About
Teaching and Learning Anthropology publishes analytical, reflective, and review articles on the topic of teaching and learning anthropology. The journal also publishes original undergraduate and graduate anthropological research and writing. We hope to engage a broad audience of students and faculty through open-access publishing. We are currently seeking submissions from anthropologists in all subfields.
Volume 7, Issue 2, 2024
Untitled Issue
Articles
“Hearing What They Don’t Say”: Cultivating New Perspectives through Teaching and Learning Anthropology at a College of Art and Design
In the current educational environment, students need transferable skills not only to graduate but also to be well-prepared for their futures. Starting in 2017, the Cleveland Institute of Art required all incoming first-year students to take a 3-credit “Engaged Practice” course intended to facilitate collaborative work between students and artists and designers outside of the institution with a variety of industry and community partners. As part of this initiative, I created a course entitled Applying Anthropology to teach art students the foundations of cultural anthropological field research methods and to show how those methods can be useful to artists and designers when working in a collaborative environment. Students worked with partners at several local organizations to collect life histories and stories and to then design and implement collaborative art projects with those partners. After three semester-long iterations of this class, I show how the outcomes of teaching anthropological field methods and skills to non-major students can greatly enhance undergraduate student success and have a meaningful impact on students and their community partners.
Prioritizing Accessibility in the Classroom: Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching Anthropology Introductory Courses
This paper discusses a project to develop an introductory course in Cultural Anthropology that prioritizes accessibility. Drawing inspiration from Universal Design for Learning and other teaching strategies, we explore ways of making course materials, content delivery, and assessments more accessible for students with different needs and abilities. We also consider accessibility from the perspective of instructors with disabilities, a topic that has received less attention in the literature. We discuss the use of varied classroom activities to increase engagement and participation, different forms of expression, adaptive technologies, and evaluation components that anticipate and mediate barriers to learning while enabling students to connect the course content to their lived experiences. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and future considerations.
Fieldschool Is Not What It Used to Be: Innovations in Teaching and Learning Ethnographic Methods
This article examines how teaching and learning ethnographic methods could be adapted to contemporary times, considering shifting understandings of ethnography and practical attention to the experiences of new fieldworkers. Using the European Field Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a case study, we identify several pedagogical techniques, including a cohort-based learning model, peer mentoring, and group blogging, to support students in navigating the practicalities and challenges of fieldwork. We argue that these techniques cultivate a collaborative learning environment and enhance first-time fieldwork experience despite the physical distances fieldwork typically implies.