Historians, architectural historians, folklorists, archaeologists, geographers, and preservationists are engaged in documenting and interpreting the material record of human occupation through systematic study of the built environment. "Vernacular architecture" as an object-oriented approach to cultural and historic research is discussed…

In Alaska's extensive parks and preserves, the National Park Service is in the difficult position of mediating between traditional Native subsistence practices and Western concepts of environmental conservation. Ethnographic research has raised awareness of the importance of harvest practices to rural Native groups for survival, cultural…

Looks at how Book Clubs (student-centered, literature-discussion groups where each student is reading a different, self-selected book) were structured in a particular second-grade classroom. Argues that students had opportunities for learning the academic and social content of literature while engaging in the cognitive processes and social…

Illuminates one example of a critical ethnography in practice, exploring the life of Dr. Huey P. Newton, a leader in the African-American community, and arguing that critical ethnography cannot teach African Americans how to overcome oppression. The suggested postcritical ethnography would be part of African Americans looking to their own…

Reviews qualitative (historical and ethnographic) studies of education in Japan that advance a general understanding of educational theory and practice. Japan, which is neither an educational paradise nor an examination hell, is the source of much data of value to educational research in the United States. (SLD)

Investigated the causes of school failure from a student perspective through interviews with 40 urban high school students experiencing academic difficulties. Findings magnify issues of power, resistance, and diversity as they are linked to patterns of student achievement urban schools must address before advancing specific restructuring efforts.…

Describes Ethnomethodologically informed ethnography (EM) as a methodology for information science research, illustrating the approach with the results of a study in a university library. Topics include differences between the practical orientation of EM and theoretical orientation of other ethnographic approaches; systems design; and…

Uses data from an ethnographic study of two companies in which welfare recipients obtained employment to examine the move from welfare to work. The analysis of the transitions from welfare to work of 23 women and men highlights the necessity of additional education to upgrade job status. (SLD)

Highlights pitfalls and successes in a cooperative curriculum and teacher-development project involving U.S. and Brazilian educators. Difficulties arose, due to differing conceptions of community and individualism as related to disabled persons' equal-education rights. Challenging Brazil's hierarchically based social prescriptions resulted in…

Prompts computer-mediated communication scholars to exploit the possibilities offered by new, powerful, and flexible analytic tools for collecting, organizing, and exploring digital data. Summarizes a case study on an Italian computer conference. Concludes with a short outline of the new graphical computer-mediated communication environments and…

Analyzed the discourse of 9- to 12-year-olds on the subject of their development, creating an ethnographic account of the meaning of development in peer culture. The interviewed children distinguished a linear concept of development as both a natural process and a goal. Their discourse continually reconceptualized the relations between the sexes…

Presents an intensive case study using ethnographic techniques to understand how teaching affects nonmainstream students, particularly Latinos. Suggests that much of the problem is students feeling out of place and notes that the writing teacher's role is finding ways to get students to come to class and motivate them to participate. (SG)

Examines the role of tension in the process of instructed second/foreign language acquisition on the basis of findings from a comprehensive ethnography of the 7-week intensive beginners' class in the summer French School of Middlebury College. This project completes and challenges the current research paradigm on language anxiety as it shifts the…

This case study examines the shifting bilingual preference of three French/English bilingual children over a 3-year period. Clarifies terms used to refer to bilingual preference. The children's fluctuating bilingual preference was accounted for in terms of three contextual domains: home (predominantly French-speaking), school, and community…

Discusses the growing interest in "ethnomathematics," an effort to embrace non-European methods of math in college courses, especially in teacher education courses. Proponents claim they are teaching the same concepts as in traditional math but adding new culturally sensitive reasoning skills. Critics suggest dangers in teaching "politically…