Identities in Practice: A Trans-Atlantic Ethnography of Sikh immigrants in Finland and in California

"Identities in Practice draws a nuanced picture of how the experience of migration affects the process through which Sikhs in Finland and California negotiate their identities. What makes this study innovative with regard to the larger context of migration studies is the contrast it provides between experiences at two Sikh migration destinations. By using an ethnographic approach, Hirvi reveals how practices carried out in relation to work, dress, the life-cycle, as well as religious and cultural sites, constitute important moments in which Sikhs engage in the often transnational art of negotiating identities. Laura Hirvi’s rich ethnographic account brings to the fore how the construction of identities is a creative process that is conditioned and infiltrated by questions of power. Identities in Practice will appeal to scholars who are interested in the study of cultures, identities, migration, religion, and transnationalism.

A Descriptive Case Study : The Implementation of a Field-Based Master\u27s Program

Purpose of study. This study focuses on the implementation of the Field-based Master\u27s Program at Midwestern Christian University. The three-step Adoption Change Model (Fullan, 1991) guided me through this innovation: (1) adoption, (2) implementation, and (3) institutionalization of the program. This 2-year study describes the program\u27s adoption and implementation stages. Institutionalization was not included as it takes 3-10 years to occur. Three research questions guided this study. Research questions. (1) What did the teacher training in the uses of processes look like during the initial summer session of the Field-based Master\u27s Program? (2) What did the transfer of training in the use of processes look like in the participants\u27 classrooms? (3) What were the teachers\u27 reactions, concerns, and recommendations throughout the implementation of the Field-based Master\u27s Program? Summary of research question answers. Initial teacher training was designed using the Joyce-Showers Training Model (1995). The participants were in a Workshop Design environment (Joyce, 1992) at the university that allowed the professors to model what the participants expected to learn. The Workplace Design (Joyce, 1992) facilitated transfer of training to the classroom. Cohort groups provided support during transfer of training the first year of implementation but discontinued during the second year. Four themes emerged when analyzing the teacher\u27s reactions: (a) Learning and Implementing Strategies, (b) Cohort Groups, (c) Unclear Communication and Expectations, and (d) Feeling Overwhelmed and Frustrated. Conclusions. This study confirmed much of the research on educational change. Its contributions to the literature include: (a) documentation of a Field-based Master\u27s Program affiliated with a religious institution of higher education and a parochial school system, and (b) presentation of a rationale for continued literature review as a guide throughout the process of change

The education, employment and integration of Indian and Pakistani youths in Newcastle upon Tyne :an empirical study

PhD ThesisThis is a study of Indian and Pakistani youths growing up in one northern English city* I examine in turn their educational performance, their employment, their attitude towards religion, their friendships and their relations with their parents, particularly over the, question of marriage. I discuss how they saw themselves and how they saw their future. Finally, I try to define the emerging style of integration. As the basis of the study I sought to interview all the Indian and Pakistani boys who reached leaving age in the city's schools over the six years 1962-67. I succeeded in interviewing 67 of them, aged between 15 and 21. I originally intended to include Indian and Pakistani girls in my research but I gave up after a series of encounters with glowering fathers who would not let me past the front door. I give the city its proper name of Newcastle upon Tyne. Partly this is because I dislike blank topographical pseudonyms like "North City". Partly it is because this is a study in depth in which I seek to embed the young Indians and Pakistanis firmly and, I hope, vividly in the context of locality and region. Newcastle in its population of 249,240 had, according to the 1966 Sample Census, 150 persons born in the West Indies, 390 born in Pakistan and 1,200 born in India. This - undoubtedly an underestimate - represents a proportion of O.7 per cent. The Proportion throughout the Tyneside conurbation was 0.3 per cent. It may be argued that because of these small Percentages Newcastle is untypical of areas in which Indians and Pakistanis have settled, It may be so but I it must first be established. This is an unashamedly local study of Indian and Pakistani youths in Newcastle, but I use for comparison all available data from other parts of the country, such as it is. In reaching my'conculusions I take account of such differential factors as density of settlement, industrial structure and sohool-leaving patterns. I believe it is only by being painstakingly local that one can distinguish between general and specific considerations.Social Science Research Council

Stargazers' Anonymous: an Examination of Amateur Astronomy in New Zealand

In this examination of amateur astronomy in New Zealand, I suggest that astronomical science can be a medium through which adherents attempt to enact social transformation. Contemporary studies of leisure often emphasise the individualistic nature of leisure activity, with social interaction framed as a means to support the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of participants. However, while amateur astronomers do engage in 'serious leisure' (Stebbins, 1979, 1992), I suggest their extended roles as educators and liaisons for professional counterparts push their endeavour beyond mere participation and into wider territories of public engagement and scientific discourse. Following analysis by Ruonavaara (1997), Rojek (1985, 2000), MacCannell (1976), Urry (1990) and Turner (1969), I argue that the New Zealand astronomical community's' proclivity for education operates as a forum for constructing recursive and normative action, in which ideologies congruent with scientific rationalism are disseminated through a form of moral regulation. Commencing with a discussion of the structure of New Zealand's astronomical community, I examine how informants' narratives and attitudes to contributive participation manifest in demonstrative actions that provide idealised templates for behaviour. Secondly, I discuss astronomy and public education, and how astronomical society volunteers utilise visitors' expectations of authenticity and perceptions of nature to formulate strategies for social change. Finally, I investigate the role and purpose of other astronomyrelated ventures, including Carterton's Stonehenge Aotearoa, culminating in a discussion concerning issues of knowledge, science and postmodernist deconstructionism

La docencia en la Enseñanza Superior. Nuevas aportaciones desde la investigación e innovación educativas

Esta obra recoge interesantes aportaciones sobre investigación e innovación educativa, especialmente aquellas que se dan en el ámbito universitario. Con el título La docencia en la Enseñanza Superior. Nuevas aportaciones desde la investigación e innovación educativas, se compilan los más actuales trabajos de investigación en torno al proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. La obra se estructura en diversos bloques, cada uno de ellos compuesto por un número variable de capítulos, que aglutinan las experiencias de investigación teórica y aplicación práctica sobre experiencias concretas de innovación docente. Los bloques son: 47 capítulos sobre la temática referida a Resultados de investigación sobre la docencia en la Educación Superior; 43 sobre la temática Acciones educativas innovadoras en la Educación Superior; 8 sobre Innovación docente en torno a los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje inclusivos; 9 sobre Acciones de apoyo, orientación y refuerzo al alumnado para la mejora de la formación y de los resultados en la Educación Superior; 24 sobre Nuevas metodologías basadas en el uso de las tecnologías (TIC o TAC) en la Educación Superior; y 4 sobre Investigación e innovación en enseñanza no universitaria para tender puentes con la Educación Superior