Camilleri 1986

Camilleri, Carmel. 1986.Cultural anthropology and education.Educational sciences. Paris: Kogan Page; UNESCO. 171 pages. 923102339X. Location: Dallas SIL Library.

Presents overview of cultural anthropology and its educational outcomes. UNESCO chose Camilleri to write a personal experience about the "study of contact between cultures and intercultural relations." Was selected because of his personal ability to analyze and summarize. Concludes that cultural misunderstanding can negatively affect education.

As the number of young students from different ethnic groups increased, the United States and Europe saw the need for cross-cultural teaching methods. Presents essentials of cross-cultural teaching; how to promote informed, authentic communication. Concerning basic philosophical values on which all moral principles are based, two lines of argument emerge. Anthropology established that the majority of values are common to different cultures and that conflicting values must be dealt with at school democratically and openly. Culturally different educational models and learning systems suggest several principles:

• Culturally different groups should not be physically separated
• Intercultural education for students and teachers must include genetic and explanatory information, as well as descriptive information, on cultures
• Curriculum development must distinguish content from method
• Regarding the ambiguity of cultural competence, one may be intellectually expert regarding a specific culture, but may hold antipathy for the groups and individuals in it (racism and xenophobia)

Suggests guided debate with open discussion of feelings, understanding that intercultural education involves risk and may evoke a feeling of homelessness rather than resolution. Research, observation, and periodic reassessment of theoretical foundations and risks should help

• to increase awareness of what people are about
• to understand why people have poor results, and
• to know what to do to improve results.

• Bibliography module: Camilleri 1986
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): C
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 May 1999

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