conclusion summarises the main findings of the study and identifies fruitful directions for future research.

This thesis reports a study of parental engagement in children's learning in three Pakistani heritage families in England. The aim of the study was to explore the perspectives and beliefs of Pakistani parents on how and why they engage with their children's school-related learning and beyond, and to investigate the perspectives of children on how their parents' engagement impacted on their behaviour as learners. The study aims to fill gaps in the existing research literature pertaining to examining parental engagement through the eyes of parents and students who face barriers to engagement. Contributions could be made in this area through studies focused on how parents engage with their children in the home. To achieve this, four questions were proposed: What are the forms of parental engagement in terms of children's school-related learning and beyond in a sample of Pakistani homes? Do parents have a clear view why they are engaging in such a way: if so, what is that view? To what extent do these forms of engagement appear to be shaped by distinctive cultural characteristics of Pakistani parents? How do their children view the impact of parental engagement on themselves as learners? These questions were investigated through an overarching ethnographic methodology to understand a small part of the cultural practices of this group. The data was collected through a combination of mixed qualitative methods: solicited diary interviews; photo voice interviews; video footage interviews; documents; field notes; and semi-structured interviews. The findings illuminated the issues of parental engagement and ethnicity, on which there is little literature, and made implications for policies and practices aimed at raising the achievement of this group. The data revealed how the parents engaged with their children in school-related issues; reading, writing and attending school functions. Moreover, the parents were engaged with aspects beyond school; such as, religion, culture, play and computers. The parents had a very broad understanding of education that encompassed not only school, but also activities outside the school environment. This is a very significant aspect, as the parents recognised that school does not teach everything. Data moreover revealed that the parents had different capacities ofengagement according to their own educational background and occupational stance. Those educated in Pakistan relied on the children's to help each other with school work, while some parents could provide more resources to their children consequently of their occupational stance. The parents wanted to preserve their culture and religion. They did this by teaching their children about their religion and culture; Quran, Arabic, Urdu and by sending them to the mosque. All this had a positive influence on their children's spiritual, cultural, personal, social and moral development. The children viewed parental engagement as a positive contributor to their lives. The main purpose of this engagement was to shape the children into good human beings. The children understood the importance of being self-confident, comfortable with who they are and motivated to succeed. Parental engagement made the children confident and wanting to strive for the best, while religious development made them understand the concept of right and wrong. The study moreover contributes to knowledge in several ways;1. the study highlights the diversity in the Pakistani population;2. the study adds to the understanding of how working-class Pakistani parents can have broad understandings of education which extend far beyond school-based learning, and include developing the skills, attitudes and resources to lead a 'good' life;3. the study demonstrates that religiosity is shown to be integral to Pakistani parents' engagement in their children's learning;4. the study highlights that Pakistani parents are shown to take responsibility for their children's 'holistic' education, and are also shown to use siblings as 'educational resources' to support school-based learning when they are unable to do so;5. the study reveals the relevance of Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth theory to the Pakistani community;6. the study also makes a contribution by presenting an insider account of parenting practices in Pakistani families.

