Educational Anthropology
Code: 101253 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Social and Cultural Anthropology | OB | 3 |
Contact
- Name:
- Laia Narciso Pedro
- Email:
- laia.narciso@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
There are no pre- requisites
Objectives and Contextualisation
Anthropology of Education is a subject of 6 compulsory ECTS that is part of the general thematic areas of Anthropology.
The Anthropology of Education is the specialized study of the objectives, processes and contexts of cultural acquisition/transmission that turn human beings into specific cultural subjects of a group or society, and of the inequality and diversity in the conditions of learning and social reproduction that affect them in contemporary societies.
The formative objectives of the subject are threefold:
1. To know and understand the conditions and practices of upbringing, enculturation and socialization from a cross-cultural perspective 2.
2. To analyze the school institution and its hegemonic expansion in the global world.
3. To learn to read, do and write ethnography in formal and non-formal educational contexts of learning.
This course is taught from the principles of the 2006 Mission Statement of the Council on Anthropology of Education of the AAA, and its commitment to social justice in all settings in which learning takes place in the research and application of the Anthropology of Education.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Apprehending cultural diversity through ethnography and critically assessing ethnographic materials as knowledge of local contexts and as a proposal of theoretical models.
- Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
- Demonstrate skills for working autonomously or in teams to achieve the planned objectives including in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Demonstrating they know and comprehend the epistemological and methodological debates in Anthropology and the main investigation techniques.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Use digital tools and critically interpret specific documentary sources.
- Using the discipline's ethnographic and theoretical corpus with analytical and synthesis skills.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing a contemporary fact from an anthropological perspective.
- Applying the knowledge of cultural variability and its genesis to avoid ethnocentric projections.
- Apprehending cultural diversity through ethnography and critically assessing ethnographic materials as local context knowledge.
- Carry out ethical use of the information especially when it is of a personal nature.
- Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
- Distinguishing between the theoretical concepts of Anthropology and the indigenous concepts.
- Effectively working in teams and respecting different opinions.
- Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
- Express ideas with a specific vocabulary appropriate to the discipline.
- Identify main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
- Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
- Identifying the sociocultural variability through ethnographic texts and audiovisual resources.
- Identifying the transcultural variability of economic, kinship, political, symbolic and cognitive, educational and gender systems as well as their corresponding anthropological theory.
- Interpreting the cultural diversity through ethnography.
- Interpreting today's main events from physical, economic, social and cultural diversity.
- Knowing and assessing the various processes of intercultural relationship.
- Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Summarising acquired knowledge about the origin and transformations experienced in the several fields of anthropology.
- Summarizing the characteristics of a written text in accordance to its communicative purposes.
- Theoretically analysing ethnographic examples of cultural diversity in the fields of education, gender and inclusion-exclusion systems.
- Using the ethnographic corpus in the cultural critique.
- Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
Content
The program is structured in two parts. The first is organized around five major questions that the anthropology of education has been asking from its origins to the present day, within the framework of the intellectual project of anthropology as a discipline. The second part focuses on the ethnography of education from a multilevel approach.
Part I
I. Does the diversity of cultures promote diverse personalities?
II. How does the process of cultural transmission and acquisition take place in each context?
III. What is the impact of the universalization and hegemony of school education?
IV. Why do educational inequalities persist among diverse socio-cultural groups?
V. What do minority groups have to say?
Part Two
I. From classical ethnography to critical ethnography of education. The work of the personal equation.
II. Reading ethnography of education.
III. Doing ethnography of education.
IV. Writing ethnography of education.
V. Education and emancipation: ethnography of educational policies.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Theoretical classes with ICT support and practical classes for the analysis of cases and ethnographic texts | 35 | 1.4 | 20, 1, 3, 6, 13, 15, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Descriptive or analytic exercises, individually or in groups. | 12 | 0.48 | 1, 2, 3, 16, 12, 15, 14, 19, 18 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, analysis of texts, drawing up diagrams and abstracts, searching for information and preparing discussions and presentations, drafting papers. | 60 | 2.4 | 20, 1, 3, 16, 6, 12, 13, 15, 14, 19, 18, 21 |
The protagonist of the learning-training process is the student and under this premise a methodology based on continuous work has been planned. Therefore, attendance is important in this course. Following the course requires active engagement in learning and responsibility throughout the entire process.
The Virtual Campus (VC) is the official communication space for the course. It is the student’s responsibility to access the VC and keep their email profile updated in order to stay informed of news and information posted throughout the course.
About the sessions:
The course is developed through face-to-face sessions directed, supervised and autonomous work.
