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The Meaning Of Bounded AreasFor the purposes of this dissertation, places are distinguished from locations as existing on a semiotic level. Places are seen as influencing development and embodying culture. They are viewed as one manner in which the macro- and microgenetic processes remain connected (Latour, 1996). These physical areas are defined by some sort of boundary that may or may not be obvious. Eisenhart (2001), in discussing what culture means in a postmodern world, referred to several different uses of boundaries and borders: from Fred Erikson, “the permeable boundaries, or the ‘partial boundedness’ of culture” (p. 17), the lack of household and community boundaries Shirley Brice Heath found upon her return to previous research sites (p. 17), and the “’fixed boundaries and porous borders’” of Michelle Fine and Lois Weis (p. 23). Valsiner (1997) built upon the work of Kurt Lewin in developing his conceptualization of “zones.” Some zones have sharp boundaries, but “the majority of zones that enclose areas of space are partially discontinuous and unevenly bounded” (p. 187). Thus a microanalysis of student videos can reveal the places differentiated by it producers within locations. Defining the boundaries will depend on the camera operator’s movement but can expect to be complicated by the discontinuity of many boundaries. In this analysis, the ideological complex is sought as a manifestation of the fluid “culture” of school. In particular, the analysis seeks additional information about the relationship between students and school. In many ways, however, the relationship is revealed in the meaning students find in places because these places are frequently part of the metaphorical zones that shape student development. The microanalysis of excerpts from the focal videos reveals aspects of the student-school relationship in a few moments of interacting ideologies excerpted from a long history. The history is both in the places occupied and the persons who occupy them, but the moments are fleeting. A series of moments reveal patterns, but the video frequently has only one or two instances of a place. Thus it is in the comparison between projects and with observation that enables patterns and distinctions to be considered. What is most apparent is that students occupy the undefined or ambiguous areas between places far more than places. |
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