Chapter 1: Social Studies In Germany: A Comparative View

As a researcher and teacher educator bridging the fields of comparative education and social studies/civic education, I have developed an appreciation for combining insiders’ and outsiders’ views to understand education in particular contexts. Insiders, like professors Grammes and Reinhardt in this volume for Germany, can explain what phenomena mean to participants in their culture. This is what educational anthropologists call an “emic perspective.” Outsiders, on the other hand, bring an “etic perspective.” They often notice phenomena that participants may not “see” because they are taken-for-granted practices, procedures, or expectations. This process is similar to the fish not seeing the water it swims in or humans not noticing the air that surrounds them (unless it is so polluted as to be a problem). In this chapter, I share what I have learned about social studies and civic education in Germany as an interested outsider, looking through a window into classrooms (or more often, from a seat in the back of the room).