Paper short abstract:

With a view to combatting the exclusivity of anthropology and encouraging undergraduate applications from comprehensive school students, this paper reports on an attempt to expose a mixed class of Year 10 students to concepts in anthropology through their GCSE text, 'Lord of the Flies'.

Paper long abstract:

For many secondary school students in England, lack of exposure to anthropology at pre-university level can be considered an obstacle to accessing an anthropological education. This paper reports anecdotally on a strategy for teaching anthropology in more inclusive ways: weaving it into secondary English classes in schools where the subject is not offered.

This case study was undertaken with a class of thirty Year 10 students, males and females, at a comprehensive school in Dorset. The students were studying William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' for their Literature GCSE. Exploration of the text's theme of savagery was initiated through readings relating to isolated children and human universals whilst understanding the social roles inhabited by the characters was facilitated by discussion of cultural evolution and acquisition of language. Though moments of bafflement ensued that were important in assessing the success of this strategy, engagement with the text increased triple-fold and several students expressed a desire to continue to learn about anthropology, resulting in an Anthropology Club being set up.

Finally, responding to the suggestion that engaging with questions of access might improve the quality and future of anthropological research more broadly, the paper ends by offering suggestions for how English and Anthropology could work more closely together to give both subjects relevance to secondary-age students, notwithstanding methodological and conceptual disparities.