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On the Relationship of Anthropology to Multicultural Teaching and Learning University of Michigan

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On the Relationship of Anthropology to Multicultural Teaching and Learning University of Michigan Norris Brock Johnson On the Relationship of Anthropology To Multicultural Teaching and Learning University of Michigan To be valued &dquo;What is ~it, what does it mean, to be a human relationship between anthropology and multicultural and preserved, being?&dquo; &dquo;Why are human beings similar yet so differ- education (here, broadly, human teaching and learning) the unique ent ?&dquo; In one fashion or another, most academic disci- is both reciprocal and intimate. Data, concepts, focus, characteristic of plines study human beings and their works. Uniquely, methodology, and basic concerns involve each other. being similar anthropology provides a synthetic viewpoint, a pano- Both in and its sub- yet different anthropology, general, component ramic a of of is the genius perspective, particular way looking at, disciplines, in particular, provide essential contribu- of being human. conceiving and approaching, the condition of being tions to multicultural teaching and learning. human. After the fact of being human, other disciplines study human beings. The anthropological quest is for knowledge and understanding of the condition of being human. Cultural Anthropology Anthropology is the systematic, comparative study of human similarity and difference as it has developed Anthropology’s view suggests that being human and been expressed, throughout corresponding time means satisfying imperatives of biology and environ- and space, on the planet Earth. Scientifically, anthro- ment primarily through learned (cultural) rather than pology places emphasis upon the generation of testable neurochemical (instinctual) mechanisms. To learn, explanatory statements or laws, accounting for regu- rather than to involuntarily respond, is to be human; to larities in patterns of human similarity and difference. be human is to learn. Humanistically, anthropology places emphasis upon Cultural anthropology is concerned with the na- the qualities, value, and essential meaning of human ex- ture and character of cultural similarity and difference. perience. Serving as a timeless mirror for humankind, For our purposes, culture is best conceived as the anthropology reflects our gloriously infinite variety and learned, shared, and symbolic patterns of thinking, feel- essential unity. To be valued and preserved, the unique ing, believing, and behaving on which all human characteristic of similar different is the being yet genius beings, as distinct from other animals, rely as their of human. being primary means of survival. A culture is a distinctive Culture is best As homo sapiens, human animals share similar way of interpreting human culture. A uniquely anthro- conceived as the needs, biology, and history. The study of anthropology pological concept, culture is fundamental to multi- learned, shared, reveals &dquo;alien&dquo; cultures to be groups of people solving cultural teaching and learning. and symbolic persistent human problems in unique ways. The proper patterns of study of anthropology fosters recognition and accept- thinking, feeling, ance of the essential unity of humankind. As homo believing, and sapiens, human animals share a planet comprised of behaving on which all human beings, radically differing environments. Human appearance differs as an as distinct from (phenotype) primarily adaptative response other animals, rely to environment. Being human is a continually unfolding as their primary drama of reciprocal interaction between biology, en- means of survival. vironment, and culture. The proper study of anthro- pology fosters recognition and tolerance, if not accept- ance, of human difference. The perspective from anthropology provides val- uable insights, information, and a unique approach to the more persistent problems of our own time and place. This article illustrates the importance of anthro- pology to the multicultural approach to education. The Norris Brock Johnson is Adjunct Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and Research Associate, Center for New Schools, Chicago, Illinois 10 Cultural anthropologists study human teaching provides the empirical information for ethnological To &dquo;understand&dquo; a and learning within the context of the cultural meanings analysis. Both ethnography and ethnology have signifi- culture or given to stages in the human life cycle. Enculturation is cant implications for a more effective multicultural subculture means to see it as a whole. the lifelong process of teaching and learning a specific teaching and learning. culture. Every culture gives different meaning to birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and even Ethnology death. Further, if culture is learned behavior, then we The of cultures contributes a ought to be aware of the varied peoples, places, situa- comparative study tions, things, and environments that teach culture. At fresh perspective to concepts central to multicultural and the of some point, every human being is both teacher and teaching learning; specifically, concepts cultural and the learner. Potentially, anything one human being cultur- pluralism plural society. ally learns can be learned by any other human being. Cultural pluralism is a concept developed in the Multiculturalism How, when, where, and why something is taught or context of European administration of heterogeneous, implies a process which a learned is culturally conditioned. Every culture or sub- complex societies; principally, in Burma, Ceylon (Sri through develops culture gives unique emphasis and style to the human Lanka), and the Caribbean. Created through colonial person competence in for and As concerns intervention, societies are characterized requirements teaching learning. plural by several cultures. data on various cultural styles and meanings of teach- heterogeneous populations drawn together for politio- ing and learning, cultural anthropology has much to economic, not cultural, reasons. Plural societies have a share with multicultural education. characteristic intermix of differing &dquo;races&dquo; and cultural Plural societies are characterized In arguing that each culture is but a different way systems. by social, and of being human, cultural anthropology acts to reduce spacial, normative, cultural, institutional stratifica- racism, cultural chauvinism, and misplaced ethno- tion and isolation. Plural societies do not evolve collective effort and sociocultural centricism. Anthropological interest in schooling is not through concensus; societies are the of Plural- new. For the last 20 years, cultural anthropologists plural byproduct conquest. ism is colonialistic and Plural societies are have been extensively involved in public school cur- exploitative. riculum development (Dynneson, 1975; Dwyer-Shick, neither integrative, representative, participatory, nor democratic. The of is as much socio- 1976). As the multicultural nature of our society and the concept pluralism and historical as it is cultural. Multiculturalism intercultural nature of our world grows self-evident, political a which a com- cultural anthropology will be necessary to a proper edu- implies process through person develops cation for the future. The study of cultural anthropol- petence in several cultures. Pluralism implies limited cultural interaction and anthro- ogy itself is a multicultural education. sharing. Ethnological pology suggests that education might strive for a multi- cultural rather than pluralistic society and culture. Ethnography and Ethnology Plural societies are characterized by structurally Pluralism implies subordinate subgroups or subcultures exhibiting dif- limited cultural is the Ethnographic anthropology descriptive study ferential patterns of access to strategic and culturally interaction and and of human cultures. Ours is a small analysis existing valued resources. As concerns its component sharing. saturated with thousands of cultures; thousands planet subgroups, the plural society assumes a separate-yet- of of human. ways being unequal stance. This notion of subculture undergirds In their research strategies, ethnographers insist the multicultural approach to education. Within the upon the direct observation of human activity; rather United States, the educational anthropologist John than laboratory experimentalism, a natural science Ogbu (1974) distinguishes immigrant from subordinate empiricism is stressed (Williams, 1967). Spending a minorities. Characteristically, immigrant minorities, year or more living with the people under study, the such as Italians or Germans, are historically and lin- ethnographer seeks to understand and to describe that guistically part of a continential, European tradition; culture as a total way of life. Traditionally working in vis-a-vis Anglo superordinates, immigrant minorities rather small groups, ethnographers seek to record become &dquo;White&dquo; ethnics. Comparatively, ethnic social salient cultural elements as they relate, each to the status and degree of sociocultural access is based more other, in patterned ways. This comparative method- on culture and history than on &dquo;race.&dquo; Multiethnic ology and wholistic perspective is reflected in every teaching and learning becomes the comparative, socio- anthropological subdiscipline. Comparisons assume the logical study of differing sociohistorical aspects of an interrelatedness of systemic elements not fully defined encompassing European tradition. Such subordinate in isolation. To &dquo;understand&dquo; a culture or subculture minorities as Native and African-Americans
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