Call For Papers: Penn GSE's 38th Annual Ethnography in Education Forum

CALL FOR PAPERS: ETHNOGRAPHY IN ACTION
Ethnography in Education Research Forum
February 24 & 25, 2017
Philadelphia, PA

The Ethnography in Education Research Forum invites submissions for its 38th annual meeting. Our
theme, Ethnography in Action, corresponds with our celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Practitioner
Inquiry Day. This year's theme highlights a concern at the heart of practitioner inquiry, community-based
research, and action research more broadly: ethnographic research as a form of social action. In the midst
of increasing economic disparities, deepening racialized, religious, and class divisions, and a rise in
precarity, trauma, and fear across the globe, the need for action rarely has seemed more pressing.
Ethnographic research has long provided a powerful vehicle for investigating the complexity of social
problems and explaining how people experience and make sense of these problems in their everyday
lives. During the past 20 years, we have witnessed the development of new and innovative as well as
more ethical and inclusive approaches to using ethnographic research in the service of social action.
Increasingly, ethnographic methods are being used in collaborative work, transformation-oriented
projects, locally engaged policy reform research, and in the production and use of film in activist efforts.
We have a great deal to learn from these creative developments and what they have been able to achieve.
To this end, we invite researchers and practitioners who use ethnographic methods to come together to
share and reflect on what has been learned and achieved in using ethnography in action.
After 30 years, Practitioner Inquiry Day remains faithful to its roots and provides a dedicated space for
educators, youth, families, and community organizers to come together and inquire into, theorize, and
collectively make meaning of their sites of practice. This year we celebrate these contributions and reflect
on ways practitioner and action research intersects with ethnography. Practitioner Inquiry Day grew from
an intentional shift, both in the U.S. and internationally, toward nurturing teacher research, action, and
participatory research as well as bringing a critical lens to educational research more broadly. The intent
of Practitioner Inquiry Day is to provide a space for university, school, and community-based researchers
to share their scholarship. Participants include K-12 teachers, community college and university teachers,
public and independent school leaders, community organizers, social activists, and others who share a
commitment to democratizing the discourse around teaching, learning, and leading to include the voices
and ideas of a wider span of participants.

The Forum welcomes scholars at all career stages seeking a supportive venue for sharing their
ethnographic work at various stages of development. A longstanding trademark of the Forum is student
involvement, both in conference coordination and in participation. The Forum provides a space for
researchers and practitioners who use ethnographic methods in their work to come together across
generations to share and learn from one another and, in so doing, to become part of a community
interested in education and youth studies, and in working toward social justice more broadly. We invite
you to join us for what is certain to be an enjoyable, enriching, and re-invigorating conference.

ONLINE SUBMISSION PERIOD: August 15, 2016 - October 10, 2016
SUBMISSIONS SYSTEM LINK: www.conftool.com/forum2017/
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: Early November, 2016

For more information, please visit: www.gse.upenn.edu/cue/forum or email us at: cue@gse.upenn.edu
This year the available session types are:

Individual Papers (15 min): We invite single- or co-authored papers on issues in education, child, and
youth studies. Papers must draw upon in-depth ethnographic research. Proposals should describe the
research problem, methodology, theoretical framework as well as the paper's argument and its
significance to the field. Final analyses, results, and conclusions OR preliminary findings and tentative
conclusions (Work-in-Progress) may be submitted. If it is a Work-in-Progress, please include this
information in the body of your description.

Panel Group Sessions (75 min): Panel proposals should include a statement of the panel topic and
descriptions of three or four papers to be presented during the 75-minute slot. The person who submits the
proposal will be responsible for submitting all of the information about all of the papers in the panel, so
be sure to have this information handy. The proposal should also include information on how each paper
approaches the panel topic.

Alternative Format Session (75 min): Each year, a handful of sessions follow innovative or alternative
formats, which do not conform to traditional presentations of research. For example, such formats have
included a short film and discussion; a researcher, teacher and students each sharing perspectives on a
shared, ongoing project; performance art; or a structured breakout session to promote dialogue on
particular issues. Panel proposals should include a statement about the session topic, participants, and the
innovative or alternative format/structure to be presented during the 75-minute slot. Any special technical
or facility set-up should be highlighted. The person who submits the proposal will be responsible for
submitting all of the information about the session, so submitters should have all such information at
hand.

Data Analysis Workshops (35 min): These workshop sessions provide an opportunity for participants to
discuss data analysis plans and issues with senior scholars and others attending the sessions. Proposals
should include a discussion of the research problem and research questions, the methodology, the nature
of the excerpts from interview transcripts, relevant documents, and/or field notes to be considered, as well
as potential theoretical or conceptual frameworks for the analysis. Proposals should also provide a clear
rationale for why a particular piece of data is important and worth analyzing.


-AP



Alex Posecznick, Ph.D.
Programs in Education, Culture & Society
International Educational Development Program

alpos@upenn.edu [email]
215.573.3947 [phone]
GSE Building, Room 433 [office]
alex.posecznick [skype]
https://scholar.gse.upenn.edu/posecznick