New
Department:
Organizational
Leadership, Policy,
and Development
Effective July 1, 2009, a
new department has been created
that integrates the business and
marketing education, human
resource development and adult
education, and comprehensive
WHRE programs from the
Department of
Work and Human Resource
Education (WHRE) into the
department formerly known as
Educational Policy and
Administration (EdPA). The
name of this new department is
Organizational Leadership,
Policy, and Development (OLPD).
It will offer exciting
opportunities for collaboration
and interdisciplinary education
and research. Click
here for details. |
Current Research Interests
- Educational anthropology
- Comparative study of class culture and education
- Urban education
- School-university partnerships
- Research methodology
Profile
My inquiry and teaching are animated by an abiding interest in illuminating the
cultural basis of everyday educational practices. My scholarship is informed by
the disciplinary perspective of anthropology and the methods of ethnography. Ideally,
it constitutes a way of "seeing" that attempts to reconstruct the cultural logic
of how individuals and groups formulate educational problems and respond to them.
Throughout, my work seeks to contribute both to scholarly understandings of educational
phenomena and to recommendations for policy and practice.
My major research interest is the role of class culture in the perpetuation of
social inequality through education. My concentration has largely been on the meanings
high school students construct that shape their approach to school and their aspirations.
My research investigates these processes in comparative perspective, internationally
(Papua New Guinea) and in the United States, with broad consideration of local contextual
features. I use the methods of cultural anthropology: ethnographic fieldwork along
with grounded surveys examined with descriptive and analytic statistics.
I draw on my ethnographic experience to infuse my courses with comparative resources
for illuminating cultural dimensions of American life, and for teaching about race/ethnicity,
politics, and equity in education. As an anthropologist I encourage all of my students
to question their taken-for-granted cultural assumptions about schooling in order
to contribute to educational renewal in a variety of ways.
Selected Publications
Books
Demerath, P. (in press). Producing
success: The culture of personal advancement
in an American high school. University of Chicago Press.
Articles
Demerath, P., Lynch, J., Milner, R.,
Peters, A., & Davidson, M. (in press). Decoding success: A
middle-class logic of individual advancement in a U.S.
suburb and high school. Teachers College Record.
Demerath, P., Lynch, J., & Davidson, M. (2008). Dimensions
of psychological capital in a U.S. suburb: Identities for neoliberal times.
Anthropology & Education Quarterly 39(3).
Demerath, P., & Lynch, J. (2008). Identities for neoliberal
times: Constructing enterprising selves in an American suburb. In N. Dolby & F. Rizvi
(Eds.), Youth moves:
Identities in global perspective. New York: Routledge.
Demerath, P. (2006). The science of context: Modes of response
for qualitative
researchers in education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
19(1), 97-113.
Demerath, P. (2001). The social cost of acting "extra:" Students’
moral judgments of self, social relations, and academic success in Papua New Guinea.
American Journal of Education 108(3).
Demerath, P. (1999). The cultural production of educational
utility in Pere Village, Papua New Guinea. Comparative Education Review 43(2).
Academic Degrees
- Ed.D, University of Massachusetts, 1997, education policy, research, and
administration
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1992, anthropology
- B.A., Haverford College, 1992, political science
Academic Positions
- Associate professor,
Department of Educational Policy and Administration, University of
Minnesota, (2007-present)
- Associate professor,
School of Educational Policy and Leadership, The Ohio State University
(2004-07)
- Assistant professor,
School of Educational Policy and Leadership, The Ohio State University
(1998-2004)
- Lecturer, School of
Educational Policy and Leadership, The Ohio State University (1997-98)
Honors
- Ohio State University College of Education Distinguished Teaching Award
(2005)
- Comparative and International Education Society George Z. F. Bereday Outstanding
Scholarship Award (1999)
Professional Memberships
For more information about Peter Demerath, see his full
curriculum vitae [PDF].
Revised November 2009
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