Educational anthropology, or the anthropology of education, is a sub-field of socio-cultural anthropology that focuses on the role that culture has in education, as well as how social processes and cultural relations are shaped by educational settings.[1] To do so, educational anthropologists focus on education and multiculturalism, educational pluralism, culturally relevant pedagogy and native methods of learning and socializing. Educational anthropologists are also interested in the education of marginal and peripheral communities within large nation states.[2] Overall, educational anthropology tends to be considered as an applied field, as the focus of educational anthropology is on improving teaching learning process within classroom settings.[3]

Educational anthropology is largely associated with the pioneering work of Margaret Mead and later, George Spindler, Solon Kimball, Dell Hymes, and Jean Lave. The formative years of educational anthropology (1925-1954) were defined by ethnography in classrooms that maintained views of the researcher as a detached observer and grew out of research on Native American personality, education, and administration.[4] During the 1970s, educational anthropology became more consolidated as a field of study particularly due to the influence of professors at Teachers College, Columbia University. The focus of educational anthropology is broadly situated around the many forms of education, although an anthropological approach to education tends to focus on the cultural aspects of education, encompassing both informal and formal education.

As education involves understandings of who we are, the field is centrally concerned with cultural transmission.[5] Cultural transmission involves the transfer of a sense of identity, both individual and collective, between generations, sometimes via enculturation[6] and sometimes through acculturation.[6] Accordingly, educational anthropology has become increasingly focused on ethnic identity and cultural change and transformation.[7][8]

History of educational anthropology

Education anthropology is typically considered to have originated in the mid-1920s, with field consolidation occurring in the 1950s and 1960s and spurring the theoretical shifts that define the field into the 21st century.[4] The history of the field is intertwined with the history of Teachers College, Columbia University.[4] In 1896, Franz Boas established the department of anthropology at Columbia;[9] it was only two years later, in 1898, that Teachers College was founded.[10] Although it was not until 1935 that a course entitled "Anthropology and Education" was offered, some students trained in both programs, including Elsie Clews Parsons.[10] In 1947, Margaret Mead began a formal relationship with Teachers College from the department of anthropology at Columbia. This mirrored the change to the overall field, in which Anthropology and Education (and the corresponding Council on Anthropology and Education) were formed by Margaret Mead, Solon Kimball, and Conrad Arensberg at Columbia, as well as George Spindler and colleagues at Stanford.[4]

In 1954, George Spindler convened the first Educational Anthropology Conference at Stanford, which was supremely influential in moving educational anthropology out of its formative years and into the field consolidation that defined the 1960s.[4]

Some of the earliest texts that argued for and illustrated the distinct presence of educational anthropology as a subfield of cultural anthropology were Education and Anthropology (1955), edited by George Spindler, and Anthropological Perspectives on Education (1971), co-edited by Murray L. Wax, Stanley Diamond, and Fred O. Gearing.[11]

Journals

Some of the main journals in the field include:[12]

Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE)

The Council on Anthropology and Education is the section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) that is dedicated to the study of schooling within their sociocultural contexts.[17] Founded in 1968, the CAE presents their mission as necessarily responsive to oppression and social injustice in ways that bring together educators, anthropologists, and interdisciplinary scholars to fight for equitable educational systems.[17] Their peer-reviewed journal is Anthropology & Education Quarterly (AEQ), which is one of the 15 journals the AAA makes available through AnthroSource. There are 15 interest groups within CAE:[18]

  • Ethnography of Schools and Communities
  • Multilingualism, (Multi)Literacies and Language in Schools and Communities
  • Anthropology of Post-Secondary Education
  • Cultural Learning and Transmission
  • African Americans, African Diaspora and Education
  • Latin@s/x and Education
  • Indigenous Education
  • Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans in Education
  • Gender and Sexuality in Schools and Society
  • International Issues, (Im)migration, Transnationalism and Citizenship in Educational Contexts
  • Disability Studies in Education
  • Privatization, Markets, and (Post-)Neoliberalism in Educational Contexts
  • Anthropology of Environmental and Science Education
  • Ethnography of Educational Policies and Systems
  • Adult Teaching and Learning Communities, Workplaces and Schools

Additionally, 7 annual awards are offered each year by CAE:[19]

References

  1. ^ Eddy, Elizabeth M. (1985). "Theory, Research, and Application in Educational Anthropology". Anthropology & Education Quarterly. 16 (2): 83–104. ISSN 0161-7761.
  2. ^ Dar, W. A., & Najar, I. A. (2018). Educational Anthropology, Tribal Education and Responsible Citizenship in India. South Asia Research, 38(3), 327-346
  3. ^ Levinson, Bradley A. U.; Pollock, Mica (2011). A companion to the anthropology of education. Blackwell companions to anthropology. Malden (Mass.): Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9005-3.
  4. ^ a b c d e Yon, Daniel A. (2003). "Highlights and Overview of the History of Educational Ethnography". Annual Review of Anthropology. 32: 411–429. ISSN 0084-6570.
  5. ^ Comitas, L. and Dolgin, J. 1979. 'On Anthropology and Education: Retrospect and Prospect'. Anthropology and Education Quarterly. 9(1): 87-89
  6. ^ a b Page, J.S. Education and Acculturation on Malaita: An Ethnography of Intraethnic and Interethnic Affinities'. The Journal of Intercultural Studies. 1988. #15/16:74-81.
  7. ^ Dynneson, T.L. 1984. 'An Anthropological Approach to Learning and Teaching'. Social Education. 48(6): 410-418.
  8. ^ Schensul, J.J. 1985. 'Cultural Maintenance and Cultural Transformation: Educational Anthropology in the Eighties'. Education and Anthropology Quarterly. 15(1): 63-68.
  9. ^ "Anthropology < Columbia College | Columbia University". bulletin.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  10. ^ a b "History | About | Anthropology and Education | International & Transcultural Studies | Teachers College, Columbia University". Teachers College - Columbia University. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  11. ^ Spindler, George D. (1973). "An Anthropology of Education?". Council on Anthropology and Education Newsletter. 4 (1): 14–16. doi:10.1525/aeq.1973.4.1.05x0122r. ISSN 0591-2202. JSTOR 3219568.
  12. ^ "Applied Anthro & Anthro and Ed. Journals | Anthropology and Education | International & Transcultural Studies | Teachers College, Columbia University". Teachers College - Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  13. ^ "Anthropology & Education Quarterly". AnthroSource. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  14. ^ "Education & Culture: The Journal of the John Dewey Society | Purdue University Press Subscription Journals | Purdue University". docs.lib.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  15. ^ "Ethnography and Education". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  16. ^ "Pedagogy, Culture & Society". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  17. ^ a b "Council on Anthropology and Education | A section of the American Anthropological Association". cae.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  18. ^ "Interest Groups | Council on Anthropology and Education". cae.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  19. ^ "Awards | Council on Anthropology and Education". cae.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_anthropology