A SCHOOL IN SOUTHWEST CHINA

Steven Harrell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington will discuss how a group of Chinese and Foreign friends got together to start an elementary school in a mountain village in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. The Yangjuan Primary School Opened in 2000, and will graduate its first class in 2005. On the whole, it has worked well, but many anthropological, cultural, and ethical dilemmas have arisen in the course of "trying to do the right thing." This talk gives a brief introduction to the school and the community, and then poses many of these ethical and practical dilemmas, inviting the audience to participate in a discussion of how to address them.