Bridging the Gap between Young People's Experience of Their Religious Traditions at Home and School: The Contribution of Ethnographic Research1

Abstract

On the basis of ethnographic research and curriculum development conducted in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) this article suggests ways in which ethnographic research can harmonise young Hindus’ and Sikhs’ experience of their faith tradition outside school with its presentation in school. Fieldwork‐based evidence of interaction between religious nurture and the encounter with their tradition in school is followed by an examination of dissonances and of the contribution of ethnographic research to understanding the issues that these raise. Finally, the contribution of the ethnographic process itself to the integration of young people's experience of their faith is examined. 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the Sixth Nurnberger Forum, ‘Interreligiose Erziehung 2000: Die Zukunft der Religions‐ und Kulturbegegnung’, in the Education Faculty of the Erlangen Nurnberg University, 29 September‐‐1 October 1997.