Educational anthropology

As education involves understandings of who we are, the field is centrally concerned with cultural transmission. Cultural transmission involves the transfer of a sense of identity, both individual and collective, between generations, sometimes via enculturation and sometimes through acculturation. Ethnography remains the primary mode of anthropological fieldwork within anthropological studies of education. Educational studies have historically been critiqued for relying too heavily on statistical data and other empirical findings to make sweeping claims; however, early educational anthropologists emphasized the importance of participant observation as an ethnographic method to contextualize schooling practices. In the 1970s, three foci of anthropological ethnographies of education were articulated as follows: (1) the relationship between schools and their sociocultural contexts; (2) processes and practices of teaching and learning; and (3) the relationships between students, between teachers, and between teachers and students. Although a wide variety of anthropological theorizations of pedagogy and educational praxis persist, three frameworks are central to understanding educational anthropology as a field. The first is the cultural deficit framework, which posits that students have internal deficiencies limiting their educational achievement that stem from their culture, linguistic background, family, and personal traits, among many other factors. This model of thinking places responsibility upon individuals, rather than educational institutions themselves, for student success. The second overarching theoretical framework is cultural difference theory. This lens argues that students from different cultures approach and understand education differently, shaped by their upbringing and cultural beliefs, values, and traditions. The final theoretical framework that is central to the field is cultural ecological theory. This approach, attributed to John Ogbu, considers the broad impacts of culture, the sociocultural settings of educational institutions, and the historical ramifications of inequity to contextualize each student's encounter with schooling fully. Ogbu's work was centered around minority education, thinking about the internal and external reasons behind student "success" in ways that were cross-cultural and refused deficit ideologies. Questions of minority education have dominated educational anthropological thinking in the 21st century, particularly regarding multilingual students. As a result, educational anthropology has increasingly grappled with ideas of culturally relevant pedagogies (CRP), culturally responsive pedagogies, and culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP). These conversations around pedagogies that are empowering and highlight the cultural and linguistic capital of students are ongoing. == History of educational anthropology ==

Educational anthropology is typically considered to have originated in the mid-1920s, with field consolidation in the 1950s and 1960s that spurred the theoretical shifts that define the field into the 21st century. it was only two years later, in 1898, that Teachers College was founded. 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. However, there was limited crossover between American cultural anthropologists and British social anthropologists studying educational forms and functions until World War II, which fundamentally altered the geographic and theoretical scope of American cultural anthropology. Into the 1960s, educational anthropology encountered two key Marxist critiques of education. One was a structural Marxist critique of capitalist schooling and school socialization as a means of producing obedient workers; the other was the rise of Paulo Freire's liberation theology and transformational praxis. Although Freire's work was taken up in force by scholars such as Henry Giroux and Peter McLaren, many educational anthropologists did not engage closely with the Marxist critique of class formation in the 1970s, choosing instead to address deficit ideologies of non-hegemonic cultural and linguistic practices within schools. and George Marcus and Michael Fischer (1986). These coincided with the rise of European Sociology of Education, a theoretical turn that references the emerging incorporation of Bourdieu and Gramsci. This has led to educational ethnographies that take on participatory action research and other collaborative methodologies to address the reification of inequity within schooling. In tandem with this, more research has examined minority and multilingual education, shifting toward culturally sustaining, relevant, and responsive pedagogies. These pedagogical considerations persist into the present day. == 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 its sociocultural contexts. Founded in 1968, the CAE presents its 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. • 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: • George and Louise Spindler Award • Concha Delgado Gaitán CAE Presidential Fellows Award • Douglas Foley Early Career Award • CAE Outstanding Book Award • Frederick Erikson Outstanding Dissertation Award • Shirley Brice Health Travel Award • CAE Studies in Educational Ethnography Travel Award == Journals ==

Some of the main journals in the field include: • Anthropology & Education Quarterly • Education & Culture • Ethnography and Education Journal • Pedagogy, Culture, and Society ==References==