Theoretical Foundations for a Critical Anthropology of Education Policy

Abstract

In this chapter we revisit and update the foundational postulates of our previous work, articulating a critical practice approach to the study of education policy. We provide what we hope is a more succinct and accessible statement of our approach, placing emphasis on three particular elements: 1) the historical, holistic, and cross-cultural insights that an anthropological lens brings to our understanding of policy as a practice of power; 2) the centrality of a non-dualistic and agentic conception of appropriation in social practice, and 3), an emphasis on social scientific knowledge produced democratically as much for various civic publics as for the scholarly or authorized “policymaking” communities. Along the way we highlight how our particular contribution to the anthropology of education policy, as theoretically informed by practice theory and committed to democratic praxis, has been both challenged and enriched over the last decade and a half.