Chapter 1: Anthropology of and for Higher Education: Implications for Research, Policy and Practice

The unpredictability and complexity of higher education today require a new lens—a new way of seeing higher education—if we are to successfully navigate the current volatility. The issue is not that the end of higher education is near—though the end of higher education as presently constituted may be just around the corner. Rather, our task is to critically examine the complexity of structures and processes that shape higher education and to use that knowledge to strategically promote positive change. Anthropology and its “field arm,” ethnography (Spindler, 1988), provide uniquely valuable disciplinary tools for this purpose. Applying those tools to the study, practice, and transformation of higher education is what this book is all about.