La culture dans et pour penser l’école : enjeux épistémologiques et méthodologiques pour la recherche

Abstract

The reluctance of researchers to resort to the term “culture” reflects their fear of freezing or reducing phenomena. To turn it into a dynamic concept, it is necessary to move away from the common uses of the term and to question the epistemological and methodological stakes of our research. This article is part of a reflection that questions the ways in which research is conducted, transmitted, and communicated. We draw from our investigations an analysis of official documents from primary education in Geneva, ethnographic observations made in schools, and research interviews conducted with teachers and student-teachers in training. In the first part, we describe the uses of the term “culture” in our fieldwork. For the institution, culture refers both to an aim of transmission and to the recognition of the diversity of the audience. For teachers, multiculturality implicitly designates a disadvantaged environment and is a source of professional difficulties. These plural uses of the term culture lead us, in the second part, to question our ways of conducting research. Drawing on Ingold’s work, we develop the concept of depth and its implications on the research relationship. Developing a deep relationship with participants allows for the co-construction of a shared understanding of the world, beyond pre-existing categories.