Community and Creativity in the Classroom: An Experiment in the Use of the Guest Interview, Focus Group Interviews and Learning Journals in the Teaching and Learning of the Anthropology of Modern Dance
Jonathan Skinner and Kirk Simpson
ABSTRACT: This article assesses the experimental teaching and learning of an anthropol- ogy module on ‘modern dance’. It reviews the teaching and learning of the modern dances (lecture, observation, embodied practice, guest interview), paying attention to the triangulation of investigation methods (learning journal, examination, self-esteem survey, focus group interview). Our findings suggest that—in keeping with contem- porary participatory educational approaches—students prefer guest interviews and ‘performances of understanding’ for teaching and learning, and that focus groups and learning journals were the preferred research methods for illuminating the students’ teaching and learning experience.
KEYWORDS: dance, learning journal, focus group, teaching and learning, education
It is by dancing that one can fully understand dance (…) [Dancing] requires an observing participant rather than anthropology’s orthodox participant observer (Daniel 1995: 21, 22) “The fact that I do anthropology and most of the time I go into a class and it’s— you’re getting talked to ‘about people’ and the way they act. And it’s never really in context. You never really see the people, how they’re acting, what the specific thing is, and—I know it’s not entirely feasible—but I think every module in some way in anthropology should be able to work in some way of the students partic- ipating in what they are learning about because it’s what anthropology’s about. It’s crucial to the understanding. It makes it so much more clear when you’re ac- tually experiencing it as well as learning about it—you have some sort of context in which to place it.” (‘William’, third-year QUB anthropology student, focus group interviewee)
Introduction: Anthropology of students for courses on the ‘anthropology of ‘Dance Fever’ emotions’, field trips for research methods stu- dents, drumming circles for ‘anthropology of The School of Anthropological Studies at The performance’ students, tourist souvenirs for ‘an- Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) is progressive thropology of tourism’ students, flag making in its teaching and learning of anthropology. for ‘anthropology of art’ students, and gamelan Lecturers have used learning journals with their and drumming ensembles for ethnomusicology
Anthropology in Action, Volume 12, Issue 2 (2005): 28–43 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA students within the School (see McIntosh, this ceptualisation and the educational theories that issue). The School has had an ethnomusicology underpinned it. It then attends to module assess- and performance tradition ever since its first ment and review (feedback): this section will Professor of Social Anthropology, John Black- look at the methodological advantages and dis- ing, founded the discipline; two of his legacies advantages of the review techniques used (learn- are a wooden-floored performance room and a ing journal, examination, attendance and par- music- and video-orientated ‘hypermedia’ ticipation, evaluation questionnaire, self-esteem room. It is the ideal environment for experi- survey and focus-group interview). Finally, it ments in the teaching and learning of anthro- comments and reflects upon this teaching and pology, and the new module ‘the anthropology learning process and exercise, situating find- of modern dance’ was the ideal module in ings in the context of educational theory. which to carry out these experiments. This ar- ticle is therefore about the construction, deliv- ery, reception and assessment of ‘210ESA201 ‘Conceptual Equivalence’: The Anthropology of Modern Dance’, deliv- The Module Structure and Delivery ered in 2004/2005 by Dr Jonathan Skinner, a new lecturer in the School. Dr Skinner drew inspiration and encourage- One of Dr Skinner’s interests is in dance in ment from the following two modules and the twentieth century, particularly social dance teaching and learning projects. First, Tim In- (hereafter referred to as ‘modern dance’ as op- gold’s 2003/2004 module ‘The 4 A’s: Anthro- posed to ‘traditional dance’), its social function pology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture’: this and meaning for participants, their use of body was an experimental, final-year undergraduate space and notions of risk and aesthetics, as well course seeking to develop new ways of know- as the teaching and learning of dance. The in- ing and understanding between the four disci- tention behind ‘210ESA201 The Anthropology plines. The module was run along the lines of of Modern Dance’ was to convene a new mod- interactive practicals, demonstrations and site ule which reflected and overlapped with Skin- visits and was a part of the wider project ‘Learn- ner’s current research interests and writings, ing is Understanding in Practice: Exploring the to teach and to test out research. With a gener- Interrelations Between Perception, Creativity ous teaching and learning grant of £5,000 from and Skill’ funded by the UK Arts and Human- the university, Dr Skinner was given the op- ities Research Board (AHRB) and LTSN Centre portunity to both teach and test out dance re- for Learning and Teaching in Sociology, An- search, as well as to conduct some research into thropology and Politics (C-SAP). Rather than transferable skills and the processes of teach- present an anthropology of art or architecture ing and learning with students. Inspiration and to students, Ingold (2004) sought to examine enthusiasm for an applied module came from the practices of artists and architects, calling for a number of sources, academic (C-SAP projects students to ‘engage’ with artefacts over the and Tim Ingold’s AHRB project in the Depart- weeks of the module, to explore their composi- ment of Anthropology at the University of tion and decomposition, their life histories and Aberdeen, see below) and popular (the popu- functions. In Ingold’s words, this teaching and larity of jive and salsa in Belfast, and the recent learning project drew attention to the inconsis- resurgent interest in dance from television con- tency between how theories of learning occur tests such as Strictly Come Dancing and Strictly (knowledge is social, contained in skills, and con- Dance Fever). veyed and regenerated through the group (cf. Following this introduction, this article con- Lave and Wenger 1991; Chaiklin and Lave 1996) siders the construction of the module, its con- and how they are taught and conveyed in the
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traditional lecture-seminar (casting students as isolated and passive recipients in a process of 100
knowledge transfer (Ingold 2005). Through teach- 90 ing skills such as basket weaving (Palsson 1994; 80 Ingold 2000; Ingold 2005), Ingold (2004) used 70 techniques to make teaching and learning the- Guest Interview, ories consonant with their everyday context: a 60 57
particularly ‘vivid’ manner of learning accord- 50 ing to student evaluation. 40 Second, in 2003/2004, Gillian Bentley (2004) 30 ran an interactive teaching and learning mod- WebCT, 22
20 ule, ‘Evolutionary Medicine’, at University Col- PowerPoint, 13
lege London. The model used was ‘Oprah’-like, 10 as distinguished evolutionary biologists were 0 invited into class to discuss their work with PowerPoint WebCT Guest Interview students. Bentley was surprised by the results of her teaching and learning experiment, not FIGURE 2: Student preferences for different teaching expecting so many academics and practition- methods ers to accept her invitations or her students to Source: Bentley 2004: 5 prefer this mode of teaching and learning more than any other (Figures 1 and 2). From a sam- tion of the class preferred this mode of first- ple of approximately thirty-five undergraduate hand teaching and learning to interactive tech- students, Bentley found that more than two- nological developments in the classroom such thirds of the class (69 percent) preferred the as PowerPoint and WebCT (see Figure 2). guest interview approach to the traditional lec- Dr Skinner sought to deliver a module in- ture (see Figure 1), and that a similar propor- spired by these two teaching and learning ex- periments, one composed of guest speakers, but also with the option of full, ‘enskilled’ par- 100 ticipation for the students. He did not want,
