A Kwakiutl Village and School - Paperback

by Harry F. Wolcott (Author), Louise (Foreword by)

This book is a reprint of a now classic text dealing with Wolcott's dissertation topic on the study of a Kwakiutl Indian village and the one-room school he taught at Village Island in the Alert Bay region of British Columbia. Within the book, Wolcott's interest in anthropology and training as an educator are blended together to present a unique look into the educational training of Indian children. Village life and the social environment from which young Indian children learn cultural conventions are skillfully contrasted with the formal, structured educational system-of which Wolcott as a teacher is part of-within the village. In showing these two opposing educational systems, the author is able to highlight problems that arise and additionally the issues which come from an ethnographer being involved in a situation more than through just observation.

Author Biography

Harry F. Wolcott (1929-2012) was professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon and a leading author in anthropology and research methods. Wolcott's major works include anthropological studies of American education: Teachers Versus Technocrats and The Man in the Principal's Office: An Ethnography. He also wrote extensively on fieldwork and writing: Transforming Qualitative Data; The Art of Fieldwork; Ethnography: A Way of Seeing; and Writing Up Qualitative Data and is the author of the more recent Sneaky Kid and Its Aftermath: Ethics and Intimacy in Fieldwork (all published by AltaMira Press).