Ethnography Salon: Latino Self-Actualization and Intergenerational Growth with Andres Versage, Ed.D.

Welcome to the Ethnography Salon!

We meet on the first Wednesday of every month from 7- 8 A.M. PT at this Zoom: https://fielding-edu.zoom.us/j/513473250. The Ethnography Salon is for students, alums, faculty colleagues, and friends who are interested in or already using ethnographic methodology and tools. We discuss research, methods, challenges, and findings.

The Salon helps participants to build an understanding of the epistemological and ontological issues involved in contemporary ethnography: how we experience ethnography as a methodology, as a way of seeing, and as a way of engaging with social reality. A principal objective is the sharing of skills relating to ethnography.

The Salon can also support Knowledge Area work as an integral part of a Pilot Study or done in combination with Knowledge Areas such as Advanced Praxis, Advanced Systems, and other Knowledge Areas. Please let Fielding faculty member David Blake Willis know if you would like to be added to the mailing list and Moodle.

Andres Versage, Ed.D.

DESCRIPTION: Dr. Versage has built on nearly three decades as a teacher and administrator in schools to focus his research on parent engagement, particularly in Latino and minority communities, leading to a dissertation that traces and critiques the development of parent involvement efforts in schools while exploring new ways of approaching families of color to engage with them in more meaningful and authentic ways. This work resulted in his recommendation for a community-based approach to school leadership that would transform school culture and the approach to working with families.

In a book based on his dissertation, published by Fielding Press, Dr. Versage connected his research on parent engagement to the culture wars in education that have been undertaken in the name of parent involvement, tracing the origins of the current culture wars movement to show that it is a controversy created by a limited few, courting very dangerous possibilities by referencing the history of similar movements that have attracted and allied themselves with racist and violent white supremacy objectives. The book argues for a change in the way we approach engagement with schools to stave off the privatization movement that threatens public education.

In the Ethnology Salon presentation, Dr. Versage will briefly review the findings of his dissertation and his book, focusing on the inter-generational development in the Latino community that his research revealed through interviews with parents of school-aged children that document their experiences in their children’s schools and their goals for their children’s futures. This research reveals, among other findings, that while the Latino community as a whole still incorporates some aspects of Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth, it has also evolved to expectation of more for themselves and their children. Dr. Versage will share the various components of these increased expectations, focusing on self-actualization at the heart of their desires and at the center of their new expectations.

About Dr. Andres J. Versage

Andres J. Versage, Ed.D. is an educator who has worked for over three decades as a teacher, administrator, and school leader in schools serving primarily Latino communities. He is currently exploring the world of Special Education in his role as site administrator for two different Special Education programs. One of these programs is a startup non-public school serving students with moderate to severe difficulties, primarily autism. He is also serving on a think tank focused on addressing chronic absenteeism and improving schools for Black and brown communities. Originally from Ithaca, New York, Dr. Versage lives in Los Angeles with his wife Rosa, daughters Isabella (UC Berkeley) and Elena (UC Riverside), and dogs Mocha and Midnight.

Dr. Versage’s book, Parents & Teachers in a Changing World is available from Fielding University Press or on Amazon.

PURCHASE PAPERBACK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBVRBM2G

PURCHASE EBOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Teachers-Changing-Andr%C3%A9s-Versage-ebook/dp/B0DBSKP915/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Understanding the purposes and history of Salons can help us discover how our Ethnography Salon might benefit all of us. Here are some key articles on Salons:

Salon Culture: Network of Ideas
https://www.edge.org/conversation/andrian_kreye-salon-culture-network-of-ideas

Salons Around the World: Intellectual Gatherings & Discussion
https://www.fourseasons.com/magazine/discover/salons-around-the-world/

Stirring more than just their drinks: How English coffeehouses, French salons and French cafés stimulated discussion and debate
https://historyinpolitics.org/2023/01/28/stirring-more-than-just-their-drinks-how-english-coffeehouses-french-salons-and-french-cafes-stimulated-discussion-and-debate/