About us
The Research Group for Pedagogical Anthropology was established in 2012 within the Institute of Education. It is based on the strong tradition of the Institute in researching and teaching the anthropological dimensions of education: the study of the human subject of education. Our Group carries on this approach in collaboration especially with the Research Group on Historical, Theoretical and Comparative Education.
One of the most fundamental questions of educational science and practice is who the subject of education or pedagogy is in the roles of both educator and educated person. What kind of characteristics does this subject have? What is the concept of „human nature” lying behind their development? What are the ideals of humanity forming the goals of this process? Education science should be fertilized by these anthropological reflections and should be based upon a multi-layer study of human reality. The goal of our Research Group is to develop theoretical knowledge and to do empirical research on the human being as the subject of education in its social, cultural, psychological and pedagogical dimensions. Our research is inherently interdisciplinary. Education or pedagogy is interpreted in a large sense in our approach including the different forms of sociocultural development, politics and formation.
The research topics of the Group include:
- a pedagogical concept of human nature
- identity construction and development
- the human being as a moral subject, moral education
- the human being as a social subject: the categories of class, gender, ethnicity, etc.; social awareness and critical consciousness, critical pedagogy
- cultural diversity, enculturation, cultural politics in the society
- citizenship and (critical) citizenship education
- informal and non-formal learning
- the human being in its dimension of gender and sexuality
- a concept of humanity and childhood in teacher education
We employ a wide range of methodologies in our empirical research, particularly educational ethnography, interpretive content analysis, and participatory methods. Our research and development projects are presented here.