ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of and justification for the present multi-sited linguistic ethnography of education in the small city of Cittadina, in central Italy. The chapter details the researcher’s positionality and entry into the field, as well as a sociocultural overview of the three secondary school field sites (a vocational school, a technical institute, and a lyceum) and of Cittadina. The chapter describes both the historical development of the Italian school system from the time of Italian unification in the mid-19th century to the present day, as well as the contemporary structure of the three school types and the challenges that they face today. After the sociocultural and historical context is established, the research questions are presented and a roadmap for answering them in the subsequent chapters is laid out.
