•   From practice to theory and back again   •

Staying the course

A shift towards the valuing of culture and experience that is not based on a competence with written language and the cultural ideals associated with it is much easier said than done, particularly within educational systems. My own experience, directly related to this research, stands as an example. Earlier I spoke of the relationships that exist between values, beliefs and bias, so I feel it is necessary to share relevant snapshots of my own background as a means of acknowledging potential bias.

Two areas come to mind. The first I have already acknowledged—my inclination to make connections via an emotional perspective. Second, and less relevant, is my personal history as it relates to formal education. Like many other Metis I did not follow the path taken by most Canadian youth. I left school soon after entering high school and was a mature adult when I returned to formal education and embarked on the first of my continuing experiences with post-secondary institutions.

Despite recognition of the value of and preference for connecting emotionally—with personal experience as a starting point—I embarked on this research journey using an approach that created a sense of detachment from self. Only later did I realize that in choosing the approach I was yielding to the cultural ideals associated with written language in educational institutions. Two of the concepts of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu speak directly to this phenomenon. In an analysis of the work of Bourdieu, David Swartz (1997) speaks of both and sums up the first concept:

habitus… refers to a set of relatively permanent and largely unconscious ideas about one’s chances of success and how society works that are common to members of a social class or status group. These ideas or, more precisely, dispositions lead individuals to act in such a way as to reproduce the prevailing structure of life changes and status distinctions (p. 197).

Lesley Bellamy (1994), further analyzes Bourdieu’s concept:

Self-elimination is the work of habitus. It occurs when individuals adjust their aspirations to their perceived chance of success. Individuals also exclude themselves from specific social situations in which they feel uncomfortable because they lack familiarity with specific cultural norms (p. 130).