90 however, to make dancing a required activity in
80 the module, nor for the module to be assessed Guest Interview, 69 in terms of the ability of students to dance or to 70 improve in their dancing-embodied skill. The 60 module descriptor for this module begins with 50 the description that it ‘explores when, where,
40 how, and why “modern” people dance’, and ends with the point that ‘[i]n all of these [work- 30 shops] the student can choose to watch and/or 20 Unsure, 17 Lecture, 14 dance’. In other words, whilst it was acknowl- 10 edged that the position of Daniel’s observing
0 participant mentioned above is a useful one to Lecture Unsure Guest Interview take, it was considered to be more important that non-dancing students would not be at a FIGURE 1: Student preference for lecture vs guest disadvantage on this module. The dancing ele- interview ment to the module would thus not put off Source: Bentley 2004: 4 those interested in taking the module but who
30 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA did not want to dance or felt too embarrassed to hold the module together. After introducing to dance. The dances featured (ballet, jive, hip- the module and the modes of assessment (learn- hop/breakdancing, salsa, tango, rueda, rave ing journal and exam, see below), Dr Skinner and modern African dance) would be treated took the first masterclass, presenting jive to the as access points to topics such as modernity; students with his regular dance demonstrator, expression, communication and meaning; gen- thereby giving the students a template to follow der, identity and subcultures. The dance dem- for other masterclasses. The classes then fol- onstrations were not conceived as an end in lowed in quick succession, requiring a lot of co- themselves. ordination and logistics, but also involving stu- The dances and guest interviewees/perform- dents who videotaped classes, attended lunches ers were selected through dance networks estab- and evening dances in Belfast for their learning lished during Dr Skinner’s research and ‘hobby journals, as well as a week-long visit by M40, a dancing’. They were invited to hold a two-hour rueda dance team led by Ms Bea Prentiss and ‘masterclass’ with the students and were paid Mr Wyn Morris who also took the rueda mas- £75 per hour, which is a rate above the custom- terclass (see Figures 3 and 4). Because the learn- ary visiting lecturer rate to acknowledge their ing journals assessment featured the series of physical and personal involvement in the mas- masterclasses—a 1,500-word learning journal terclasses, as well as their part-time dance teach- submission addressing the questions, ‘How ing activities (they were taking a number of have the readings, performances and experi- hours out of their class schedules to come in to ences on this module affected you in terms of the university). The sessions were loosely struc- teaching and learning?’—we will move directly tured for the visitors, who were nearly all non- on to the section reviewing the assessments. academics. It was suggested that each visitor Unfortunately, because of the submission date introduced themselves and talked about ‘how for the learning journals, the students did not they got into dance’, during which they would have the opportunity to include accounts of invite student questions before moving on to their experience of the hiphop/breakdancing demonstrate the dance to the students. There and modern African dance masterclasses. would then be an opportunity to learn the dance, led by the guest interviewee, and finally a pe- riod of time for final questions and answers. Module Assessment With three visiting guest interviewees, there was the opportunity for the entire class to take The ‘Anthropology of Modern Dance’ module them to a free lunch during which the students was assessed as follows: learning journal (30 could talk more informally with the guest, as percent), two-hour examination (60 percent) and well as to get to know each other better—in attendance and participation (10 percent). The other words to spur on the formation of Lave examination was of a traditional format, and and Wenger’s (1991) ‘community of learners’ the attendance and participation marks were in which learning and knowledge is best com- weighted at 5 percent each and allocated con- municated and (re)generated. ceptually as per the QUB marking guidesheet— The module as a whole was organised around a grade lowered for every two sessions missed, these eight dance sessions. The remaining lec- and full marks for participation if students ei- ture workshops were used to ground the mod- ther danced or took notes. The learning journal ule in anthropological theory and ethnography. was an academic diary which promoted long- These four sessions were interspersed at the term retention of concepts, reflexive and reflec- start, the end and the quarter-points through tive learning, supported classroom learning, and the weeks to act as ‘intellectual breathers’ and promoted life-long learning. It was framed as a
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FIGURES 3 AND 4: Rueda instructors demonstrating and leading dance workshops with students and colleagues in the school’s performance room
personal space where lessons and lectures can notes in her study of the salsa scene, dancers talk be applied, questions asked and analytical ca- of a “mystical experience” and when felt it can pacities improved. Significantly, it was a semi- be “really enchanting”. (Wiescholek 2003: 125) structured forum where students could relate This extract from a learning journal shows that academic experiences to personal experiences. the student is making connections between The students were encouraged to be as creative theory and practice: Jaz is using her experi- and self-expressive as possible in their submis- ences to engage with and critique the dance lit- sions and to use the first person, ‘I’, to write erature. It is this type of application of poems, thoughts, dialogues, reader response ac- knowledge and experience that the module counts or literature (b)logs, and to draw, paint convenor has intended. or digitise pictures in their accounts. Below is Writing in her learning journal about ap- a selection of the results. proaches to apprenticeship, Fay found similar connections and illumination between master- Relating Readings to Masterclasses class and module reading:
These extracts from learning journals are I witnessed the progression of my classmates grouped together because of their use of prac- ‘moving from peripheral to full participation in tical classroom and extracurricular engagement communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger 1991: with the literature on the module. In these ex- 71) on a smaller scale to the apprentice midwife tracts, the students juxtapose events with read- but I felt it was relevant all the same. The com- munity of practice mentioned in this case is the ings, both of which work to illuminate one an- classroom setting with the students (apprentices) other. Here, Jaz links her understandings from and the dancer (master). masterclasses with Chris (salsa) and Jonathan Skinner and Helen (jive) to her interpretation Her comments become more reflexive as she of readings: marries theories that underpinned the module to observations she made from week to week “[D]ance gesture is not a real gesture, but vir- in the performance room. They are more so- tual” (Langer 1953: 178). I do not fully agree with this argument after speaking with Chris and also phisticated than the following ungrounded or Helen who talk about what they feel and also linked reflection about the module made by Jo: from my own experience. As Wiescholek (2003) “What I found from watching and participat-
32 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA ing in this partner dance was a connection in a Below is a collection of their comments, again rhythmic experience”. extracted from their learning journals:
