[Event] Academic Planning Day 2015

The Academic Planning Day for Secondary Five students was successfully held on 28^th March 2015. This year, a lot of students had demonstrated interest in the subject and attended our programme talk.

Prof. Teresa Kuan started the briefing session with an article written by Marc Brightman ─ “Anthropology is so important, all childrenshould learn it”. She continued by introducing the major study areas of Anthropology and the distinctive differences between Anthropology and Cultural Studies. Undergraduates and graduates of our Department also shared their experience of doing fieldwork with the students.

The briefing session

Students then had chance to visit our department exhibitions on teachers’ publications and ethnological collections to have a better overview of our programme. Some students also took the opportunity to ask our undergraduates and graduates questions about Anthropology.

Students reading the publications of our teachers

It is encouraging when some students expressed very strong interest in studying the subject. Anthropology is important because it helps us to understand, respect and sustain the different ways of being in the physical world. As Brightman writes, “Moves to downgrade it [Anthropology] in the education system by those who know the price of everything, and the value of nothing, must be fought off.”

Prof. Tracey Lu had once joked in one of her lectures, “Anthropologists are also minorities in Hong Kong.” But culture is dynamic and subject to change. So keep explaining to your friends and children what anthropology is and why it is important. Maybe ten years later the number of people asking “What is anthropology?” could be halved! ;-)