Educational Anthropology

Keynote: International Comparisons in the Improvement of Education

by David Hebert

Hebert, D. G. (in preparation for 2012, invited/based on keynote speech for Theory for Practice in the Education of Contemporary Society, Riga, Latvia). “Keynote: International Comparisons in the Improvement of Education,” Journal of Pedagogy and Psychology “Signum Temporis,” 4.

Keynote Speech, “International Comparisons in the Improvement of Education,” presented by invitation at the Sixth... more Keynote Speech, “International Comparisons in the Improvement of Education,” presented by invitation at the Sixth International Scientific Conference: Theory for Practice in the Education of Contemporary Society, Riga Teacher Training and Education Management Academy [Riga, Latvia] (March 29-31, 2012) [http://www.rpiva.lv/index.php?mh=teorija_praksei].


Imperfections – such as inequality and inefficiency of learning – are perennial problems for education despite a diversity of foundations on which national systems are established, which range from the idealistic vision of fostering a utopian society to the utilitarian objective of producing skilled workers capable of engendering economic growth. Despite sharing many common conditions and fundamental values, educators rarely learn valuable lessons from the successes and failures of highly relevant initiatives in distant nations. This problem may be attributed to several factors, not the least of which includes the entrenchment of local traditions and ethnocentric assumptions, but surely the quality and relevance of international-comparative research – and the way its results are disseminated – are issues that must also be taken into careful consideration. What are the unique lessons to be learned from international comparisons, and what are the prospective risks for how such comparisons may be misinterpreted and misused in educational settings? How can international comparative research be made more relevant, with tangible applications that may be recognized and effectively used by school teachers? How can international comparative education meaningfully examine subjects beyond the reach of standardized testing, in such domains as the fostering of creativity, talent, and ethical sensibilities, for example? These themes will be presented through discussion of both research findings and anecdotes from the personal experience of working for universities on four continents. Specific topics will include the challenges of accounting for conceptual equivalency and representing cultural differences, sampling and generalizability, reconciling the diverging aims of economic, anthropological, sociological, and psychological research, as well as grappling with the ambivalent discourse of globalization, multiculturalism, post-colonialism, and other social movements.

Education (an on-line bibliography)

by Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

Education (10,000 word peer-reviewed annotated bibliography). In Oxford Bibliographies Online: Childhood Studies, Heather Montgomery, Editor.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Introduction

Colloquially, “education” usually means “schooling,” and thus this bibliography focuses on... more Introduction

Colloquially, “education” usually means “schooling,” and thus this bibliography focuses on schooling, although it will briefly consider education more broadly defined. It is limited to pre-primary, primary, and secondary education, excluding postsecondary even though some university students arguably fall on the border between childhood and adulthood. The interdisciplinary field of educational studies is largely an applied field and much of its literature is devoted to efforts to improve schooling; however, this bibliography identifies descriptive studies of actual practices and beliefs rather than prescriptions for reform. The main thrust of literature identified here is that schooling has recently become among the most important settings in which children live and develop, meaning that the current global form of schooling as well as variations in schooling “on the ground” have huge consequences for children’s lives and powerful meanings for all of us.

Social Reconstructions of Schooling: Teacher Evaluations of What They Learned From Participation In the Funds of Knowledge Project

by Jacqueline Messing

Social reconstructions of schooling: Teacher evaluations of what they learned from participation in the Funds of Knowledge for Teaching project, In Theorizing practices: Funds of knowledge in households, ed. by Norma González & Luis Moll. Erlbaum Press. 2005.

An Irish Spiritual Pilgrimage and the Potential for Transformation

by Ann Swartz

Co-authored with Mira C. Johnson and Elizabeth Tisdell
Proceedings of the 50th Adult Education Research Conference, 2010, pages 212 - 218.

This paper discusses spiritual pilgrimage from a cultural-spiritual perspective on transformative learning, and... more This paper discusses spiritual pilgrimage from a cultural-spiritual perspective on transformative learning, and analyzes the experiences of the three co-authors via an autoethnography methodology.

The purpose of this autoethnographic research was to explore the possibilities for
transformative learning within the spiritual/cultural experience of pilgrimage.  Several writings
within and beyond adult education address transformative learning (TL) in relation to spirituality
as it intersects with culture and/or environment  (Brooks, 2000; Dei, 2002; Kovan & Dirkx,
2003; Miller, 2000; Tisdell, 2003, Taylor, 2008), and women using story for change  (Wiessner,
2005). Davis (2007) presented research on experiential learning via Holy Land pilgrimage of 40
pastors.  But there is little research using the cultural-spiritual perspective of transformative
learning.  Neither has an anthropologic perspective been incorporated.  This research addresses
this gap, by centering three women’s stories of their pilgrimage to a holy mountain in Ireland
when they connected with place, history, story, spirit and each other.   