En écho aux enjeux démographiques des sociétés postmodernes, les générations au travail font l’objet de nombreux écrits dans les médias grand public, la presse managériale et les revues académiques. Dans la majorité de ces travaux, les effets générationnels sont envisagés comme un phénomène de société qui s’impose aux organisations, sommées de s’adapter aux comportements des Générations Y et bientôt Z. Cette vision occulte les effets de la socialisation organisationnelle sur les nouveaux entrants. A partir des travaux de Joshi et al (2010, 2011), notre thèse croise les cadres théoriques des générations et de la socialisation organisationnelle pour explorer empiriquement le thème des générations organisationnelles. En effet, si les générations sont enracinées dans la temporalité, les entreprises ont une temporalité propre, avec des événements fondateurs, des tendances d’évolution et des modes de reproduction sociale. Dans cette thèse CIFRE en recherche-action, nous étudions la situation particulière d’ERDF qui fait face à un renouvellement générationnel massif. Nous combinons un pré-diagnostic qualitatif, une ethnographie de 17 mois dans une base technique renouvelée et un questionnaire (1182 répondants) pour comprendre en profondeur les effets de ce renouvellement massif. D’un point de vue managérial, nous proposons que les conditions particulières expérimentées par les jeunes recrutés à leur entrée dans l’entreprise conduisent à la naissance d’une nouvelle génération organisationnelle. Nous accompagnons l’entreprise dans la prise en compte de la durabilité des effets de cette expérience sur les attitudes au travail, au delà des effets Génération Y. D’un point de vue théorique, nous introduisons le concept d’empreinte générationnelle organisationnelle en tant que marque distinctive d’une génération organisationnelle. Nous définissons ainsi les conditions du travail qui marquent cette empreinte ; les mécanismes par lesquels l’empreinte se forme en soulignant la part des tensions de rôle ; et les antécédents qui engendrent une nouvelle génération organisationnelle. Dans ce cheminement, nous mettons à jour certains effets non anticipés du renouvellement, notamment sur les agents socialisateurs et sur la culture organisationnelle. A travers nos actions, nous contribuons à la reconnaissance de l’effort exigeant que représente l’intégration des jeunes recrutés par le corps social<br>Much is written down about generations at work in general media, managerial press and academic journals in connection with demographic stakes in postmodern societies. In most writings, generational effects are considered as a social phenomenon that imposes itself upon organizations, compelling them to adapt to Generation Y (and Z coming up) behaviors. This approach doesn’t take into account organizational socialization effects on newcomers. Building up on Joshi et al (2010, 2011) work, we bring together theoretical frameworks on generations and organizational socialization to empirically investigate organizational generations. Indeed, if generations are rooted in temporality, organizations have their own temporality, including founding events, trends and social reproduction modes. In this PhD dissertation, using action-research, we study the particular situation of ERDF (Electricité Réseau Distribution de France) which faces a massive generational renewal. We combine a qualitative pre-diagnosis, an ethnographic observation during 17 months and a survey (1182 respondents) to deeply understand the effects of this massive arrival. From a managerial point of view, we propose that the particular conditions that newcomers experiment at their entry in the company lead to a new organizational generation. We help the company to understand that this first experience of newcomers durably marks their attitudes at work, beyond Generation Y effects. From a theoretical point of view, we introduce the concept of organizational generational imprint as a distinctive mark of an organizational generation. We define the work conditions which mark the imprint; the mechanisms by which the imprint forms itself, underlying the part of role stress in them; and the antecedents that generate a new organizational generation. On the way, we reveal unanticipated effects of the renewal on insiders and organizational culture. Through our actions, we contribute to recognize the demanding effort required from insiders to integrate newcomers

