Dr. Estelle Sillen Fuchs' Obituary
Dr. Estelle Sillen Fuchs, Professor Emeritus in the School of Education at Hunter College CUNY, passed away peacefully at her home in Miami Beach on May 31st, one day short of her 93rd birthday. Dr. Fuchs’ long and productive career began in the 1940s as a graduate student at Columbia University, during which time she conducted field studies among the Coast Salish of British Columbia. After the war, she lectured in the Brooklyn College Sociology-Anthropology Department where she taught returning World War II veterans and developed numerous courses focusing on Africa and on race. In 1960 she resumed her studies at Columbia, working under Conrad Arensberg and Elliott P. Skinner; the subject of her 1964 Ph.D. thesis was The Compatibility of Western Education with Ibo Culture: An Examination of the Complex Dynamics Involved in the Successful Diffusion of Literacy and Schooling to the Ibo of Eastern Nigeria.
A pioneer in the field of Anthropology of Education, her work addressed the application of cultural anthropology to problems of modernization across numerous continents and peoples. Most notably, she served as Associate Director of the influential National Study of American Indian Education (1969-70) with the noted educator Robert J. Havighurst. The study was published as To Live On This Earth; American Indian Education (Anchor Press 1973).
Dr. Fuchs also applied anthropological insight to the problems of Inner City Schools in a number of articles and two notable volumes: Pickets at the Gates; the Challenge of Civil Rights in Urban Schools (Free Press, 1966), and Teachers Talk: Views from Inside City Schools (Doubleday Anchor, 1969). The latter volume was written specifically to provide insights into the problems faced by beginning teachers in large inner-city schools. She also applied anthropological insight into the social, cultural and physical realities of women in their middle years in The Second Season (Anchor Press 1977)
In her last book, Trouble on the Navajo Reservation; The Raid at Four Corners (Fulton Books, 2015), Dr. Fuchs closely analyzed events leading up to a raid by the U.S. Army on the Navajo reservation in 1908 in terms of the conflict between tradition and assimilation specifically with regard to the education of children.
Estelle made a powerful impression on all who knew her, with her exceptional intelligence, keen interest in current events and issues, and deep caring for everyone she loved.
She is survived by her sons, Jonathan M. Fuchs of Huntington Beach, California, and Andrew Sillen of Brooklyn, New York, and grandchildren Julia Ann Sillen and Samuel James Sillen.
Gifts in honor of Dr. Estelle Sillen Fuchs may be made to the Brooklyn College Foundation, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Graveside Services June 1, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. at Beth Daid Memorial Gardens.
Arrangements by Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel (305) 538-6371
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