Extending the Boundaries of Gemma—extracurricular dancing and reflections: the Learning Environment When I attended the Empire’s salsa night I felt One significant consequence of this experiment much more able to understand the dichotomy in- volved with dancing at different times of the day, in teaching and learning was the increase in stu- simply by relating the theory to my own feelings. dent involvement in the module’s subject mat- In the club environment I felt more comfortable ter. Not only did students participate in dances and free to move, and I think that the combina- in the performance room, but they also volun- tion of feeling appropriately dressed, slightly tarily went out dancing, or watched dance on drunk and, most importantly, amongst people the television with the family, or watched box- who were there for the same purpose of enjoying the dance as either a participant or spectator ing through a dancer’s lens, or dug into their equated to a wholly more enjoyable experience memories of experiences relating to dance. These than that of the classroom. After my salsa club activities and thoughts were precisely the con- experience I was able to simultaneously experi- nections between theory and practice, reading ence and apply the theories I had learned about and dancing, sought in the module’s aims and imagined community and liminality of dance objectives as the students themselves extended and gain a deep insight into an area of dance that I had known nothing about, as well as the ability the boundaries of the classroom-learning envi- to articulate theories about the psychology of ronment. The activities in the module were thus the dance that I had been unaware I was familiar consonant with the teaching and learning aims with. Thus I learned on a number of different established in the 2002 UK Anthropology Bench- levels. mark (QAA 2002: 9) statement where the notes under 5.7 read as follows: Mary—a mature student reflecting upon her son’s clubbing: 5.7 Students themselves have also played an active part in the teaching and learning of anthropology. Clubbers have not only their own style of dress Many programmes now incorporate experiential but also a different outlook to life in general and learning of some kind in which the experience, most importantly, their own mode of greeting values and biography of students are used to and their own distinctive language. Clubbing complement the more orthodox material that therefore, as I see it, is a weekend mode of life. I comprises the anthropological canon. A sense of speak from experience on this subject as my son reflexivity is also cultivated through encourag- and his friends in their student days and before ing students to work together and, in some re- careers set in employed these strange weekend spects, to create their own learning environment rituals. These involved serious showering and through discussion and engagement with one dressing with particular care and attention paid another. This community of learning may be fur- to hair grooming and gelling, all accompanied ther supported by electronic means such as by music. Later several friends would arrive and email discussion groups. from the bedroom could be heard the latest ‘mix’ from Pete Tong or some other deified disc jockey. The students in the ‘Anthropology of Modern Dance’ module became a community of active learners with a sensitivity towards embodied Tracey—using her memories to engage with dance knowledge generated through movement and theory: reading. Students drew not only upon their As dances are often thought of as related to eth- dance experiences for the duration of the mod- nic groups, people often think that certain people ule, but they also tapped into their memories. are naturally more gifted at certain ways of danc-
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ing and, as Wieschiolek points out, people believe Creative Engagements with the Anthropology that people of a certain ethnicity have more au- of Modern Dance thority to teach a certain dance (Wieschiolek 2003). Weischiolek calls this ‘ethnic competence’ (p.22). The three learning journal examples above all I am familiar with this. A fine example happened show how the module impacted upon the stu- last year when I studied in a historically black dents’ lives. It changed the ways in which they college in Alabama where there was a tiny white saw themselves and others, especially when out minority. I entered a hall with some friends and some hiphop was playing and I unconsciously dancing. The following two extracts from learn- started bobbing my head. One of my friends ing journals show how creative the students started giggling and I asked her why. “Girl, you can be in this exercise. They ‘narrated’ their ob- almost dancing!” I asked her why this was funny servations and reactions to the masterclasses, even though I knew why. “You seen the movie readings and their life experiences in new ways, White Men Can’t jump?” I replied that I had and regenerating anthropological knowledge as po- she explained joyfully, “Well, white women can’t dance!” etry (Brianna) and boxing as poetry in motion But this competence, which is often perceived (Ruari). Brianna’s poem (Figure 5) is a parody of racially, can be much more accurately viewed as the module with references to the masterclasses a cultural, memetic entity. It is just exposure to (jive as Ceroc), readings and concepts (night- the meme that makes it more likely for a Black and daytime behaviour, Langer on dance as American to be able to ‘bump ‘n’ grind’, a Cuban to salsa, or an Irishman to ‘shoe the donkey’. These memes can and do cross ethnic bound- aries, so that other people can learn to mimic and The Dance adapt these memes—Eminem can rap, Joss Stone Tick tick, tap tap can sing soul, and most of the world can beat Is is house or is it rap? England at cricket. No, its something called Ceroc Does that mean I should wear a frock? These three learning journal examples all Will I not appear a tart feature personal memories. Gemma was in- If I practise this plastic art. spired by the module to go out and to dance In my virtual realm of power and to examine and reflect upon her actions in I will blossom like a flower, detail. For her, the readings assisted with her Others they may scorn and mock But I’ll feel my whole being…like a cock ‘everynight life’ (Delgado and Munoz 1997) Hovering at the point of ejaculation just as much as the dancing at nighttime clari- With my impressive gesticulation. fied her understanding of theories of liminality You may question the authenticity and community. For Mary, there was an am- Of my subjective reflexivity, bivalence about the module in that she en- But ask the question, what does dance do? joyed watching dance and encouraged her son It’s a different answer for me and you. For both it is our drug of choice to dance, despite having been brought up to It’s just so very hard to voice, associate dance with ‘sinfulness’—an associa- To articulate the anthropological notion tion which she now found to be ironic given Of our dance world, made and unmade by motion. that, for her son, dance evenings and prepara- Interpersonality reacts to light tions were rituals held to be more sacred than Of the swirling couples in daytime and night. profane. And finally, Tracey drew upon her Is it a form of catharsis Paul? Or is Bourdieu right, its Habitus y’all! crosscultural/ethnic experiences of dance to Whatever the real explanation is support her interpretation of module readings. Dancing still makes my body fizzzzzzzzz! Her second paragraph is particularly rich in terms of connections made between dances and FIGURE 5: ‘The Dance’, poem extract from Brianna’s dancers, dance style and dance diffusion. learning journal
