Teaching anthropology in Poland
10.7340/anuac2239-625X-2511
Contributo al Forum Teaching Anthropology in the Secondary School, Anuac, vol. 5, n° 2.
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Hana Červinková
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Teaching anthropology in Poland
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Hana Červinková
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Teaching anthropology in Poland
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                                                  2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2016: 47-51




                                                                                             FORUM

Teaching anthropology in Poland
Michał BUCHOWSKI
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań / European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/O

Hana ČERVINKOVÁ
University of Lower Silesia, Wrocław / Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague



Contribution to the FORUM: Teaching anthropology in the secondary school, ANUAC, Vol.
5, n° 2, dicembre 2016.



   In Poland, anthropology has never been taught as a mandatory or optional
course outside university education. Some attempts to introduce anthropo-
logy at a level of secondary school were made at the beginning of the 1990s
by the late Krzysztof J. Brozi, university professor of philosophy and cultural
anthropology. In his arguments in favor of anthropology Brozi insisted on
the general humanistic value of anthropology as a discipline studying cultur-
al diversity, and its popularity in the West, particularly in the United States.
He trusted that in the period of enthusiasm for sweeping revolutionary
changes in all domains of social life this move would bring expected results,
however it was an illusory hope. As far as we know, these attempts did not
reach beyond discussions in small academic circles and did not reach the
governmental level essential for anthropology to be introduced in the coun-
try. Furthermore, most policy makers and representatives of educational in-
stitutions in the central administration, independently of their political ori-
entation, probably saw philosophy as the humanistic subject that should be
taught in secondary schools rather than anthropology. Instead, it is religion
and not anthropology that is offered as an elective subject in schools
(Buchowski, Chlewińska 2011).

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons © Michał Buchowski, Hana Červinková
Teaching anthropology in Poland
2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2016: 47-51.
ISSN: 2239-625X - DOI: 10.7340/anuac2239-625X-2511
48                                                         MICHAŁ BUCHOWSKI, HANA ČERVINKOVÁ


   Despite efforts of hundreds of anthropologists, the popular perception of
the discipline in Poland is still closer to the studies of folkloric and exotic
traditions rather than to a social science helpful in engaging with important
social issues. Ethnologists are often seen as “dealers in traditions and in
exotica”. As connoisseurs in these fields, they are usually asked for advice
when it comes to question about intangible or material cultural heritage.
They are still rarely called upon to comment on sociocultural dimensions of
issues such as healthcare, poverty, multiculturalism or migration. It has to be
said, however, that a progress in this respect has been slowly but steadily
made, and in recent years anthropologists have been increasingly used as ex-
perts on current social and cultural issues.
   The conservative national political formation which came to power in
2015 is not interested in introducing to schools a discipline, which advocates
multiculturalism, relativism, hybridization of cultures and social groups and
a society open to sociocultural diversity. Instead, the social function of eth-
nology/anthropology should be the promotion and conservation of local tra-
ditions, which, of course, is nothing bad in itself 1. This political milieu com-
bined with the prevailing perception of anthropology could possibly
strengthen the situation in which anthropological ideas can be only
smuggled into school curricula subjects such as history or civic education by
individual teachers.
   On their part, anthropologists try to fill the gap by making their impact in
schools by organizing special courses on multicultural education and educa-
tion, frequently in ethnically diverse schools (including schools that have
immigrant student population). The same principle applies to different edu-
cational initiatives coordinated by ethnographic museums. Special agree-
ments with particular schools are also reached, which enable such educa-
tional activities2. For the time being, anthropological education of educators
seems to be the most popular and accessible form of sneaking anthropology
into people’s minds.
   Thus, while it has hardly any formal presence in Polish schools, anthropo-
logy is a popular university subject future Polish teachers often come in

1. It is worth mentioning that current Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło studied ethnology
at Jagiellonian University in Cracow and delivered her MA thesis on the tradition of making
nativity cribs in Cracow. She shares strong anti-immigrant attitude and opts for policy
aimed at strengthening national exclusivity.
2. A recent agreement signed in 2016 by the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthro-
pology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and High School in Konin, to hold “anthro -
pological class” with lasting for two years courses in anthropology is possibly and hopefully
a harbinger of such evolution towards teaching anthropology at the level of secondary edu-
cation.


2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2016: 47-51
TEACHING ANTHROPOLOGY IN POLAND                                                   49


