Just all over the place, personally

Since my last post I have been doing more reading in Grbich (2013).  Specifically, I have been reviewing classical ethnography and critical ethnography approaches.   I see connections between the criticisms of Carspecken’s approach and John Law (2004), as he advocates for flexibility in research.  Particularly, feeling myself very much in line with the critical approach, I appreciate the fourth bulleted criticism Grbich notes about researcher neutrality (p. 58).  Again, as Law underscores, all approaches are biased or “help to produce the reality that they understand” (p. 5).  Therefore, a critical approach should be as good as any.  

As for Chapter 22 of Grbich (2013), I think I need to sit down with Atlas or some of the other qualitative packages more, so I can experience their power.  Earlier this evening I wondered if I could find a program that would enable me to upload photos of underlined statements, categorize them by both author and themes, and generate information lists by author or theme.

Where my individual project for this course is concerned, I remain undecided.  Previously, I mentioned the abstract proposal I wanted to write for an oral history.  While I was very interested in studying my grandmother’s key social values, I doubt the feasibility of the idea.  As for a dissertation topic, here are some of the notes I’ve scribbled around the place or put into my phone over the past couple of months:

·         “Capitalism’s impact on teachers”

·         Suggesting a new feminism based on the female teacher, perhaps in the vein of Bell Hooks.  That is, teaching is not an occupation for the females of the bourgeoisie.  We are part of the exploited underclass, and maybe we would rather go home.

·         “Teachers: Unpaid labor for testing companies”

·         “Apparently, I’m not a professional, and that is just the tip of the iceberg”

·         “Dime a dozen: Oppressing the white female teacher”

·         “Worker bees, expendable bees”

·         “The pendulum swings backwards: The decline of education in the global economy of education”

·         Back to the Dark Ages: Neoliberalism and the decline of labor and education

Perhaps I could work on something of utility related to one of the above.  I gather I’d be taking a critical ethnographic approach with thematic analysis.  However, this summer I was instructed to write a theoretical dissertation proposal.  I consulted Edmund’s C. Short’s Forms of Curriculum Inquiry (1991) with chapters on ampliative criticism or the speculative essay, but I remained somewhat confused.  What I understood was writing in itself is a method and that I should just write a book. 

Where the group project is concerned, we are still considering options.  My idea is to take an ethnography or film and have each person evaluate it from a different approach per Grbich.  I am certainly not married to this idea, however.