ABSTRACT
As debate grows internationally over the corporatization of schooling, this chapter focuses on the paradoxes and positionality in being and becoming an ethnographer within a charter school in the United States. Neoliberal in both their governance and pedagogic enactment, charter schools, as a mix of public and private resources, remain contentious not simply because they are evidence of the state divorcing its responsibility to educate its citizens through eliciting private enterprise but also due to their lack of regulation, which makes them vulnerable to corporate interests. The chapter begins by setting the context through recounting some of the socio-historic ideologies and policies that have led to the manifestation of charter schools as well as outlining some of their institutional practices. Depending on the location, policy climate and the level of philanthropic funding they are able to secure, some charter schools may become Charter School Management Organizations, operating as franchised networks with a specific model, ethos and branding.
