Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how biological diversity is described in Russian and French secondary schools, and these narratives are related to two national anthropological traditions. The study shows that school narratives promote the same values of equality and diversity, but in very different ways.

Paper long abstract:

Human biological diversity is notoriously controversial topic both in general public debate and academic anthropology. Finding and promoting meaningful ways to describe biological differences have nowadays become important challenge for both anthropologists and educators. School teachers in different countries approach this topic in strikingly different ways. This paper explores how biological diversity is described in Russian and French secondary schools, and how these school narratives are related to two national anthropological traditions. Based on a several sources, including class observations, qualitative analysis of modern biology and geography textbooks, and interviews with geography teachers and textbook authors, I examine the school narratives of human biological diversity. I look over the present-day state of biological anthropology in both countries, in order to understand what kind of anthropology was established in classrooms. The study shows that the school narratives differ significantly in their content. However, both of them promote the same values of equality and diversity. Russian narrative relies on human racial taxonomies to describe and classify human groups, but downscales the importance of biological differences. In France, where race as a concept was excluded from public discourse and research after World War 2, schools have adopted very narrow view on biological differences between human groups, excluding all possibilities to discuss their impact on our societies.

Key words: biological anthropology, secondary education, France, Russia