Naptime at the O.K. Corral Shane’s Beginner’s Guide to Childhood Ethnography

Shane is back The beloved heroine of students and faculty alike returns in this third volume of the acclaimed series, focusing on the basic how-to’s and foundations of ethnographic studies of children and childhoods. The book opens with Shane trying to land a post-doc working in a department of cultural anthropologists studying children and childhood. Rather predictably, Shane initially sees children as nothing more than small adults. But in this book she’ll be forced to reorient herself, yet again. As usual, she is aided by the spirits of the ancestors, of senior colleagues, of talking guinea pigs and gigantic head lice, and through it all by her esteemed guide, Billy the Literal Kid.

This illustrated guide will orient the reader to the fundamental challenges in doing ethnographic research with children. The book begins by briefly exploring the history of research on children, with children, for children and “by” children. Throughout, it is about doing research with children rather than on them, highlighting their participant rather than object nature.

Topics covered include:

• Foundations of child development
• Defining childhood
• The history, essential theories and major works in the anthropology of childhood
• Children’s culture and popular Kinderculture
• Ethical concerns and IRBs
• Foundations of naturalistic inquiry with children
• Introduction to ethnographic methods with child participants, including detailed guidance in observation and interview methods
• Practical guidelines for analyzing children’s artwork and other visual products
• Addressing the complexities of adult researcher subjectivities and roles

This book is intended for the novice ethnographic researcher and student alike with learning at its core and is designed to encourage wider and deeper reading. It is a useful tool for teaching advanced undergraduate and graduate students in Education, Anthropology, Childhood Studies, Nursing, Communications, Media Studies, Art Education, and more, as well as an essential volume for any faculty bookshelf.