Bradley A. Levinson

Education Policy as a Practice of Power: Theoretical Tools, Ethnographic Methods, Democratic Options.

This article outlines some theoretical and methodological parameters of a critical practice approach to policy. The article discusses the origins of this approach, how it can be uniquely adapted to educational analysis, and why it matters—not only for scholarly interpretation but also for the democratization of policy processes as well. Key to the exposition is the concept of appropriation as a form of creative interpretive practice necessarily engaged in by different people involved in the policy process. Another crucial distinction is made between authorized policy and unauthorized or informal policy; it is argued that when nonauthorized policy actors appropriate policy they are in effect often making new policy in situated locales and communities of practice.

How) Can a Man Do Feminist Ethnography of Education

The author attempts to work through the epistemological, methodological, and ethical questions involved when a man attempts to contribute to feminist theory and practice with ethnographic knowledge. He discusses the precursors to such a project by recounting the history of male contributions to feminist anthropological scholarship and reviewing current debates about the problems of interpretation and praxis in feminist ethnography. Drawing on fieldwork at a Mexican secondary school, the author presents the dilemmas he faced and insights he garnered in focusing his inquiry on Mexican schoolgirls and their mothers. He also discusses the problematic nature of his inquiry with sexist schoolboys and the ways this inquiry may still contribute to feminist knowledge. Reflecting on these experiences, he establishes the centrality of feminist educational ethnography in the outlook for feminist social change and argues for a pluralistic conception of feminist educational ethnography that might find a valuable place for male contributions.

Ogbu's anthropology and the critical ethnography of education: a reciprocal interrogation

This paper reviews the work of educational anthropologist John Ogbu, comparing it with theoretical and methodological approaches in the critical ethnography of education. Ogbus work is situated in relation to the “cultural difference” approach in the American anthropology of education. Basic concepts are introduced and important theoretical contributions are noted. Conceptual problems then are identified in Ogbus approach, and his shortcomings from a radical perspective are highlighted. Finally, as a representative of a broader anthropological paradigm, Ogbu is brought into a critical dialogue with more radical educational ethnographers in an attempt to distinguish strengths and weaknesses in each body of research.

Secondary Schools and Communities of Practice for Democratic Civic Education: Challenges of Authority and Authenticity

Abstract This article reviews and critiques the concept of “community of practice” (CoP), and analyzes its relevance for democratic citizenship education in secondary social studies. The authors discuss the origins of the CoP concept in the work of Lave and Wenger (1991), trace its usage in recent educational scholarship, and outline its conceptual contributions. The authors call for the adoption of the CoP concept (“mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire”) to guide powerful, meaningful democratic civic education at the secondary level, yet they also identify the special challenges of authority and authenticity presented by most existing school structures. Even as they recognize the need for broader structural reforms to make CoPs possible, in closing the authors suggest school-based practices (connective, simulative, cooperative, and exemplary) that, under current conditions, can foster democratic citizenship formation.

Education Reform Sparks Teacher Protest in Mexico.

The tumult in Mexican education has deep roots in politics and tradition, but it is latter-day global competition and international measures of student performance that are driving reform efforts.

Inhabited Institutions in New Destinations Local Sense-Making and Institutional Work in Community Response to New Immigration

Comparing two Midwest new destination communities, we identify key ways that local residents actively make sense of, and enact, community response for Latino immigrant newcomers. Our findings show that, over time, local actors privilege preexisting institutional ideals in ways that justify waning support for ongoing newcomer needs. We conclude with discussion of how empirical work in the “inhabited institutions” framework can help specify the sense-making processes of local actors that can serve to reaffirm the legitimacy of prevailing institutions and limit the long-term sustainability of integrative effort. We also discuss the potential that the inhabited institutions framework offers our understanding of newcomer incorporation into new destination communities.

Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Education: The United States and Beyond

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by R. Goodman, volume 9, pp. 4192–4196,

Relación entre estado y sociedad en el discurso y en la acción: estudios culturales y políticos sobre el cardenismo en México

El 6 de julio de 1997, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, fundador y lider del Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD), consiguio una victoria arrolladora en las elecciones del nuevo Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal. El nuevo status de Cardenas como lider de la ciudad mas grande del mundo, asi como los grandes logros del PRD en las elecciones parlamentarias, han dado lugar a preguntas importantes sobre los origenes de su fuerza politica. Despues de todo, ?a que debemos el triunfo de Cuauhtemoc Cardenas y su partido? Se pueden aducir, al menos, tres razones: 1) la capacidad politica, los programas y las bases de apoyo que Cuauhtemoc Cardenas ha desarrollado; 2) el hecho de que la gente identifique a su padre, el ex presidente Lazaro Cardenas (1934‑1940), con el cenit de un proyecto revolucionario popular; y 3) el desgaste del modelo politico corporativista que, aunque parezca ironico, Lazaro Cardenas lego al Estado mexicano.