Elusive prey: John Ogbu and the search for a grand theory of academic disengagement

Abstract

John Ogbu’s work on ‘minority education’ has spawned a number of interesting and useful debates in the US. Having been both an early admirer and critic of Ogbu’s work, I reviewed his work in an Anthropology and Education Quarterly article . The present article reflects upon Ogbu’s work and upon my scholarly engagement with that corpus over the years. I discuss Ogbu’s Shaker Heights study , and offer some reasons why Ogbu is often misread as a deficit theorist. The article closes with an assessment of how Ogbu’s theory and ethnographic practice evolved in what turned out to be his last major piece of work published before his passing.