 School education complicates complexity: elements to enhance anthropological research on schoolingÁngel Díaz de Rada Chapter 15 in Research Handbook on the Anthropology of Education, 2026, pp 146-157 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter draws on my teaching experience with students of the class, “Anthropology of Education and Schooling.” It reflects on their reactions to anthropology, especially among those working in and for schools. The argument contrasts the students’ general inclination towards “reforming” and “improving” the school system with the classical foundations of our subdiscipline. These well-schooled students find anthropology and ethnographic studies to be the best tools for understanding their often frustrating experiences with “reforms” and “improvements.” The underlying argument of this text examines the applicability of our meticulously developed knowledge in educational environments. School managerial agents do not seem to desire what they say they desire: to produce learning relevant to the lived worlds of concrete persons. Highlighting this critical aspect would simply be naïve, were it not for the fact that a significant part of the legitimacy of schooling as an educational form lies in the formation of this misconception. Keywords: School devices; Definition of schooling; Applicability of anthropological knowledge; Relevant learning; Situated learning; Complexity and normalization (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23336_15 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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