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- Convenors:
-
Amanda Gilbertson
(University of Melbourne)
Debra McDougall (University of Melbourne)
Moses Mensah (University of Melbourne)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Pedagogy
- Location:
- NIKERI KC1.210
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 23 November, -
Time zone: Australia/Melbourne
Short Abstract:
Where does the future of (anthropologies of) learning lie – in reshaping the 'mainstream' or nurturing alternatives? In this panel, we engage with Indigenous and practitioner contributions to the study of learning, and explore the potentials of alternative pedagogies and educational institutions.
Long Abstract:
Learning is a feature of all human lives, but the anthropology of education, learning, and schooling is a relatively small and specialised subfield. While some seek to situate learning as focal topic in ‘mainstream’ anthropology (Blum 2019), this panel questions whether the mainstream is where the most powerful scholarship lives. Learning may be marginal in highly-ranked Global North anthropology journals, but leading Indigenous scholars have focused centrally on learning for decades and many key debates on the topic are led by scholar practitioners. In addition to inviting engagements with studies of learning from beyond anthropology’s mainstream, we invite papers that explore the value of mainstream schooling. Systematic marginalisation of students from minority and underprivileged backgrounds has directed attention to the learning that happens outside of educational institutions and led to calls for alternative institutions and pedagogies. Yet, alternative models of education funded by philanthropy and private capital arguably exacerbate inequalities in both the Global North and the Global South (Rooks 2020; Srivastava & Walford 2016). Where, then, does the future of (anthropologies of) learning lie – in reshaping the mainstream or nurturing alternatives?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 22 November, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
Scholarship on education promises to have direct, practical application in communities. Does this help explain its centrality in Indigenous and Pacific Studies, and its relative marginality in anthropology? An argument for alternative anthropologies of learning.
Paper long abstract:
Is it a coincidence that studies of learning, schooling, and education are foundational in fields including Indigenous Studies and Pacific Studies, but marginal in the global discipline of anthropology? In her recent call for an integrative anthropology of learning, Susan Blum reflects on why “mainstream anthropology” pays little attention to learning. Potential reasons include a disinclination to study our own teaching practice, a general devaluation of teaching as a vocation, and “an enduring preference for theory over practice” (2019, 644). Conversely, the fact that scholarship on learning promises to have direct, practical application in communities might help to explain why so many Indigenous scholars seem to gravitate toward the study of learning, schooling, and education. Rather than seeking to attract the attention of elite scholars, journals, and institutions, might we instead try to develop an alternative anthropology of learning that calls attention to scholars on the margins of the academic discipline and adds value to on-the-ground work? I’ll think through some of these questions with reference to recent work on Pacific education and collaborative work on vernacular language education in Solomon Islands.
Paper short abstract:
What alternatives to mainstream schooling do Indigenous-owned art centres create? I discuss how Yirrkala's Indigenous art centre operates as a platform for out of school learning by discussing its development, program and affordances.
Paper long abstract:
In many northern Australian Indigenous communities, learning is a feature of both the school and art centre. This paper examines a leading Indigenous art centre in the Northern Territory as a cross-cultural organisation that delivers out of school learning. It aims to relocate studies on learning outside the mainstream in the network of Indigenous-owned art centres spread across the country. Three questions structure the discussion: What forms of out of school learning do art centres enable? Who is driving the use of art centres as local learning environments? When do art centres provide alternatives to family-led intergenerational teaching practices, and government run national models of schooling? I claim a lack of scholarship on how multi-age community members turn Indigenous art centres into a platform that develops knowledge practices has led to problematic engagements with external agencies equipped to address gaps and develop communities. Analysis is framed by the scholar practitioner perspective of working in Northeast Arnhem Land at Yirrkala’s art centre and school.
Paper short abstract:
A few remote Indigenous students come to study at a Melbourne private school. In this 'mainstream' educational setting, various bottom-up programs indeterminately rise and fall to support the students' culture and language while off-Country, yet there is unintended learning for others too.
Paper long abstract:
Debates about the value of mainstream schooling have shaped educational possibilities in remote Indigenous communities. In the past, and arguably today, off-Country schooling may undermine cultural identity and local connections. Yet, many Indigenous students and their families continue to pursue schooling away from home, and programs that enable Indigenous students to attend wealthy urban private schools have grown in recent years. While such schools strive to support Indigenous students' success in mainstream education, some recognise the importance of maintaining connections to land, culture, and language. In this talk, I consider one such school in Melbourne, which has developed a relationship with a remote Arnhem land community. When students from this community came to Melbourne through a homestay program, school staff developed programs to support the students' cultural knowledge while off-Country, including a collaboration among the students and a linguist that focused on their community's languages. These programs developed in a bottom-up improvisational matter and were enabled by private funding from the school community. Intended to support the academic learning of the Indigenous students, they also contributed to the learning of non-Indigenous students, staff, and homestay families. Like many grass-roots programs, these programs are grounded in the long-term, committed relationships between key actors. The case study is important precisely because it (1) highlights the crucial, yet intense, nature of such relationships in learning, (2) shows how language can be used for wider cultural engagement and (3) illustrates how mainstream and alternative ideas of learning and success can co-exist.