CFEE Joint Seminar: The Possibilities of Educational Anthropology

CFEE Joint Seminar on Contemporary Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa (2016-2017)

with the Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University

3rd session: Beyond the Classroom: Exploring the Possibilities of Educational Anthropology,

by Jennifer Riggan (PhD, Fulbright Scholar teaching at Addis Ababa University)

Friday, November 25, 2016, 3.00 – 5.00 pm

Venue: Room NCR 119, College of Social Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Sidist Kilo Campus

What is educational anthropology? While we may think that this sub-field is solely concerned with using qualitative methods to improve educational policy and practice, educational anthropology has evolved into a vibrant subfield. Dr. Jennifer Riggan will explore a wide array of possible applications for educational anthropology. Drawing on her own research on nationalism, education and militarism in Eritrea and her current study of peace building and civics education in Ethiopia, she will discuss ways in which educational anthropology can help us better understand gender, ethnicity, race, citizenship, nationalism and other forms of and will argue that the ethnographic study of educational processes and practices is central to the field of Anthropology itself.

The Speaker

Dr. Jennifer Riggan is an educational and political anthropologist. She has published on the changing relationship between citizenship and nationalism, the de-coupling of the nation and the state and the relationship between militarization, education and development. She is the author of The Struggling State: Nationalism, Mass Militarization and the Education of Eritrea (2016). Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation/ National Academy of Education and the Social Science Research Council. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar teaching at Addis Ababa University and conducting an ethnographic study of peace building and civics education in Ethiopia. She is an Associate Professor of International Studies in the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Arcadia University in the United States and an affiliated faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania’s International Educational Development Program. She has served as an Associate Editor for Anthropology and Education Quarterly and has published in American Ethnologist, Political and Legal Anthropology Review and a variety of other journals.