Event overview
Goldsmiths Anthropology Seminar Series - Spring Term
"Anthropology By Children (ABC): Impact, Insight and Inclusion by listening to young ethnographers"
Dr. Kelly F. Robinson - University of Cambridge
Ethnographic research in Britain post-Covid increasingly leads to debates about austerity, the cost-of-living crisis, and lack of hope for the next generation. In one London borough, where 28% of under-16s live in low-income households, 43%+ primary school pupils are eligible for the deprivation Pupil Premium, and which boasts the fewest green spaces in the country, joy has proven to be a powerful methodological counterpoint, especially for training future ethnographers.
Anthropology By Children is a mini curriculum which has been piloted in state and independent sector schools, schools for children who have Special Educational Needs (SEN), with further planned work within Pupil Referral Units (PRU), a trial at Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MA&A), and an extension into London community centres. ABC teaches multimodal ethnographic methods to 11–14 year olds through playing detective (participant observation), mapping games (proxemics), and documenting personal experiences of objects and places that make children feel supported (fieldnotes/thick description). The pieces they produce may centre on images of stuffed toys, climbing frames and school canteens, but the stories these images capture provide unique perspectives on everyday life in a London village in 2023.
By linking students' printed photography, drawings, and writing via QR codes to recorded spoken narratives online, each pupil can tell their story and be heard anywhere. Topics range from immigration to segregated playgrounds, racism, ableism, football, inequalities, loss, and the meaning behind a cherished keyring. This approach provides children across linguistic/attainment spectrums with useful research and communication toolkits, but also yields key insights into the lives of young Londoners. Through communicating their objects/spaces of joy, pupils learn how to listen to each other and be listened to, reinforcing the value of their voices and awakening recognition of their potential as engaged citizens.
This seminar is part of the Goldsmiths Anthropology Seminar Series. Seminars are free and open to all, no booking required.
This seminar is in person only.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Jan 2023 | 4:00pm - 6:00pm |
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