View Content #468
| Contentid | 468 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Rethinking Race and Ethnicity in Educational Research |
| Body | From: NCELA Newsline The following four articles appear in the June/July 2003 issue of "Educational Researcher," 32 (5), a special theme issue devoted to discussion of reconceptualizing race and ethnicity in educational research. "Every Shut Eye Ain't Sleep": Studying How People Live Culturally, by Carol D. Lee, Margaret Beale Spencer, and Vinay Harpalani, pp. 6-13 The authors present a framework for educational research that integrates two processes of learning: cultural socialization and identity development. Cultural socialization refers to how people learn to live within a culture, and the influences of family and community. Identity development refers to an individual's sense of identity, and is shaped by the process of cultural socialization. An important goal of research, the authors claim, is "to understand the diverse pathways to development through patterns of cultural socialization and their impact on learning" (p. 12). Ethnic and Academic Identities: A Cultural Practice Perspective on Emerging Tensions and Their Management in the Lives of Minority Students, by Na'ilah Suad Nasir and Geoffrey B. Saxe, pp. 14-18 In this article, Nasir and Saxe describe a cultural approach to analyzing the tensions minority students face in negotiating between their ethnic and academic identities. Their approach is multi-layered, taking into account face-to-face interactions, developmental shifts in positioning with regard to identity, and the social history of communities. The authors recommend longitudinal research "in which individuals are followed over time in their participation in varied practices in and out of school" (p. 17). Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice, by Kris D. Gutierrez and Barbara Rogoff, pp. 19-25 Gutierrez and Rogoff argue the importance of characterizing both commonalities and differences across individuals and groups. "Treating cultural differences as individual traits encourages overgeneralization" (p.20), they state. More useful is to take a cultural-historical approach to research and practice, "making first guesses about patterns and seeking confirmation or disconfirmation to extend what is known" (p. 23). Cultural Diversity Research on Learning and Development: Conceptual, Methodological, and Strategic Considerations, by Marjorie Faulstich Orellano and Phillip Bowman, pp. 26-32 This article identifies two conceptual and methodological limitations to social science research on cultural diversity: (1) the treatment of "race, ethnicity, culture, and social class as fixed and often essentialized categories" (p. 26); and (2) the focus on single levels of analysis, without acknowledging social and cultural contexts. Orellano and Bowman recommend mixed-methods research that acknowledges the dynamic nature of culture, and the way in which culture interacts with ideological, material and structural contexts. The "Educational Researcher" is published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Membership and subscription information can be found at the AERA Web site: http://www.aera.net/pubs/ |
| Source | The "Educational Researcher" |
| Inputdate | 2003-09-04 21:30:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2003-09-04 21:30:00 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | Not set |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
