Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Education

damental characteristics of the anthropological method. Anthropologists are committed to ethnographic fieldwork entailing direct observation and participation in the flow of life surrounding them. Lengthy immersion in an alien culture (for at least a year initially, followed by return visits when possible), knowledge of the indigenous language and collection of a wide range of data utilizing diverse methods are generally considered to be requisites for gaining a sensitive and accurate understanding of a socio-cultural situation and its dynamics. To distinguish what is indiosyn-cratic, what is a function of the various social roles present, and what is attributable to subcultural or cultural patterning, anthropologists try to select informants who come from the different cultures and subcultures present and who occupy various statuses in the social system. When a group is experiencing rapid socio-cultural change (modernization, urbani-zation, revolution, etc.), anthropologists attempt to sample the spectrum of personal exposure to and participation in the change.