Exploring Out-of-School Contexts as Sites for Shifting Learning and Power Asymmetries

This presentation explores the design and use of video-voice projects as part of a multi-sited, person-centered ethnographic study of an afterschool documentary filmmaking program for urban high school students. Through an example case, the presentation explores how participatory video methods may expand analytical perspectives and challenge power asymmetries between the researcher and participants in ethnographic research by deliberately relinquishing control of both the video equipment and the focus of the recording. This move de-centers the researcher gaze and creates opportunities for participants to produce video records based on their perspectives of and engagements in daily life.

School can be contested spaces for youth by limiting self-expression, dictating appropriate behavior, and valuing specific kinds of activities.. In this paper, three educational ethnographers re-examine spaces within schools that circulated outside of school expectations or norms, that nurtured youth’s self-expression, and focused on what mattered to youth. Our analyses reveals how out-of-school spaces can nurture new identities for youth within school. We consider how research partnerships with school could benefit from insights related to these youth spaces.

The purpose of this study is to gain perspective on public libraries as potentially empowering spaces where families can access the cultural capital needed to support their children’s academic development. Specifically, this study explores how elementary school aged children and their families use the library with emphasis on the questions: How are children and families using the “space” of the library? What support and/or resources can a public library provide to help families support student academic growth? Field observations and artifacts were analyzed using qualitative coding. A partnership plan utilizing interactive math games to address these needs was also suggested.