34 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA plastic arts, parodying Johnson’s connections clubbable ‘guys’) and “females (the more for- between clubbing and ejaculation, Bourdieu mal and honouring ‘ladies’). on habitus). It is also a way of conveying her thoughts and reactions in a non-traditional I found that there were many more females than males today. Therefore, many females had to rep- student submission format. The poem is sur- resent the other gender—the males. Same-sex rounded by learning journal text, and brings partners were created among the women. From an additional dimension to her report. Through my observations I believed that the dance con- the poem, Brianna is transforming and regen- fused their gender. To me they were losing femi- erating anthropological knowledge gleaned ninity and gaining masculinity while dancing. from the readings and masterclasses. Her work Therefore, in the dance arena they had a confused state of gender. I believed that they were in a lim- is thus an example of deep learning with com- inal phase between femininity and masculinity mentaries on plastic arts and aesthetics; dancing while in the dance arena. But as they left the arena whilst on drugs and dance as a drug; subjectiv- they immediately retrieved their femininity by, for ity, authenticity and interpersonality. example, meeting their boyfriend. It appeared to Ruari’s extract from his learning journal is me, therefore, that the dance arena was a flexible interesting because it comes from one of the environment where the dancer could play with his or her gender. This is also illustrated by Hieke few males taking the module (three out of nine- Wieschiolek during her study of the Salsa culture teen). Furthermore, Ruari did not dance until in Germany. the end of the module when the hiphop and Week three was entirely academic. However, breakdancing masterclasses were scheduled. relating to my own dance experience, I watched Ruari, however, proved himself to be a most a recording of Mohammed Ali boxing during the perceptive and analytic observer: 1960s. I thought how similar he was to a salsa or a tango performer on stage. He would move his During this week it appeared to me that if we ap- feet, do an Ali shuffle and blind us with his speed. ply Dilley’s theory to dance, it argues that we He was dancing. Dancing in the boxing ring. must physically participate in the dance in order to grasp its cultural meaning. Therefore, Dilley Though perhaps not a dancer in the traditional argues that we must physically participate in or- sense of the term, Ruari has been struck by the der to learn. module such that his notion of dance has been However, during the module I did not jive, I expanded to include movement patterns asso- did not salsa and I did not dance. Therefore, if ciated with his sporting activities—his boxing we prescribe to Dilley’s argument, I mustn’t have learned an iota about dance because I didn’t phys- interest. Ruari finds that his critical eye has been ically perform the dances. In any event, I disagree attuned to now see patterns of dance where entirely with this assumption. I argue that because before he did not recognise them. This sug- I didn’t dance, I didn’t learn the moves or the style gests that the module will have long-term after of the dance. In short, I simply didn’t learn how effects: Ruari will not be signing up for the to dance. Therefore, throughout the module I set dance classes which some of the students will out to show how my observations of the inform- ants within the dance arena could teach us more be taking, but he will be looking at his boxing about the people’s attitudes towards dance. with a dancer’s eye. Finally, besides these poetic extracts and cre- In another learning journal entry, Ruari contin- ative connections, several of the learning jour- ues with observations which link with the read- nals were supplemented with videotapes. As ings, opening up the module in a direction that masterclass followed masterclass on the mod- was not covered in the module content. Ruari ule, the students grew accustomed to being was also the only person to pick up on the lan- videotaped alongside their guests. They were guage used by the instructors and how it dif- also aware that they were on an experimental fered when addressing “males (an informal and module, largely due to the number of surveys
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and questionnaires they were asked to carry out with my body’. Like all the other surveys, the (see the following section). Two students took information was anonymous and confidential, the structure of the module and the masterclass but because this survey was so personal and to their friends and videotaped some question intimate, it was made optional. Ten students and answer sessions with them. This initiative entered the survey, with only one student pre- and additional feature in their learning jour- pared to complete the survey at the start and at nals is in the vein of video diaries—currently the end of the module (see Figure 6). These low popular techniques to explore celebrity minds response rates do not reflect a mismanagement and nerves on television. They add to the above of the survey, but indicate an oversampling as module assessment samples, creative, student- above, as well as a general sense that this type centred narrative reactions, students becoming of survey was far more intrusive than the in- creative and motivated self-learners. structor satisfaction questionnaires. Whereas the majority of answers oscillated about the ‘Im- partial’ midpoint, with agreement (2) and dis- Triangulation and Module Review agreement (3) about the positive and about the negative questions respectively, students did in- As mentioned above, this experimental module dicate final self-esteem scores which were highly was closely observed. At the end of each mas- positive as well as highly negative. In other terclass, the students were given faculty teach- words, students both comfortable and uncom- ing and learning questionnaires to fill in. They fortable with themselves and with others, with were asked to score fifteen questions between both high and low self-esteem, did in fact opt 1 (strongly agree) and 5 (strongly disagree). for this module and did enjoy it. ‘210ESA201’ Questions ranged from ‘showed enthusiasm was not a module solely for the extrovert. Fur- for the subject’ to ‘began punctually’ and ‘you thermore, quite significantly, the Rosenberg Self- would take another workshop by this instruc- Esteem Survey revealed that non-dancing was tor’. These student samples were useful in in- in no way tied to low self-esteem. An assessment dicating generally which masterclasses they of the difference between the before and after enjoyed the most (salsa) and which they enjoyed Rosenberg surveys shows little overall change the least (tango). Yet, as questions, they were (a score of +1). Indeed, scrutiny of the scores found to be more befitting the professional that have changed shows that by the end of the lecturer-instructor than the dance instructor. module the student had become less satisfied They also generated a large number of statisti- with herself; believed more in herself and that cal information, an overload on the evaluators she could do things as well as other people; felt and on the students, who grew bored with the more impartial to feeling that she was a failure, repetitive nature of the scaled exercise. All the which she had previously disagreed with; was module convenor was able to do with this in- more positive towards herself; and was more formation was to make a prioritised list of mas- comfortable around other people. Without in- terclasses for future academic years. terviewing the student, we cannot confirm that A second and more long-term sample con- the final two changes were the result of this sisted of a tailored version of the Rosenberg experimental module in teaching and learn- (1989) Self-Esteem Survey that was adminis- ing, though the student did partake in group- tered by email at the start and the end of the learning dance exercises which might have had module. The survey was tailored to the mod- a direct or indirect influence upon these scores. ule students by adding the following two extra The final triangulation method deployed questions to the end of the test: ‘I am comfort- upon the students was a short, semistructured, able around other people’ and ‘I am happy focus group interview lasting approximately
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Scoring: Strongly Agree 1 — Agree 2 — Impartial 3 — Disagree 4 — Strongly Disagree 5
Self-Esteem Questions Test 1 Test 2 Change 1. On the whole I am satisfied with myself 3 4 −1 2. At times I think I am no good at all 2 2 0 3. I feel I have a number of good qualities 2 2 0 4. I am able to do things as well as most other people 3 2 +1 5. I feel I do not have much to be proud of 3 3 0 6. I certainly feel useless at times 2 2 0 7. I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal 2 2 0 plane with others 8. I wish I could have more respect for myself 4 4 0 9. All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure 4 3 −1 10. I take a positive attitude towards myself 3 2 +1 11.I am comfortable around other people 3 2 +1 12. I am happy with my body 4 4 0