touch with during their university studies. Introductory courses to sociocul-
tural anthropology are often taught at Schools (Faculties) of Education as a
part of the social science and humanities core curriculum, together with
courses in philosophy, psychology or sociology. This institutional presence of
anthropology, combined with the sustained popularity of educational studies
as an academic choice for a great number of students in Poland (64,000 en-
rollments in 2013) creates a great opportunity for anthropologists to cultiv-
ate anthropological sensibilities among Polish teachers, giving the subject of
anthropology a voice in the public sphere.
   Through our academic teaching practice, we have found that perhaps the
most valuable aspect of anthropology for future educators lies in the anthro-
pological «way of seeing» (Wolcott 2008), namely the critical cultural ap-
proach that anthropologists take in apprehending and describing social real-
ity, ascribing cultural meaning to the phenomena they observe through eth-
nography. The process of learning how to see, interpret and study the world
as a cultural construct – learning how to be an anthropologist – takes many
years and for many of us it is a lifetime endeavor. When we teach anthropo-
logy as a social science/humanity core in interdisciplinary programs,
however, we do not have the luxury of such time; if we are lucky, we get a
thirty-hour slot (the equivalent of a one-semester course) during the entire
university career of our students. The question of effectiveness of our teach-
ing to make an impact on helping future educational professionals see the
world as a culturally plural entity and bring this way of seeing into their
classrooms is of crucial importance, and this is a central task for us as an-
thropology professors.
   In developing our courses, therefore, we strive to communicate anthropo-
logy through deliberations centered on anthropological research that has
teaching, learning and upbringing in different cultures as its focus and on
cultivating the students’ abilities to make connections and cross-cultural
comparisons to their own contexts. In the process of constructing the cur-
riculum, relevance to our students’ aspirations and lived realities is the key.
   We use a variety of ethnographic research to introduce basic anthropolo-
gical notions centered around cultural critique, including Margaret Mead’s
classic ethnography Coming of Age in Samoa (Mead 1986), which deals with a
subject that future teachers find deeply relevant – the upbringing of children
and education of adolescents. It allows to bring into the students’ home
realm the idea that culture is influential in people’s upbringing and in our
discussions, students come to the critical awareness that the way children
are brought up in Poland is a product of specific cultural conditioning. Our
discussion on the cultural embeddedness of upbringing further deepens


                                      2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2016: 47-51
50                                                 MICHAŁ BUCHOWSKI, HANA ČERVINKOVÁ


through research of educational anthropologist George Spindler and his no-
tions of cultural transmission, cultural compression, continuity and discon-
tinuity, and cultural therapy, which allow us to discuss anthropological cat-
egories of rituals and rites-of-passage, highly relevant for the discussion of
educational processes. We also build on school-based anthropological re-
search whereby anthropologists study schools as sites of production of good
state citizens, which often exclude students of minority groups. We discuss
research by Ray McDermott studying schooling as a process of reproducing
social inequity through the process of cultural programming, which for Pol-
ish students opens a way to understand how unconscious teachers’ cultural
discrimination can contribute to the school failure of minority children in
Poland – primarily, but not exclusively, the Roma.
   Other areas of anthropological research that works well for our students
are studies that focus on ethnicity and perceptions of citizenship as import-
ant factors in school-based cultural production processes. For example, the
work by Thea Abu El-Haj (2007) focusing on discrimination of Palestinian
youth in American high-schools, in particular following the attack on the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, allows us to considering how
similar dynamics are at play in Polish schools vis-à-vis minority students.
The invisibility of social class as a problem of schooling is another issue that
we can elicit through anthropological lens. Through the work of Bradley Lev-
inson and Beth Rubin, we can look at how youth in Mexican and North
American schools assume agency and control over identity-shaping pro-
cesses vis-à-vis dominant school-based policies. The discussion of these
texts forces Polish students to confront social differences among students in
their seemingly homogenous Polish classrooms and consider how these
might affect the dynamics of the educational process, distinguishing
between successful and unsuccessful students and impacting the formation
of their civic identities.
   We also focus on transformative pedagogical practices, drawing on inspir-
ational texts situated in the tradition of educational action research and en-
gaged anthropology, including research by George and Louise Spindler’s cul-
tural therapy – a method whereby anthropologists expose the cultural under-
pinnings of the teacher’s discriminatory practices to herself.
   Texts by Norma González and Luis Moll show that culturally sensitive
teaching should take into consideration the household and community back-
ground of students (González et alii 1995), helping teachers become re-
searchers of their students’ worlds to make their teaching contextually relev-
ant to their students. Pauline Lipman’s action research, on the other hand,
shows the connections between school assessment, school closings and urb-


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TEACHING ANTHROPOLOGY IN POLAND                                                     51


an politics, requiring students to look differently at the dynamics behind the
epidemic of school closings in Poland, going beyond the economic considera-
tions to the sociocultural conditions and costs.
   In conclusion, we want to stress that while anthropology is not a strong
presence in Polish schools, it can play an important role in the educational
trajectory of students of education – future teachers and educational practi-
tioners. In order to make anthropology meaningful for students of educa-
tional studies, we must take into consideration the disciplinary context in
the construction of our courses. If anthropology and its ethos and methodo-
logy are to play their critical role for future educators, it is important to build
their understanding on material that is relevant to their professional con-
cerns. Being an academic teacher of anthropology for students of education-
al studies provides a rare opportunity for engaged anthropological work.
   Cultural comparisons, ultimately lead students considering the “Other” in
their classrooms. Anthropology can also help today’s teachers and educa-
tional practitioners move beyond mastering the skills of teaching particular
subject areas to being transformative professionals who are able to situate
their teaching in the changing world around them and their students (Sachs
2007). Teaching anthropology to students of pedagogy opens significant op-
portunities for engaging anthropology with interdisciplinary dialogue and
educational processes that are relevant for the nurturing of open societies,
fostering the tradition of a public engaged anthropology.

REFERENCES

Abu El-Haj, Thea R., 2007, “I Was Born Here, but My Home, It’s Not Here”: Educat-
     ing for Democratic Citizenship in an Era of Transnational Migration and Glob-
     al Conflict, Harvard Educational Review, 77, 3: 285-316.
Buchowski, Michał, Katarzyna Chlewińska, 2011, Tolerance and Diversity in Polish
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González, Norma et alii, 1995, Funds of Knowledge for Teaching in Latino House-
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