Education in Africa: A Critical Historiographic Review

Y

26

Educational History; Historiography; Historians; Colonialism; Criticism; Foreign Countries; Educational Development; Educational Philosophy; Anthropology; Intervention; Political Attitudes; Critical Theory; Ethics; Social Change; Trend Analysis; Intellectual Disciplines

Africa; Europe

10.1080/0046760X.2023.2182914

0046-760X
1464-5130

Examining developments in the history of education in Africa as a whole raises far-reaching philosophical, anthropological and historical questions about what Africa is and whether such a history is even possible "as such." The course of that history and its tributaries wend around social theories; its dominant issues, tensions and gaps represent ideological interventions that highlight competing narratives in attempts to theorise social progress along a set of converging historiographic projects through which the conflicts between positivist, Marxist and poststructuralist (and other critical theory) perspectives -- and the Eurocentricity of their objects -- become visible. Anticipating broadened inquiries that centre Africans in historical narratives concerning education in Africa, this review (1) critiques historians' obsession with and dissensions on colonial education, (2) clarifies epistemic ruptures in the well-worn quest for 'truth' in history evident in that obsession, and (3) proposes some prospects for decolonial futures in the history of education in Africa.

As Provided

2023

EJ1392210