FIGURE 6 Comparison of ‘Before’ and ‘After’ Rosenberg Self-Esteem Surveys (with additional questions) fifteen to twenty minutes. For this, the module ment—the doing, the apprenticeship, the skills class was split into two groups who were sub- side to the module—had radically enhanced the sequently questioned about the module and the student learning experience: nature of teaching and learning. The results of the interviews were interesting in that the two “It has been more practical than anything and it makes you more aware of what you’re learning. groups echoed one another. Students in both It was more than just learning about dance, it groups noted that they enjoyed the module and was kind of learning about how you learn as well got a lot from it (“it was really exciting, you and it made me sort of aware of when I was watch- looked forward to the classes and left wanting ing dancers recreationally, you know, I think I’ve to find out more”; “it took the boredom out of involved myself more in this module in my life, usual lectures, you really listened to the dancers I think, outside of the classroom, than any other module before.” who had come to speak and perform”; “it was the best organised module I’ve ever been on”). “It’s practical. It’s like ethnomusicology, because They felt particularly involved in the module, you’re doing something practical, you’re learning talking about the dance and teaching the dances to perform an instrument, you remember more to fellow students and their families, research- than you would in just a lecture like in econom- ing their interests and completing their learning ics or something. You’re not going to sit and think ‘oh, I remember that lecture, it was really inter- journals with reflections on dance experiments esting!’ If you’re performing with other people, in the masterclasses and in the local nightclubs. the fact that you’re doing something makes you Perhaps the most striking finding from the focus remember it.” group interviews was their agreement that the practical nature of the module had vastly facil- These two student narratives demonstrate that itated not just interest in the subject matter of the practical and embodied focus to the mod- the module, but student learning and retention ule added to the student learning experience, of that learning. The practical performance ele- ‘deepening’ student memories, rather like the
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dancer’s muscle memory. The applied nature of large number of two-ones on the module—al- this teaching and learning experiment involved most 70 percent of the students—reflected a the students more than usual. It prevented de- positive skew to the traditional bell-curve of tachment from the subject under study. It be- marks. Involved, encouraged and well moti- came physically and mentally engrossing, like vated, the students on this module found that instrument playing—such as in a gamelan— this experiment in teaching and learning was for ethnomusicologists. an acknowledged success. Its impact spilled out The masterclasses engaged and engrossed of the performance room and into other mod- the students. They also encouraged them to con- ules as well as into their real world employ- tinue with their learning experience outside of ment prospects. the boundaries of the performance room, in their evening activities in the pubs and night- “It’s bringing it to real life in anthropology.” clubs, in front of the television, and with the “[I]f you go out into the work place what do you dance text that came to life in their hands. have to know about? You have to know about people and for me, that’s what anthropology is “I think you remember it much more easily: about.” something that you’ve actually seen. You learn more about the dance from talking to the dancers “I like understanding the theories about learning than actually reading about it.” and understanding about how I learn and what the best way to learn is and I think that that stuff “(…) and then you do the reading and you think, is applicable sort of to all the different modules.” oh yeah I remember seeing that.”
“It’s easier to understand if you’ve done it your- self.” Education on the Floor “I was surprised by how much I was able to en- gage with the readings.” In spilling out of the performance room, this module became a meta-learning experience for “I guess [I learn] more about something that was anthropology students. This section will exam- more interactive and physical, you know, rather than just sitting there, you know. I think I learnt ine this module and its findings in light of trends quicker through this module than I did through in education theory, drawing at length upon just sitting down, like.” the work of Jerome Bruner and Howard Gard- ner who have argued against the instrumental “It [the masterclass] makes it so much more clear when you’re actually experiencing it as well as in favour of the innovative, who have shunned learning about it. You have some sense of context the traditional utilitarian and didactic teaching in which to place it.” and learning format in their promotion of inter- active and procedural approaches to learning. When the external examiner assessed the Both educationalists have been linked with an scripts and looked at the workings of the mod- anti-behaviourist swing since the 1960s (vs B.F. ule, she complimented Dr Skinner on produc- Skinner’s [1988] Pavlovian psychology of rein- ing an ‘innovative course’ which ‘clearly makes forcement conditioning of the 1950s). Here an- good use of your and other people’s skills pas- thropological thinking is consonant with educa- sion’. She was writing not only about the lec- tion theory in terms of its critique of approaches turer and dance instructors, but also about the to knowledge. In a rigidly ordered social sys- students and their interest in the anthropology tem, it has often been the case that knowledge of modern dance. The module was seen to be has been constructed in a hierarchical and es- an academic success, with 3 overall firsts, 13 sentially decontextualised fashion. It has been two-ones, 4 two-twos and 2 incomplete. The regarded as more important for students to
38 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA produce the ‘right’ answers, than to analyse or the students did become their own education understand the concepts that underpinned the agents. They asked the questions of the dance issues (Stoll and Fink 1996). Students—tertiary- instructors. They decided to dance or to ob- level consumers—have been viewed as vessels serve. They chose the style of learning-journal into which government-approved knowledge submission and whether they wanted to face an could be poured. The progress of students in end-of-semester examination or extended es- this process was determined by their ability to say. Cathy, for example, ended up experimenting reproduce ‘correct’ answers within a range of upon herself, testing theories of participation standardised examinations (Gardner 1999). An- and learning each week by involving herself in thropology, with its questioning and heuristic the masterclasses in different ways: ‘[a]fter read- approach (see benchmark statement above), is ing the article by Dilley who stressed “the value not well suited to such exercises. It is an analyt- of participation and human experience as a ical and discursive discipline, experience-based mode of learning” (Dilley: 32) I decided that I and continually challenging to convention. would dance some weeks and not others to see Ironically, with its practical participant (ob- if this proved to be true’. It was not just lip ser- servation) roots, the discipline does thus lend vice that the module descriptor (Skinner 2004: 2) itself to Rousseau’s heuristic methods of learn- contained a section on lecturer/student teaching ing (Rusk 1967; Cohen 1969; Rousseau 1974)— and learning commitments inspired by Dewey: education as a contextualised process of dis- The ‘informed guidance’ which I practice is one covery. His ideas shaped John Dewey’s (1915) which hopefully instills a desire and a compe- idea that self-activity and person-centred learn- tency for ‘autonomous learning’ in my students ing should be the cornerstone of the educational by the time that they ‘graduate’. Then, to para- perspective. Dewey (1916) subsequently argued phrase John Dewey on how we think, my stu- that someone had only arrived at a true under- dents are well versed in reflective practice and can plan and direct their