COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL IMAGINATIONS:REFLECTIONS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING ANTHROPOLOGY IN A POSTGRADUATE GENERAL PRACTICE PROGRAMME

Abstract

Learning to be an anthropologist involves developing an anthropological perspective or way of seeing. This anthropological imagination is the key feature of the anthropological task of cultural critique. In this paper, I reflect on my experiences teaching anthropology in the context of a distance taught general practice postgraduate course in New Zealand. In this context, students begin to develop an anthropological perspective by practicing within academic and anthropological communities of practice. The model of legitimate peripheral participation within communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) provides useful insights for exploring the teaching and learning of anthropology in this context.