Research On The History And Current Situation Of The Discipline Of Educational Anthropology In Japan

Anthropology of education is a cross-discipline which involves education and anthropology,at the same time it absorbs many other disciplines' research achievements.It sprouts in 17 century and becomes a special discipline in 1950s,after hard work of scholars like Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinskii in 19 century and Maria Montessori in 20 century and so on.So anthropology of education is a discipline with deep roots as well as a young discipline.Because of the difference of historical background,there are two schools of thought,philosophical anthropology of education and cultural anthropology of education,the former is represented by German-speaking countries and the latter mainly by America and the British.Anthropology of education is an imported discipline in Japan.The earliest record about anthropology of education in Japan is in education dictionary of Japan,it records that Maria Montessori used the word of anthropology of education first and that her thought.In general,anthropology of education in Japan is derived from translations of foreign research achievements in 1960s and 1970s,it is influenced by philosophical anthropology of education and cultural anthropology of education at the same time,and it has its own history and system.Philosophical anthropology of education is written as Pedagogical Anthropology,Chinese characters“?????”,it is a result of translation in early stage,and being used today.The Chinese characters can be used to differentiate philosophical and cultural anthropology of education here.Most of the scholars of pedagogical anthropology in Japan have educational background of pedagogy,and some of them also have learned philosophy of education.Pedagogical anthropology in Japan begins from Kansai region of Japan,and it is the most developed there.It has some new features like psychology and clinical research in recent years,the studies about theories and methods are conducted at the same time,and there are many empirical research achievements.Cultural anthropology of education is directly written as anthropology of education,Chinese characters“?????”,it is the key part in this paper and is influenced by American cultural anthropology and cultural anthropology of education.The Japanese Society ofEthnology established in 1930s is renamed to Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology formally in 2004.Some of the scholars in Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology devote into educational research.It seems that as an edge discipline,the influence of anthropology of education especially cultural anthropology of education is expanding.Most of the scholars of cultural anthropology of education in Japan have educational background of cultural anthropology and pedagogy,such as the first man named Ebuti Kazuhiro.Some Japanese scholars of cultural anthropology pay attention to pedagogical anthropology and anthropology of education in early stage,such as Taura Takeo putting forward the integration of pedagogical anthropology and anthropology of education.In academic history of Japan,anthropology has been called ethnology,so some of the national education research could be taken as research of anthropology of education.At the same time,the research of anthropology of education in Japan includes multicultural education,intercultural Education(Cross-cultural Education),meanwhile,education of Burakumin,education of immigrant,education of overseas returned children and even education for international understanding belong to the research of intercultural Education.To some degree,education for international understanding equals to multicultural education in America.In general,the development of anthropology of education in Japan is closely connected with Japanese society,and it has a history with more than thirty or forty years.Anthropology of education in Japan has set up some relevant courses one by one,brought in achievements abroad comprehensively,and used the theories efficiently;the research objects involve matters of Japan even abroad and many fields.However,anthropology of education in Japan is also viewed as a young discipline,the degree of institutionalization is not very high,and the localization research needs to be deepened and expanded.This paper tries to introduce anthropology of education in Japan and find out some references or revelation through comparing anthropology of education in China and Japan.