work with a sense of in- standing of a concept when it became congru- tention and purpose. ent with a pattern of activity that he or she was familiar with: this is evinced in the QUB learn- In ‘Toward a Theory of Instruction’ (1966), ing journal entries for the salsa readings and the American psychologist and educationalist salsa masterclass, for example, and the students’ Jerome Bruner provided an outline of the key focus group comments that the masterclasses principles that he believed underpinned effective brought the readings to life. interactive teaching and learning. For Bruner, Entwistle (1970: 143) has argued that implicit ‘instruction’ was in no way a process that in- in the activity-based type of educational process volved the students being cast as passive recep- that Piaget (1971) described was a recognition tors of knowledge. Rather, it was a paradigm of that a person ‘becomes the agent of his own teaching and learning that was to be regarded education’. This was a further rejection of the as an active social process in which the students rationale for an educational process that was constructed new ideas or concepts based on founded entirely and exclusively on the trans- their existing knowledge. The student was to be mission of knowledge. Piaget (1971: 69) argued encouraged to develop the skills necessary to that active teaching methods did not lead in any select information and originate hypotheses. It way to ‘anarchic individualism’, but instead was the responsibility of the teacher to try and trained students in voluntary effort. The changes ensure that the students discovered principles to the QUB students’ approach to dance, the for themselves, and that they engaged in mean- ways in which they viewed and interpreted it, ingful and active dialogue with each other and the rituals surrounding it, and their extracur- with the teacher (see Skinner’s Editorial, this is- ricular commitment to the module, all show that sue. Bruner’s approach created a key role for the
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teacher in the heuristic learning environment. It is a different method of teaching and learning For Bruner, the ‘instructor’ was central to the to what I am normally used to but I did find it creation of a teaching and learning methodology quite enjoyable and interesting. As I am an an- thropology student, it is better to have a ‘hands that was steeped in the idea of student–teacher on’ approach and to get more involved in the partnership. The teacher was to encourage stu- subject which I am studying. I was also able to dents to discover principles by themselves, but relate the readings to the actual participation of he or she should also have actively discussed the dances and draw better conclusions. For ex- issues and concepts with the students (Socratic ample I felt I could analyse Susanne Langer’s ar- learning). gument better after I had participated in the dances myself. I would sincerely advise these It is not just the folk perceptions of the teach- methods of teaching and learning to other mod- ers, however, that present a potential barrier to ules wherever possible. the establishment of an innovative and effec- tive teaching and learning environment. Often, Gemma is that active learner which Bruner seeks the students begin by assuming that the teacher to foster: Bruner (1996) has argued that didactic or lecturer is an authority figure, and that he or exposure—a method of teaching based on the she is in possession of all of the relevant knowl- idea that students are to be introduced to facts, edge and will pass it on to the class (Bruner principles and rules to be learned in quasi-rote 1996). However, under what Bruner (1996: 52) fashion and then applied—is a mode of instruc- describes as ‘appropriate conditions’, the stu- tion premised on the negative assumption that dents soon begin to realise that others within the learner is ignorant of facts, rules or princi- the class might have knowledge too, and that ples which can be communicated simply by through a process of collaboration and interac- telling. Within this process, there was the faulty tion that knowledge can be shared. It is not belief that procedural knowledge and under- enough for this knowledge to exist inertly in standing would automatically follow the student the group. Group participation can be utilised ‘knowing’ facts and theories. Bruner (1996) ar- as a way of creating knowledge (Bruner 1996). gued that didacticism is the most adhered to of For Bruner, to conceive of students as imitative all of the ‘folk pedagogies’. learners is to fail to appreciate that there may Gemma’s learning through practice princi- be little distinction between ‘procedural knowl- ples carried no such negative assumptions. De- edge’ (knowing how) and ‘propositional knowl- veloping intersubjective interchange between edge’ (knowing that) (Bruner 1996). Crucially, learners, alternatively, is a teaching and learn- demonstrating ‘how to’ do something and pro- ing methodology based on the idea that learn- viding an opportunity for practice to do so is, ers are not perceived as ignorant or unskilled according to Bruner (1996: 54), not necessarily but, instead, are people with the ability to rea- enough—there must be a productive interaction son, debate and get involved in dialogue, dis- between conceptual understanding and situ- course and interaction. The beliefs of the learner ated actualisation: ‘studies of expertise have about the world are brought into line with those shown that merely learning how to perform of others not through imitation or didactic learn- skilfully does not get one to the same level of ing but rather through collaboration and nego- flexible skill as when one learns by a combina- tiation: through participation in practice (Lave tion of practice and conceptual explanation’. It and Wenger 1991). Knowledge thus comes to be was this combination of practice and concep- regarded as what is shared or produced within tual explanation that Dr Skinner sought in his participative, situated, and experiential learn- module ‘The Anthropology of Modern Dance’. ing. This paradigm of teaching and learning Gemma attests to the success of this interplay in is dialectical (not didactic) and mutualist (not hi- the following extract from her learning journal: erarchical), and concerns itself with fostering
40 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA interpretative and creative skills and under- concepts and skills. The combination of read- standing as opposed to cultivating an ability to ings, performances and hands-on apprenticeship recite or regurgitate facts. With a note of cau- makes critical anthropological ideas touch our senses in different ways. tion, however, it should be acknowledged that too much of an exclusive focus on the centrality And, to return to Gemma, we find a sophisti- of social discourse, participation and negotia- cated appreciation of academic theory and prac- tion risks overemphasising the value of social tice, as well as an overarching and perspectival exchange in the construction of knowledge. appreciation of the lecturer’s teaching and learn- Further, there is the danger that lecturers can ing goals, in her learning journal: become over enthusiastic about the interactive experience in their modules and pathways with This module has taught me on a number of dif- a large proportion of modules calling for reflex- ferent levels. Not only through my acquiring of ive learning journals regardless of their suita- new knowledge but also in the way that I view how I am taught. The very nature of this journal bility (the use of learning journals in history proves that learning is such a personal thing and tutorials is one example of this from QUB): stu- that the only way to learn is through a willing- dents should not be overburdened with learn- ness to be taught by yourself as well as others. I ing journal exercises for all modules, rather, their feel that whether or not I retain the theoretical module pathways should be developed so as content of this module I will definitely keep on to explore a range of assessment techniques, and board my learning about learning itself, and how it is both a formal and informal process that oc- methods and degrees of module involvement. curs both in and out of the classroom. Finally, it should be noted that Howard Gard- ner’s (1985) theory of ‘multiple intelligences’ Gemma exudes