The Purpose and Scope of Applied Educational Anthropology
Keith M. Sturges, MAA
March 2006
Given the creation and expansion of masters-level and doctoral programs with tracks and emphasis in education in many applied anthropology departments, we see a great need for the SfAA to provide a formal venue for sharing this work. Thus, the purpose of this TIG is to develop and maintain a platform to support a network of educators, activists, researchers, evaluators, knowledge brokers, advocates and other practitioners who wish to engage in discussion and debate of theories, methods, pitfalls, opportunities and models relevant to applied anthropology in educational settings.
Building upon the high turnout (over 20 applied anthropologists interested in education) of an initial business meeting at the 2005 SfAA conference in Santa Fe , we are interested in continuing the TIG’s formalization. At that meeting, we formed a governing body consisting of a co-chair (Guy Trombley), a secretary (James Mullooly), and a chair (Keith Sturges). This website and a listserv were established to further the discussion.
At the 2006 annual meeting in Vancouver, we became a formally recognized TIG of SfAA.
TIG Activity:
The AEA TIG consists of a network of practicing anthropologists who engage in a broad continuum of educational anthropology including, but not limited to, multicultural and culturally-responsive curriculum and instruction, evaluation, school reform, transformative inquiry, policy formulation, transnational education, and education in developing regions. The AEA TIG will focus its energy on the design, implementation, and reporting of this applied work to highlight emerging issues and implications for the field. We feel that there is no shortage of work in order to promote applied educational anthropology in its contemporary intellectual, empirical, policy-relevant, and political-economic contexts.
To this end, the AEA TIG serves to organize conference session papers in a way that is meaningful to presenters and audiences. The TIG also helps identify scholars and practitioners to serve as discussants and session chairs.
Contribution to SfAA:
This TIG responds to the call for this kind of research and practice by providing a public and visible forum for networking, the development of research and practice plans, and the reporting of applied work in the SfAA tradition. These activities promote interaction of SfAA members at the Annual Meeting and throughout the year. The TIG also provides information to the SfAA Newsletter about TIG activities at least on a biannual basis.