Notre société possède une vaste coulisse contenant nombre d’individus considérés comme improductifs, déviants, inadaptés. Un partie de cette coulisse a pour fonction de contenir ces individus, et de les maintenir, parfois une vie durant, à la périphérie de notre évolution sociétale, dans des espaces n’ayant qu’une porosité réduite voir nulle avec la matrice sociale de référence. Ce processus de maintien repose sur la logique de filière : institution pour enfants, puis pour adolescents, puis pour adultes travailleurs, puis maison de retraite adaptée. La stabilisation de cette population dans ces cantonnements se fabrique avec les effets pervers du fonctionnement institutionnel, et notamment avec la violence institutionnelle qui régule ce fonctionnement. Pour illustrer cette idée, et tenter de décortiquer cette violence (issue d’une commande utopique, d’une mission originellement impossible à mettre en place) qui entrave les rouages de tout établissement « spécialisé », notre travail de recherche propose de mettre en perspective cette violence institutionnelle, inhérente au fonctionnement d’un institut-médico-professionnel recevant des adolescents placés et orientés par les instances officielles pour « déficience intellectuelle légère ». Cette étude est une ethnographie de terrain, puisque la méthode de travail repose exclusivement sur une observation participante. L’auteur, endossant la mission d’instituteur spécialisé, a passé six ans dans la structure avec ce statut, avant de l’observer pendant deux autres années, consignant sur un carnet de bord des scènes de vie quotidienne se déroulant dans l’institution (salle de classe, couloirs, salle du personnel, salle de réunion, réfectoire, …), mais aussi à l’extérieur de l’institution (rue, espaces divers, …). Inspiré par la sociologie d’Erving Goffman, cette analyse institutionnelle qualifie la structure selon des concepts goffmaniens (institution totale, institution totalitaire), des concepts de l’école de Chicago réajustés (institution bâtarde), voire des concepts élaborés (institution stigmate). Nous proposons de démontrer comment la promiscuité entre les usagers, l’hétérogénéité de la population, la complexité de la mission confiée à l’institution, la sanction du placement institutionnel, et la condition du personnel fabriquent un ensemble complexe, inextricable, pathogène, bridant l’évolution du pensionnaire de l’institution médico-sociale, « l’ajustant » à la filière suivante, et le maintenant dans une coulisse sociale ne lui offrant pas de perspective échappatoire, ni de retour vers « la société mère »<br>In our society there is a vast wing containing a number of individuals who are considered unproductive, abnormal or maladjusted. Part of its function is to contain and maintain these individuals, sometimes for an entire lifetime, on the edges of our society's evolution, in spaces, which have only limited or no contact with mainstream society. This process of maintenance follows a chain of logic: an institution for children, likewise for teenagers, then for working adults, then an adapted nursing home. The stabilisation of this population within this system, perversely, is facilitated by function of the institution, and in particular by the culture of institutional violence through which it is regulated. To illustrate this, and to try to analyse this form of violence, which derives from a utopian order, from a mission which is fundamentally impossible to implement, and which hinders the wheels of every 'specialised' establishment: the present research puts into perspective the institutional violence, inherent, as it is, in the operation of an institut-medico-professional (a state special needs training facility) which receives teenagers who have been placed there by officials for 'slight mental retardation'. This research is an insider-study, as the method of research derives exclusively from participatory-observation. The author spent six years working as a Special Needs Teacher inside the establishment studied; then, for a further two years, systematically recorded into his logbook scenes of daily life, which took place within this institution (e.g. in classrooms, corridors, the staff room, meeting rooms, the cafeteria). Inspired by the social theories of Erving Goffman, this institutional analysis describes the target in terms of Goffman's concepts of “Total Institutions”, adjusted concepts from the Chicago School (“Bastard Institutions”), and elaborated concepts of “Stigma Institution”. This research proposes to demonstrate how the proximity and heterogeneity of the inmates, the complexity of the mission entrusted to the institution, the sanction of institutionalising a child, and the working conditions of the staff, all have resulted in a combination which is complex, pathogenic and intractable. Thus it restrains the evolution of the inmates of the institut-medico-professional, it “adjusts” them to follow along within the system, and places them within a social wing, which offers them neither any perspective on how to escape, nor any path to return to the “mainstream society”

La recherche entreprise dans le cadre de cette thèse doctorale se veut une réflexion sur le travail des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes d’une école primaire de langue galloise, à Cardiff, capitale du pays de Galles. Ce travail apparait marqué par des rapports de force entre la langue majoritaire (anglais) et la langue minoritaire (gallois), et s’inscrit dans un contexte sociétal de revendication et de reconnaissance de la langue en situation diglossique. Par l’entremise d’observations consignées dans un journal de bord réflexif et d’entretiens semi-dirigés, j’explore la façon dont ces membres du personnel de l’école contribuent à la (re)production de la langue et de la culture galloises. Plus précisément, j’appréhende leur travail au regard de deux dimensions de cette (re)production linguistique et culturelle, soit : les politiques linguistiques éducatives et la culture de l’école. Les résultats de cette enquête ethnographique, présentés dans le cadre d’articles scientifiques, mettent en évidence les voix et les perspectives des aides-enseignantes et enseignantes, encore trop peu présentes dans les travaux de recherche sur l’éducation en gallois. Le premier article vise à démontrer que le travail des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes s’inscrit dans un processus dynamique de mise en oeuvre des politiques linguistiques éducatives. De fait, celles-ci sont en mesure d’adopter, de résister, de négocier, voire même de créer ces politiques au sein de l’école ou de la salle de classe. Leurs discours et leurs pratiques montrent qu’elles se questionnent quant à la place à accorder à la langue majoritaire, et qu’elles sont parfois à la recherche de compromis visant à mitiger les effets néfastes perçus à l’égard d’un règlement scolaire qui interdit l’usage de l’anglais. Le deuxième article de cette thèse explore la notion de la culture de l’école. Compte tenu de la prévalence de la langue anglaise à Cardiff et dans la plupart des foyers des élèves qui fréquentent cette école, les enseignantes et aides-enseignantes réalisent un important travail de valorisation de la langue et de la culture galloises. En s’appropriant la mission de l’école et en perpétuant des traditions et rituels, elles contribuent à façonner la culture de l’école d’une manière qui permet aux élèves d’évoluer dans un cadre à la fois communautaire et familial, ancré dans la langue et la culture galloises. Enfin, par l’entremise du troisième article, l’ensemble des données de cette étude sont mises en relation avec mon parcours de chercheure franco-ontarienne, confrontée aux défis de l’apprentissage d’une langue et de l’ethnographie en milieu non familier. Je pose un regard critique sur mon positionnement d’Insider/Outsider en exposant tant les aspects qui provoquent un rapprochement au terrain que ceux qui entraînent une distance avec celui-ci. Il s’agit, entre autres, d’un aller-retour entre ma familiarité avec le contexte sociétal de la langue au pays de Galles, qui s’apparente à celui de l’Ontario français, et le sentiment d’éloignement provoqué par mon immersion dans un milieu scolaire entièrement gallois. Cette ethnographie se veut à la fois une enquête sur le rôle des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes dans la (re)production de la langue et de la culture galloises, et un examen de ce que signifie mener une ethnographie dans un contexte linguistique minoritaire autre que celui auquel appartient la chercheure.