that interpersonal intelligence has been tremendously valuable in relation to where a person is sensitive to the detection, the development of new paradigms of student- comprehension and appreciation of the moti- centred heuristic teaching methodology and vations, anxieties and desires of other people. provides a future direction for the evolution of Interpersonal intelligence allows people to work this module. Gardner’s work on the importance effectively and constructively with others. It of the personal intelligences—‘inter’ and ‘intra’ should be regarded as particularly important personal intelligence, and kinesthetic intelli- for educators. Gardner (1985: 241) argued that gence—adds resonance to module convenors inter/intra personal and kinesthetic forms of seeking to construct programmes of education intelligence were linked—that ‘these two forms based on student-centred learning, particularly of knowledge are intimately intermingled in any at undergraduate level. Gardner (1985) defined culture’. It is also vital for the student seeking intrapersonal intelligence as the capacity of a their niche in the workplace. Brianna recognised person to achieve genuine understanding of this at the end of the focus group interviews: his or her own feelings, anxieties and motiva- tions; it is ‘involved chiefly in an individual’s But if you go out into the work place what do examination and knowledge of his own feel- you have to know about? You have to know ings’ (Gardner 1985: 241). This is very apparent about people and, for me, that’s what anthropol- ogy is about: it’s about learning about the society in Ria’s learning journal: I’m living in and about other societies so that I can go out there and be knowledgeable about Through completing this module, we are able to other societies and to interact with them. use our bodies to think, as well as act with. We are given an alternative and more comprehen- sive way in which learning is stimulated. (…) Gardner (1999) has cited the dancer’s convic- The mode of learning in this module most defi- tion that everyone has the capacity ‘to appre- nitely promotes long-term retention of ideas, hend directly’ the actions, feelings or dynamic
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abilities of other people, without help from the dangers of overkill, in terms of requesting words or pictures. Dancers and actors clearly students to undertake repeated surveys, have draw on this ability. Students can learn much been highlighted. from interviewing and studying those with kin- These ‘performances of understanding’, as esthetic gifts. The obvious examples come from we should like to refer to our masterclasses, athletics, gymnastics and dance. One of the core are a crucial aspect of this type of educational elements of the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence framework—the rationale being that under- is the control of one’s bodily motions and capac- standing can be effectively demonstrated by ity to handle objects skilfully. Gardner (1999) students through performance and, as this ar- described this intelligence as including a sense ticle has shown, the observation of performance. of timing and a clear sense of the goal of a According to Stone Wiske (1998), effective per- physical action, along with the ability to train formances of understanding have to relate di- responses so they become like reflexes. These rectly to understanding goals, assisting in both abilities are often undervalued within the main- developing and applying genuine understand- stream education system. Bodily intelligence is ing through consistent practice. Effective per- not widely appreciated in our culture. Calling formances of understanding also promote it an ‘intelligence’ has often invited widespread varied learning styles, encouraging students to contempt, although Gardner has called upon engage reflectively in tasks that are both chal- prominent athletes, actors, inventors and danc- lenging and manageable, and affording them ers to make the case for a bodily intelligence. the opportunity to clearly demonstrate their Ingold (2004) and Palsson (1994) escape this con- understanding. The ‘Anthropology of Modern tempt for the physical by attacking Cartesian Dance’ module explored some different forms dualism, and with the neat sidestep resulting of assessment and encouraged the creative. from their attention to body dispositions framed In relation to the assessment of these student under their use of the term ‘enskilment’. ‘performances’, Perkins (1998) has argued that students require continuous feedback and plenty of opportunities for reflection (‘ongoing assess- Conclusion ment’) throughout the entire course, as opposed to traditional forms of assessment that have This article has presented a detailed account of taken place at the end of a tightly packed mod- a successful teaching and learning experiment, ule or course. This assessment can take the form namely the use of practical masterclasses and of feedback from the teacher or from peers, or learning journals in a module on the anthropol- self-evaluations. Whilst teachers can sometimes ogy of modern dance. Both the students in the provide assessment criteria, Perkins (1998) ar- classes and the authors of this article examined gues that they should also enlist the assistance of these activities and assessments. The students the students in developing those criteria. Whilst reported on their experiences in focus group in- this was not directly possible for the dance mod- terviews (learning, attention and motivation), ule other than to offer to read learning journal the quality of instruction in questionnaires (im- entries, future developments could be to access mediate and captivating), and overall affect of student-learning journals through the use of the module upon the self in the Rosenberg Self- information technology such as Web Course Esteem Survey (self-perception and skills). The Tools (WebCT). Importantly, the process of in- focus group interviews and learning journals volving students in their own assessment and have been shown to be the most useful trian- the assessment of their contemporaries consti- gulation of affect upon the students, narratives tutes a conceptual redefinition of the traditional of learning, motivation and engagement. And roles in classrooms, and requires both teachers
42 | Community and Creativity in the Classroom | AiA and students to embrace new educational rela- Dewey, J. 1915. Schools of Tomorrow, London: Dent. tionships (Stone Wiske 1998). Modules such as Dewey, J. 1916. Democracy and Education: An this necessitate the devolution of elements of Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, New York: Macmillan. control, teaching and learning: masterclasses Entwistle, H. 1970. Child-centred Education, London: to outside visitors, for instance, and to the stu- Methuen. dents when they conducted interviews and Gardner, H. 1985. Frames of Mind: The Theory of videotaped the proceedings. Nevertheless, stu- Multiple Intelligences, London: Paladin. dents respect such acts and in Skinner’s dance Gardner, H. 1999. The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand, New York: Simon & module assisted with the running of the mas- Schuster. terclasses as fully involved, active agents. Let us Ingold, T. 2000. The Perception of the Environment: end, then, with the words of one of those stu- Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, London: dents; with a return to Ruari the non-dancer: Routledge. Ingold, T. 2004. ‘Learning Through Doing and Un- I found how the module had a strictly modern derstanding in Practice’ [C-SAP Project Report]. feel. I also believed that it transformed the tradi- <
| 43 Disciplining Vision in Animal Biotechnology
Cristina Grasseni
ABSTRACT: In this article, skilled vision is presented as a capacity acquired in a commu- nity of practice that enables specific ways of knowing and acting in the world. The analysis of skilled vision is obtained through the ethnographic study of the artefacts and the routines that structure certain ecologies of practice. The example chosen is that of the skilled gaze of animal breeders, in particular of the children of dairy cow breed- ers who, by playing with relevant toys and emulating the adult world of cattle fairs and exhibitions, learn how to value certain criteria of animal beauty and to ‘‘disci- pline’’ their vision accordingly.