The face-to-face sessions deal with the presentation of the course content, and will always be with the whole class. They aim to achieve significant learning through initial diagnostic activities, incorporation of new knowledge through lectures given by the teacher or invited conferences and activities of application and structuring, so that the active participation of students is expected and is important, both in large group activities and in small groups. These sessions always involve prior and/or subsequent independent work.
The autonomous work includes activities such as reading and comprehensive and analytical study of texts, comprehensive and analytical viewing of audiovisual materials, research of bibliographical references, review of information, observation and reflective writing, among others.
The supervised sessions will be face-to-face (by appointment), especially aimed at contributing to the monitoring of the course and the performance of the assessment activities.
About communication:
Communication will be via e-mail.
About the deliverables:
Please, consult the specific instructions for each assignment and its correction criteria.
All assignments will be delivered via Virtual Campus (Moodle).
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnographic or analitic exercises, individually or in groups. | 50% | 30 | 1.2 | 20, 1, 2, 6, 8, 4, 15, 14, 17, 19, 22 |
| Individual written test | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 20, 1, 2, 3, 5, 16, 6, 9, 12, 13, 15, 14, 19, 18, 21 |
| Participacion in reading groups and debates on monographs, presentation of team work | 20% | 10 | 0.4 | 20, 1, 16, 6, 12, 10, 11, 19, 18, 7 |
The continuous evaluation consists of 4 exercises:
- Individual auto-ethnographic essay on personal trajectory and personal equation 30%.
- Individual written test on lectures and other compulsory materials 30%.
- Participation in classroom practices 20%.
- Ethnography work in teams 20%.
Unique evaluation
- Individual auto-ethnographic essay on personal trajectory and personal equation 30%.
- Individual written test on readings and other compulsory materials 30%.
- Individual written test on a monograph 20%.
- Ethnography work (to be assessed with the teacher whether it will be done in a team or individually) 20%.
Final mark: The final mark corresponds to the average of all the marks obtained.
Condition for "Non-evaluable": Students who have not taken any of the 4 evaluation tests without any justification will be considered non-evaluable students.
Retake procedure: This option is only possible for students who have taken all the assessment tests but have failed one or more of them (in both continuous and single assessment modes). Participation (classroom practice) is not recoverable.
Absence or late submission of assessment activities without a duly justified and accredited cause means that the activity will not be assessed. Assessment evidence that does not conform to the format standards of the guidelines and rubrics for the completion of the assignments will not be accepted.
Plagiarism or fraudulent conduct:
If a student engages in any irregularity that could significantly alter the grade of an assessment activity, that activity will be graded with a 0, regardless of any disciplinary proceedings that may follow. If multiple irregularities occur in the assessment activities of the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
Restricted use: For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks, such as literature or information searches, text corrections, or translations. The student must clearly identify which parts were generated using such technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced both the process and the final result of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI in this evaluable activity will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in partial or total penalization of the activity’s grade, or more serious sanctions in severe cases.
Bibliography
Some compilations of reference; specific readings will be provided for each section.
Anderson-Levitt, Kathryn M. (Ed.) (2010). Anthropologies of Education. A Global Guide to Ethnographic Studies of Learning and Schooling. London: Berghahn Books.
Conteh, Jeanette, Mor-Sommerfeld, Agnes, Kenner, Charmian, & Gregory, Eve (2005). On Writing Educational Ethnographies. The Art of Collusion. London: Trentham Books.
García Castaño, Francisco Javier & Carrasco, Silvia (Eds.) (2011). Población inmigrante y escuela. Conocimientos y saberes de investigación. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación.
García Castaño, Francisco Javier, Velasco, Honorio, & Pulido, Rosario (Eds.) (2007). Lecturas de Antropología para Educadores. Madrid: Trotta.
Hodges, Donald H. (2011). The Anthropology of Education. Classic Readings. San Diego: Cognella.
Jociles, María Isabel & Franzé, Ana (Eds.) (2008). ¿Es la escuela el problema? Investigaciones en Antropología y Educación. Madrid: Trotta.
Lancy, David F. (2008). The Anthropology of Childhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LeCompte, Margaret D. & Schensul, Jean J. (2012). Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research. The Ethnographer's Toolkit (7 vols). London: SAGE.
Levinson, Bradley A. U., Foley, Douglas E., & Holland, Dorothy C. (Eds.) (1997). The Cultural Production of the Educated Person. Critical Ethnographies of Schooling and Local Practice. New York: SUNY Press.
Spindler, George D. & Spindler, Louise S. (Eds.) (2000). Fifty Years of Anthropology and Education. New York: LEA.
Software
It is necessary to guarantee that students can access the Teams platform, established by the UAB to carry out online activities.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |