Performed Ethnography for Anti-Homophobia Teacher Education: Linking Research to Teaching

Abstract

This article describes a research program of performed ethnography that I have used as a pedagogical tool for anti-homophobia teacher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Performed ethnography involves turning ethnographic data and texts into scripts and dramas that are either read aloud by a group of participants or performed before audiences. This fairly new approach to writing and disseminating ethnographic and other forms of qualitative research has been taken up by a number of writers and researchers in the disciplines of sociology and anthropology and in the fields of performance studies, theatre studies and arts-based inquiry in education (Denzin, 1997). My own work brings performed ethnography into the field of critical teacher education. I began working with performed ethnography in December 1999 and have found that it has allowed me to share research findings on equity, diversity and schooling in a way that matters to my students who will be certified as teachers upon graduation from OISE/UT's teacher education program. To date, I have written three ethnographic play scripts on the topics of linguistic, cultural, racial, religious and sexual diversity. The first is entitled Hong Kong, Canada