This book is about education in Burgherside, a low-income neighborhood in Stockton, California, the majority of whose residents are blacks and Mexican-Americans: They make up about 92% of the elementary school population. The study reported here probes into the reasons for many children from the neighborhood failing in public schools. The goal was…

Aiming at the comprehension of schools as social, political, economic, and cultural systems, this book suggests that education does not constitute a separate academic discipline but is dependent upon the social sciences for its elucidation and for its comparative study. The book emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches within four social sciences…

Describes a study of Liberian schools in which students of the Vai tribe are instructed in Western mathematical practices which differ from those of the students' home culture. Reports that the Vai children employed syncretic arithmetic practices, combining two distinct systems of arithmetic in a classroom environment that tacitly facilitated the…

Argues for the application of traditional anthropological ethnography in the study of formal education and for broadening the scope of such studies. Suggests an ecological framework that permits a multilevel application of ethnography in formal education. (Author/GC)

Nigerian anthropologist John Ogbu examines the academic failure of minority groups within the context of American society and draws comparisons to minority group education in five other cultures. (MKM)

Defines the post-positivist approach to qualitative research as one that characterizes knowledge as neither conclusive, verifiable, or external to the human psyche. Instead it assumes knowledge to be socially and individually constructed. Argues for a more tolerant and creative understanding of the various research methodologies by their…

Attempts a reevaluation of Emile Durkheim's contributions to the sociology of education. Considers Durkheim's influence on the pedagogical theories of John Dewey and vice-versa. Concludes with an examination of Durkheim's theories as they relate to the conflict between resistance and socialization. (MJP)

The purpose of this article is to define, through discussion and example, the notion of an "anthropological approach" to science education research, as well as to advocate the potential contribution of such an approach to several research domains and to questions of access and equity. This paper reviews a variety of research articles that address,…

In the past decade, the most important technological innovation in higher education has been the enhancement of academic courses with Web-based information and tools. Given the success and popularity of numerous Web-based innovations, the author and two colleagues wondered whether the benefits of technology use could be scaled up from the course…

This book breaks new ground in Mathematics Education by taking as its focus the idea of Mathematics as a cultural product and analyzing the educational consequences of this cultural perspective. Drawing on a wide variety of sources and references, the book integrates the literature into a new conceptual schema that demonstrates and substantiates…

This paper offers a critical look at the theory of "new" social movements through an examination of a Liverpool (England) protest movement that occurred between 1980 and 1983. A history of the protest movement, which concerned the closing of a secondary school in a working-class community, is given. A review of the literature on new…

Over the last 30 years, educational anthropologists have been exploring the organizational structure of schools and their relationship to society in order to shed light on the complex processes of acquisition, organization, and transmission of cultural knowledge. This volume covers the need to provide a field-based, well-documented cultural…

In 1979, the Native Indian Youth in Museums project began placing Musqueam teenagers in the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology to teach them about traditional coastal Indian culture, and train them to share this information with museum visitors. Co-sponsored by the Native Indian Youth Advisory Society and the Native Youth…

This paper describes four problems that may confront researchers interested in capturing and describing participant perspectives when the participants of interest are young children in early childhood education settings. Problems were identified with interview data collected in three studies conducted in separate preschool and kindergarten…

A study in progress investigating cultural and structural factors which affect educational opportunities for white middle-class and Punjabi immigrants in a California high school is reported. In the two-and one-half years since the project began, researchers have interviewed a broad range of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The…