Legends of Students’ “Clever Answers”: Criticism or Affirmation of the Educational System?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v2i2.6Keywords:
urban legends, campus folklore, higher education, social reproduction, transformation of higher education – anthropological aspect, «clever» answersAbstract
This paper represents an analysis of a group of urban legends from US universities, gathered from a number of web sites and in certain cases compared with corresponding analogies in Serbia. These legends concentrate around the motif of «clever answers», in which students use witty or otherwise unconventional means to solve problems or answer questions during exams or other forms of knowledge examination, and usually end up being rewarded for their creativity. The analysis of the formal structure of these legends, as well as their possible functions, indicates that, on the one hand, legends of «clever answers» can represent a form of criticism of the higher education system, but on the other actually aid its reproduction and reinforce its role in the social order. Finally, the implications of this interpretation are investigated in the context of contemporary global transformations of higher education.
Downloads
References
Apple, M.W. 2004. Creating Difference: Neo-Liberalism, Neo-Conservatism and the Politics of Educational Reform. Educational Policy, Vol. 18. No.1: 12-44.
Asman, A. 2002. Rad na nacionalnom pamćenju. Beograd: XX vek.
Baćević, J. 2006a. Strategije i perspektive antropologije obrazovanja [magistarska teza]. Beograd: Biblioteka Odeljenja za etnologiju i antropologiju Filozofskog fakulteta.
-------------. 2006b. Od trga do tržnice: antropologija, kritike savremenog obrazovanja, i njihov značaj za Srbiju. Etnoantropološki problemi n.s., br. 2: 209-230.
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Homo Academicus. Paris : Minuit.
Bourdieu, P. et Jean-Claude Passeron. 1970. La Reproduction: Elements pour une théorie du système d’enseignement. Paris: Editions de Minuit.
Delanty, G. 2003. Ideologies of the Knowledge Society and the Cultural Contradictions of Higher Education. Policy Futures in Education, Vol. 1, No. 1: 71-82.
Fine, G.A. 1992. Manufacturing Tales: Sex and Money in Contemporary Legends. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.
Jaspers, K. 2003. Ideja univerziteta. Beograd: Plato.
Klajn, N. 2003. Ne logo. Beograd: Samizdat B92.
Kovačević, I. 2001. Semiologija mita i rituala II. Savremeno društvo. Beograd: Etnološka biblioteka Srpskog genealoškog centra.
Kun, T. 1974. Struktura naučnih revolucija. Beograd:Nolit.
Lič, E. 1972. Klod Levi-Stros. Beograd: XX vek.
Ritzer, G. 1999. McDonaldizacija društva. Zagreb: Naklada Jesenski i Turk.
Scheibel, D. 1999. 'If Your Roomate Dies, You Get A 4.0': Reclaiming Rumor with Burke and Organizational Culture. Western Journal of Communication, 63 (2): 168-192.
Shumar, W. 2004. Anthropologists Studying Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 75, No. 1: 24-41.
Taylor, A. 1947. “Pedro! Pedro!” Western Folklore, Vol. 6 No. 3: 228-231.
Žikić, B. 1997a. Antropologija Edmunda Liča. Beograd:Etnografski institut SANU.
---------. 1997b. Kulturni heroj kao «moralni trikster». Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU XLVI, 123-128. Beograd: EI SANU.
Yon, D.A. 2003. Highlights and Overview of the History of Educational Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 32: 411–429.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
ERIH PLUS - European Reference Index for the Humanities
World Cat
AnthroSerbia