The Camino Francés, a 780km pilgrimage in Northern Spain, has been traveled by millions of pilgrims over the last 800 years. In recent decades the route has been increasingly threatened by insensitive development and infrastructure. Surprisingly little research has been conducted on the nature and ecology of pilgrims’ experiences and the landscape necessary to support the roughly 170,000 people that walk the Camino each year. Adapting methods from recreation and leisure science, this autoethnographic research explored the influence of the environment on my pilgrimage experience as I walked for five weeks in the Fall of 2011. Analysis used a variety of qualitative techniques in creating my own narrative. My research suggests that the landscape is essential to a positive and meaningful pilgrimage experience. Future planning and design efforts for this UNESCO route should incorporate the influence of the landscape on the experience of pilgrimage.

In this thesis, I assert that photographs of Jordanian Bedouin produced by cultural insiders disrupt and challenge pan-Bedouin and romantic photographic constructions of Bedouin made by cultural outsiders. These outsiders, Western ethno-photographers and members of the Jordanian Hashemite monarchy, use photographs featuring visual symbols of Bedouin identity in order to legitimise claims to land, resources, and cultural capital. Data produced from collaborative action research (the creation of photography with a self-identifying Bedouin family from Humayma, Jordan) demonstrates an increasingly complex version of Jordanian Bedouin identity absent from outsider representations. This nuanced picture of Bedouin identity, while limited by its focus on a single family, may help contribute to further collaborative investigations of Bedouin identity in Jordan. This research has the potential to assist in the better understanding of the diverse social practices and concerns of Bedouin living in Jordan today.

This interpretive study investigated the process of radical change for a collaborative team of investigators in an allied health school at the University of South Australia. Specifically, it investigated the process of developing and implementing a fully-integrated problem-based learning curriculum across the entire undergraduate curriculum for the School of Medical Radiation. The study examined the richness and complexity of the change process for this team of educators over a two year time period. The research builds on understandings of change derived from three main bodies of literature: the school-based educational change literature; the problem-based learning literature; and the organisational change literature. It interweaves knowledge gained from each of these areas to develop a new perspective from which to consider radical educational change in higher education. Much of the previous research into change ignores the participant experience, and particularly the emotional dimension of this experience. This study redresses that gap by exploring the human dimension of the change process. This study has provided an authentic and inclusive representation of participants' experience of radical educational change. It has shown that participants not only undergo considerable cognitive dissonance when implementing major change, they also undergo significant emotional dissonance. Thus, if we are to improve the outcomes of educational innovation, we need to develop change management practices that not only recognise but also support the emotional dimension of the change process.

abstract: ABSTRACT Stress and burnout in the educational field primarily in teaching is not a new phenomenon. A great deal of research and analysis to the contributing factors of causation to teacher burnout has been executed and analyzed. The struggle of the artist/teacher, hybrid professionals that maintain two concurrent roles, offers a perspective to burn out that has gone unnoticed. The conflict of roles for the artist/teacher does not infer that the teacher role is incapable of reconciling with the artist role but because of this unique scenario the stories of art teachers and burnout often go unheard. Today's public educator is contending with established stress factors as well as emerging and evolving stress factors. How does this phenomenon impact the artist/teacher's ability or inability to be creative? What are the implications of burnout and its impact on artist/teachers personal and professional work? This qualitative study was conducted using Narrative/Autoethnograpy, Narrative/Ethnography and A/r/tography. The stories of four artist/teachers provides in-depth accounts of their experiences as teachers and how that profession has affected their art making process and well being.<br>Dissertation/Thesis<br>Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012