Hi listmembers!
Thought that I should present myself to you all. I'm Åsa Mäkitalo, a
doctoral student at the Dep. of Education and Educational Research at the
university of Göteborg, Sweden. My research interest is directed towards
the (re)producing and socializing character of human communication in
specific work environments, and also concern the production of knowledge
within different kinds of organisations/ institutions in society.
My thesis is a study of vocational guidance within an employment office. In
this field peoples' and different social groups' relation to the
educational system and to the labour market in a wide sense, are to be
identified. How these definitions are produced is my main focus.
The pragmatic aim of my study is to investigate and analyse the
vocational guidance practice as an encounter between a citizen and an
institutional representative. In this setting I pay attention to
institutional culture, rules and routines as well as the possibilities for
the citizen to engage in and influence this practice. The theoretical aim
of the study is to investigate the knowledge (re)producing character of
institutional communication, especially how the use of different
distinctions defines and categorizes people.
My research approach is ethnografically inspired. I take fieldnotes,
audiorecord interviews and conversations and collect institutional
documentation as the main sources of data in the field.
Even if my field is not within "school or education" I hope to be able to
share interests with some of you and take part in our discussions.
All the best,
Åsa
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|