Fighting Familiarity

This volume brings together a series of papers written by the authors over a period of 15 years, in combination with new material developed specifically for this volume. The result is a coherent vision of the uses of ethnographic methods in educational settings. The volume answers the need to compare and contrast ethnographic work from Britain and the United States. Three themes unite all of the chapters. First, there is a commitment to making the familiar strange - a vital first step for all ethnographers. Second, there is a commitment to reflexivity in data collection, analysis, theorising and writing the text. Third, there is a commitment to eclecticism and pragmatism in ethnographic research. The first chapter includes not only a diagnosis of the major faults in most published ethnographies of educational settings, but a set of strategies that scholars can adopt to avoid or counteract them. In the second half of the volume, chapters exemplify the different strategies and present data gathered in a variety of educational settings from schools to higher and professional education.