Anthropology of education and Cassandra's dilemma

Edmund (“Ted”) Hamann

Chapter 6 in Research Handbook on the Anthropology of Education, 2026, pp 47-56 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In Greek mythology, Cassandra receives a divine gift—the ability to foretell the future—but then a divine curse—that no one will believe her. Except for the divine part, the anthropology of education often faces a similar dilemma, we empirically clarify how members of a given group (e.g., teachers, students, parents) understand and respond to a given situation, which also gives us insight into how they will respond to a future situation. Yet this insight which could/should guide educational policy and practice is usually not heeded. This chapter uses the example of a new book by anthropologists for Mexican teachers to consider how ‘non-fiction fiction’—accounts composed of fictitious composites grounded in first-hand empirical research—might attend to the dilemma of making the anthropology of education more consequential.

Keywords: Empiricism; Non-fiction fiction; Teacher preparation; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332908
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