Paper long abstract:

In October 2009 the Royal Anthropological Institute succeeded in its 5-year campaign to gain national accreditation for anthropology to be taught at General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (the standard university entrance qualification in the UK). Teaching is scheduled to begin in September 2010, and teaching and learning resources for the new publics are under active development. The paper will chart the process of gaining recognition for this project. It will explore the contexts of engagement with the multiple publics and decision-making bodies involved in the exercise, the strategies and rationales which needed to be deployed, and the compromises made. Particular reference will be made to themes of globalisation, diversity and interpretations of citizenship in a British context. The exercise is ongoing and the paper will consider what can be learned about 'speaking anthropology' to new audiences such as these.