RESEARCH PLAN: A School Ethnography: Documenting the process of Standard Language Ideology construction in the classroom and teachers’ values regarding linguistic diversity pedagogy.

by Rebecca Campbell

Anthropologies of Education resources: ביבליוגרפה_בנושא_השכלה_ג by Haj Yehia Kussai

by Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

Bibliography of recent works in Arabic and Hebrew by Professor Kussai Haj Yehia of Beit Beryl College

This bibliography by Professor Kussai Haj Yehia is posted here with his permission to make it accessible to scholars... more This bibliography by Professor Kussai Haj Yehia is posted here with his permission to make it accessible to scholars seeking more information about Anthropologies and Ethnographies of Education.

العولمة والإناسة والحرّيّة في التربية

by Georges NAHAS

نحّاس، ج. ن. (2000). العولمة والإناسة والحرّيّة في التربية. في أعمال الحلقة الصيفيّة الرابعة: الدين والعولمة والتعدّديّة. منشورات مركز الدراسات المسيحيّة الإسلاميّة. جامعة البلمند.

أدخلت نهاية هذا القرن على الاستعمال العام مفردة "العولمة" وهي إن
دلّت على شيء فعلى حرآية الحياة وما... more أدخلت نهاية هذا القرن على الاستعمال العام مفردة "العولمة" وهي إن
دلّت على شيء فعلى حرآية الحياة وما تدخله هذه الحرآية من متغيرات.
فتحولات التقانة في الربع الأخير من هذا القرن، بدَّلت كل أوجه وسائل الاتصال
وجعلت من التواصل على بعد آلاف الأميال أمرًا يوميًا وعاديًا. لكن الأمر
يتعدّى فعليًا عامل الشكل ووجهه التقاني ليطال منتجات التواصل الحضاري
بتوسيع أفق الخبرات والمعلومات وامكانية الاطلاع على الجديد في العالم.

الجدلية بين الموروث والحديث، جدلية قديمة قدم التاريخ تختلف حدّتُها
حسب الظروف التاريخية والتطور الحضاري. فنحن اليوم، في ظلّ ما اعتدنا
على تسميته "عولمة"، نعيش إحدى فترات هذه الجدلية الأكثر تعقيدًا: فالجديد
يتراكم بكثرة وسرعة نظرًا لاتساع رقعة الاتصال في العالم، وآمّ هذا الجديد
هائل للأسباب نفسها. لذا ينتابنا الشعور بأن هذه الحداثة تغمرنا بشكل لا يترك
لنا مُتَّسعًا من الوقت لنتعامل معها بالطرق المناسبة.
وفي العالم اليوم، بشكل عام، نوعان من المواقف:

أ - يقوم الأول على اجترار هذا الجديد دون أن يتفاعل معه حضاريًا
فيتَّخِذ عمليًا شكل المسخ مُدَّعيًا التحرر.
ب - يعارض الثاني هذا الجديد من منطلقات معيارية، فلا يتفاعل مع
الحداثة، متخِذًا شكلاً أصوليًا، كما لو أن التاريخ غير مدعو للتطور.

في هذا الاطار الجدلي حول العولمة، تقع المساءلة عن دور التربية 

University-School Partnerships for STEM Education

by Kevin Michael Foster

Diet of disparagement: the racial experiences of black students in a predominantly white university

by Kevin Michael Foster

Coming to terms: A discussion of John Ogbu's cultural-ecological theory of minority academic achievement

by Kevin Michael Foster

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine?: Gauging the Outworking of Mandatory Proverb Instruction on Current Kazakhstani College Students

by Erik Aasland

Masters or servants? Power and discourse in Serbian higher education reform

by Jana Bacevic

Published in Social Anthropology (special issue: Anthropologies of University Reform), January 2010.

Od trga do tržnice: antropologija, kritike obrazovanja i njihov značaj za Srbiju

by Jana Bacevic

State literacies and inequality: Managing Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic

by Lesley Bartlett

Knowing, Comparatively

by Lesley Bartlett

The Tyranny of the Test: The Social Implications of North Carolina's Accountability Program

by Lesley Bartlett

10 The Anthropology of Literacy

by Lesley Bartlett

Bilingual education policy as political spectacle: educating Latino immigrant youth in New York City

by Lesley Bartlett

Adolescent Literacies in Latin America and the Caribbean

by Lesley Bartlett

Dialogue, Knowledge, and Student-Teacher Relations: Freirean Pedagogy in Theory and Practice

by Lesley Bartlett