DISCIPLINARY ADAPTATION AND UNDERGRADUATE DESIRE: Anthropology and Global Development Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum

TitleDISCIPLINARY ADAPTATION AND UNDERGRADUATE DESIRE: Anthropology and Global Development Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsHandler, Richard
JournalCultural Anthropology
Volume28
Issue2
Pagination181-203
ISSN1548-1360
AbstractLike most disciplinary scholars, anthropologists have been reluctant to reorganize their undergraduate programs to speak directly to student concerns. Yet, students are oriented, both intellectually and proto-professionally, to issues like global development, about which anthropologists have much to teach. This article examines student assumptions about development and about the interdisciplinary knowledge they think they need to understand it. I outline a critical pedagogy to respond to student ideas about development. I then sketch the cultural assumptions and bureaucratic structures that work to marginalize interdisciplinary programs. I conclude by suggesting ways anthropologists could adapt their undergraduate programs to “colonize” new curricular territories frequently defined in interdisciplinary terms.
URLhttps://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cuan.12000
DOI10.1111/cuan.12000
Short TitleDISCIPLINARY ADAPTATION AND UNDERGRADUATE DESIRE