Anthropology of Education

Offerings:
Course GEDU 701 | Every fall semester.

Catalog Description:

General Education course descriptions in the USF General Catalog online.

Objectives or Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the basic differences between research from an analytic tradition and research from an interpretative tradition
2. Identify, understand, and use key aspects of interpretative anthropology
3. Design questions that yield empirical data reflective of language understood as a process that creates our world rather than a tool that represents the world
4. Carry out appropriate field-based research on an approved topic
5. One must demonstrate the above objectives by successfully completing a written report of a mini field-based research project. 

Course Topics:

1. What is culture?
2. Language and experience
3. Basis for transcultural understanding
4. Text, language, and understanding
5. The concept of culture
6. Conversation: In search of understanding
7. Culture, rationality, and community
8. Culture, tradition, diversity

Criteria of Evaluation:

• Attendance
• Class participation
• Reflective journal
• In-class essays
• Written mid-term project
• Written and oral presentation of final project

Required Books and Media:

Gadamer, H. (1976). Philosophical hermeneutics. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretations of cultures. New York: Basic Books.