KEYWORDS: communities of practice, apprenticeship, skilled vision
Introduction where no categorisation occurs. Here I want to stress how my ethnography is theory-driven. The focus of this article is the selective vision The ethnographic material that I am rereading of breed experts in its relation to the practice of in the light of this literature is the apprentice- industrial dairy farming. The aim is to suggest ship of skilled vision amongst dairy breeders that skilled vision informs an ‘ecology of prac- and breed experts in farming communities in tice’ that both instructs breeders as to how to northern Italy. In particular, I have been fo- look at cows, and literally shapes cows’ bodies. cussing on the regimentation of vision in the Drawing on the recent social history of science process of evaluating genetically selected cows and on Latour’s (1994) actor-network theory, I at cattle fairs. The farmers I worked with iden- focus on the artefacts that perform a ‘technical tified their career and achievements by mem- mediation’ of vision, in the world of animal bership of a wider community, that of breeders husbandry and zoo-technology, wishing to of Brown Alpine cows. My initial interest in show how the disciplining of the breeder’s vi- the topics stemmed from the observation that sion is instrumental to the industrialisation of despite the brevity of their glances, both in for- the animal body. The specificity of such skilled mal and in informal contexts, the way that vision lies in its underlying agenda of translat- breeders look at cows is in no way casual or ing the cow’s body into quantifiable units, and generic. For example, cattle fairs will be ana- in the social context of heightened competition lysed not only as social occasions for the dis- which surrounds this ‘scientific’ gaze. play of the skill of looking at cattle in a highly The main ethnographic object here is hence selective, disciplined and regimented way, but the social and practical dimension of the ‘cor- also as didactic exercises for the audience of rect’ aesthetic perception in a community of breeders and farmers which socialise them into practice. It is often assumed that reporting eth- a ‘community of practice’ (Lave and Wenger nographic material is a pre-theoretical step, 1991). In other words, the relationship between
Anthropology in Action, Volume 12, Issue 2 (2005): 44–55 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action Disciplining Vision in Animal Biotechnology | AiA seeing and knowing is here investigated by doing has highlighted that learning is a social taking up vision as a skill. The case study dwells process of coparticipation as opposed to the in- on the selective vision of breed experts in rela- dividual acquisition of propositional or repre- tion to the practice of industrial dairy farming. sentational contents. I have argued elsewhere that the ‘correct’ ap- The first point I wish to make in this article preciation of form and the corresponding social is that the ‘professional vision’ (Goodwin 1994) appreciation of breeding skill—i.e. the capacity of the breed expert is the result of a training of to produce good shapes for performances and the eye, an acquired hands-on (or rather eyes-on) reproduction—go hand in hand: both require skill. In this sense, the skill to perform is acquired participation in a world-view that directs one’s by engaging in a process, under the conditions attention and is informed by a standardised and of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ in a ‘com- disciplined vision (Grasseni, forthcoming). munity of practice’ (Lave and Wenger 1991).1 Skilled vision is invariably the result of train- According to Lave and Wenger (1991: 98): ing, that is, of an ‘education of attention’ (Gib- a community of practice is a set of relations among son 1979; Ingold 2000). Hence, specific ways of persons, activity, and world, over time and in re- seeing represent the ethnographic way into a lation with other tangential and overlapping shared ‘inter-ocularity’ (Pinney 1997: 190; Ron- communities of practice. A community of prac- zon 2002: 67). In other words, the shared mate- tice is an intrinsic condition for the existence of riality of a community of practice engenders knowledge… The social structure of this prac- tice, its power relations, and its conditions for le- skills and sensibilities that are largely social, gitimacy define possibilities for learning. tacit and implicit. I propose an ecological read- ing of skilled vision, practice and identity as Lave and Wenger insist that it is not a certain an integrated whole. This way, what have been type of ‘know-that’, or a systematic and abstract otherwise called ‘ways of seeing’ (Berger 1972) corpus of specialist knowledge, that defines and can be important tools to access values, inter- maintains a community of practitioners, but ests and symbolic discourse. rather certain social modes of coparticipation in The debate on practice theory and on com- which transmission of knowledge and repro- munities of practice, which I draw from, lies at duction of the community is embedded. They the intersection of two broad areas of investiga- call such ways of engaging LPP (legitimate pe- tion: in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, ripheral participation). This is a participation sociolinguistics and semantics, communication frame that allows an apprentice to engage si- has been investigated as a dynamic relation be- multaneously in several different roles (Lave tween concrete contexts on the one hand, and and Wenger 1991: 23): hence it is not a structure the activity of meaning-interpretation on the but a way of engaging, a quality of the network other—in both of which indexicality plays a of social relations that makes learning emerge fundamental part. According to this approach, and lets identity be constructed and dynami- speech is seen as one of many ways—perhaps cally transformed. one of the most sophisticated—of acting in the In the case of cattle breeders, these modes of world, entailing multiple skills (participatory, coparticipation are various. An apprenticeship perceptive, acting) in order to succeed. Amongst of the eye takes place mainly on the family farm such skills we find the ‘professional vision’ that from a young age. Learning to deal with cow’s linguist Charles Goodwin has been recently in- shapes, to appropriate them visually in every vestigating (1994). On the other hand, in psy- detail and from every angle, requires a constant chology, cognitive studies, education studies training of attention, which begins early on in and organisation and management studies, the life, as will be shown in an ethnographic exam- debate on situated learning and on learning in ple. Let me start by introducing you to some
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