Communities as Contexts for Learning

In this chapter, we draw on insights from educational anthropology and the social sciences to explore the notion of communities as contexts for learning. Specifically, we discuss the complexity of community as a construct in studies of learning through the lenses of language, literacy, and culture. We argue that ideas about what makes a “community” can be beneficial and, at the same time, potentially harmful. In doing so, we discuss the implications and consequences that varied notions of community present for conducting ethnographic research with and about learners from historically marginalized cultural groups, especially. We conclude by proposing a framework for studying communities as diverse, dynamic, and intersectional learning contexts, rather than essentialized forms without difference and disagreement.