This contribution refers to a longitudinal ethnographic study which investigates the miscellaneous conceptof recognition and appreciation in a German elementary school from a perspective of performativity and emotion theory (cf. Kellermann/Wulf 2014). School is a potent socialization field, in which concepts of recognition and appreciation become ‘institutionalized’ and thus obtain a ‘public’ character (cf. Goffman 1967). However, meanings gain relevance by contradictive commitments within the institutional spheres of performance assessment, self-realization, and social relationships (cf. Wulf et al. 2012). Pedagogical knowledge relies on scientific discourse and leads to the establishment of educational standards including rules and instructions for pedagogical practice which in turn has an impact on conceptual/theoretical discourse. The social embeddedness of this process and its diachronic, actual, and prospective dimensions are reflected in the historical line of school reforms (cf. Beach 2011). Owing to the current increased orientation towards international standardization, the aim of the present study is to focus on the non-measurable preconditions of educational practice and to explore ethnographically the performative (co-) constitution process of the socio-cultural concept of recognition and appreciation in school education (cf. Kellermann 2012; Stets/Turner 2010; 2007). Interdisciplinary research confirms that recognition and appreciation are crucial preconditions for cognitive/emotional (self-) development (cf. Haviland-Jones et al. 2010). Nonetheless, the semantic field is broad and depends strongly on the socio-cultural context. With regard to their intangible qualities, the meanings are ambiguous, emotionally charged and neither always verbally circumscribable nor well-definable. Hence, to gain a comprehensive knowledge about this pivotal anthropological dimension, the process of (co)production has to be figured out in its ‘natural’ setting. Within the particular institution, school-specific meanings of recognition and appreciation build the frame of orientation for the pedagogical performances. Aspects conceived as desirable and worthwhile are represented in the school program and in (public) rituals. In class meanings are performed and dynamically molded by the members of the community. They unfold their performative power also through corporeal/gestural/verbal forms of expression, as well as through the temporal/spatial order, positionings and arrangements. Through emotional messages, information about power and status relations is conveyed (cf. Kemper 2007). One important aspect of the school-specific concept of recognition and appreciation of the elementary school of our research is based on shared intentionality (Tomasello 2009) between teacher and student(s) where everyone is conceived as a useful/valuable member of the group. Thereby, the teacher as a professional is assigned responsibility for the moderation of the learning process whereas the students are attributed learning motivation for self-efficient participation. Another aspect relates to the (intercultural) diversity. It is performed as natural diversity which has not to be overemphasized. By means of two empirical data samples, both relating to the same content, we will document, (1) how the school-specific concept of recognition and appreciation is pedagogically performed considerably differently and (2) how the reciprocity is influenced by mental images and the different frames of reference of teachers and students. The short presentation of the data sample refers to the setting of the weekly Monday morning circle in class A and class B, where almost half of the students are absent due to the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice. They are released from school attendance; only one or two of the Muslim students attend class. When M. Griffin (class A) and Ms. Albright (class B) address the group, the students are involved in class-related concerns. The mode of communication evokes two different dynamics which open up two distinct spaces for peer engagement. 

Beach, D. (2011): Education Science in Sweden. Education Inquiry, Vol. 2.,No.2. Bohnsack, R. (2013): Documentary Method. In: Flick, Uwe (Ed.): SAGE Handbook of Analyzing Qualitative Date. Thousand Oaks. Bourdieu, P. (1991): Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge/Massachusetts: Harvard University Press Flick, U. (Ed.) (2013): The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. Los Angeles: Sage. Dewey, John (1998/1938): Experience and Education. Indianapolis: Kappa Delta Pi Goffman, E. (1967): Interaction Ritual. NY: Pantheon Books. Hammersley, M. (2006): Ethnography: problems and prospects. In: Ethnography and Education, Vol. 1; No. 1, pp. 3-14, DOI: 10.1080/1745780500512697. Haviland-Jones, J.M. et al. (Eds.) (2010): Handbook of Emotions. NY: Guilford. Helsper, W. et. al. (Eds.) (2006): Unpolitische Jugend? Eine Studie zum Verhältnis von Schule, Anerkennung und Politik. Wiesbaden: VS. Honneth, A. (1996): The struggle for recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge: MIT Press. Jenlink, P.M./Hicks Townes, F. (Eds.) (2009): The Struggle for Identity in Today’s Schools. Cultural Recognition in a Time of Increasing Diversity. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Education. Kellermann, I. (2012): Emotionen – Formen – Gesten. ZfE 15, pp. 97-114. Kellermann, I./Wulf, C. (2014): Schulkultur und das Performative. In: Festschrift für Werner Helsper. Wiesbaden: VS (in press). Kemper, T. (2007): Power and Status and the Power-Status Theory of Emotions. In: Stets, J.E./Turner, J.H.: Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions. NY: Springer, pp.87-113. Stets; J.E./Turner, J.H. (2010): The Sociology of Emotions. In: Haviland-Jones, J.M. et al. (Eds.): Handbook of Emotions. NY: Guilford. Meyer, H.D./Benavot, A. (2013): PISA, Power, and Policy. The emergence of global educational governance. Oxford: Symposium Books. Tomasello, M. (2009): Why We Cooperate. Cambridge: MIT Press. Wulf, C. et al. (2012): Unpacking recognition and esteem in school pedagogies. London: Routledge.