Courses taught at Brown University
Decolonizing African Education, Students and Social Change, 1960s-present
In the 1960s, many African countries became independent. The repercussions of this political decolonization radiated out into many sectors of society, including education. Though independence did not immediately result in educational reforms, African leaders and students had strong ideas about the future of their newly independent nations. This course will mostly focus on the post-1960s time period when African countries tried to begin anew but also inherited the colonial legacies of prior educational structures. We will cover K-12 education as well as higher education.
As background, we will briefly consider colonial education systems. We will then move on to issues such as European versus local African languages of instruction in the schools, student protests and activism, African students in Europe, the political role of teachers, and contemporary issues surrounding youth and education in Africa. We will read primary sources written by students themselves, memoirs and novels by African authors, as well as scholarly works written about these movements and issues. Most of our readings will be drawn from the discipline of history, but we will also read works by anthropologists and student activists. We will also look at prominent theorists, writers, and thinkers that influenced these historical movements, including Franz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Benedict Anderson, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, and Achille Mbembe.
We will look at decolonization in diverse geographic settings: in North, West, South, and East Africa. Through these sites, we will examine how education shaped nationalism. We will also explore how decolonization brought about a national reckoning about moral and religious values and official languages in newly independent countries and their school systems. Though the year 1968 is well known in the history of US education, its counterpart in Africa is more obscure. Yet student activists in Africa staged protests and resisted various regimes: we will look at several examples of this. We will conclude this course with a consideration of contemporary challenges and issues facing youth and education in Africa.
Empire, Childhood, and Youth
This course examines the relationship between children and empire, focusing mostly on the British and French empires in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. How did empires shape the childhoods of colonial subjects? What does imperial childhoods bring to our understanding of how children learn and develop, both during the colonial era and in the postcolonial one? Imperial childhoods were constructed to reflect particular notions of race, class, gender, and culture, both conforming to and contradicting universal notions of childhood and child development. We consider a range of scholarly approaches to empire, as well as different types of texts such as children’s books, ethnographies, and histories. Over the course of the semester, we will begin to see the ways in which children were implicated in empire as well as how empire made and re-made definitions of childhood and youth. We will also look at children’s own agency in defining their place in imperial regimes. Finally, we will examine how children and youth are involved in and affected by decolonization and post-imperial contexts. The class will culminate in the creation of a game or a book that “writes back” to empire, based on the games and books we look at in class.
Comparative Education
This course will explore education in a wide range of places—from adult literacy NGOs in Brazil to post-genocide Rwandan classrooms. By the end of the course, you will have a better idea of the range of challenges and opportunities that education presents across the Global South.
We begin with the goal of universal education—the idea that everyone should be educated regardless of socioeconomic background. This idea gained popularity after the Second World War and has transformed society worldwide. While initially the international community was concerned with access to education, the main goal now is quality education, especially beyond the primary school level.
In Units I and II, we examine how schooling spread across the world, and along with it, the rise of international educational standards and organizations such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), UNESCO, and the World Bank. This course then moves into thematic units, each of which is linked to in-depth case studies from countries in the Global South. We will explore colonialism (Senegal), conflict (Rwanda and Afghanistan), and activism (Pakistan and Brazil). Throughout these thematic units, we will look at several key theorists that influenced how we think about education and the Global South: Pierre Bourdieu, Clifford Geertz, and Paulo Freire.
Readings range from official documents by international organizations, writings by sociologists, historians, political scientists, and anthropologists. Comparative Education provides an excellent opportunity to see how scholars from different disciplines approach the study of education.
Decolonizing African Education, Students and Social Change, 1960s-present
In the 1960s, many African countries became independent. The repercussions of this political decolonization radiated out into many sectors of society, including education. Though independence did not immediately result in educational reforms, African leaders and students had strong ideas about the future of their newly independent nations. This course will mostly focus on the post-1960s time period when African countries tried to begin anew but also inherited the colonial legacies of prior educational structures. We will cover K-12 education as well as higher education.
As background, we will briefly consider colonial education systems. We will then move on to issues such as European versus local African languages of instruction in the schools, student protests and activism, African students in Europe, the political role of teachers, and contemporary issues surrounding youth and education in Africa. We will read primary sources written by students themselves, memoirs and novels by African authors, as well as scholarly works written about these movements and issues. Most of our readings will be drawn from the discipline of history, but we will also read works by anthropologists and student activists. We will also look at prominent theorists, writers, and thinkers that influenced these historical movements, including Franz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Benedict Anderson, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, and Achille Mbembe.
We will look at decolonization in diverse geographic settings: in North, West, South, and East Africa. Through these sites, we will examine how education shaped nationalism. We will also explore how decolonization brought about a national reckoning about moral and religious values and official languages in newly independent countries and their school systems. Though the year 1968 is well known in the history of US education, its counterpart in Africa is more obscure. Yet student activists in Africa staged protests and resisted various regimes: we will look at several examples of this. We will conclude this course with a consideration of contemporary challenges and issues facing youth and education in Africa.
Empire, Childhood, and Youth
This course examines the relationship between children and empire, focusing mostly on the British and French empires in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. How did empires shape the childhoods of colonial subjects? What does imperial childhoods bring to our understanding of how children learn and develop, both during the colonial era and in the postcolonial one? Imperial childhoods were constructed to reflect particular notions of race, class, gender, and culture, both conforming to and contradicting universal notions of childhood and child development. We consider a range of scholarly approaches to empire, as well as different types of texts such as children’s books, ethnographies, and histories. Over the course of the semester, we will begin to see the ways in which children were implicated in empire as well as how empire made and re-made definitions of childhood and youth. We will also look at children’s own agency in defining their place in imperial regimes. Finally, we will examine how children and youth are involved in and affected by decolonization and post-imperial contexts. The class will culminate in the creation of a game or a book that “writes back” to empire, based on the games and books we look at in class.
Comparative Education
This course will explore education in a wide range of places—from adult literacy NGOs in Brazil to post-genocide Rwandan classrooms. By the end of the course, you will have a better idea of the range of challenges and opportunities that education presents across the Global South.
We begin with the goal of universal education—the idea that everyone should be educated regardless of socioeconomic background. This idea gained popularity after the Second World War and has transformed society worldwide. While initially the international community was concerned with access to education, the main goal now is quality education, especially beyond the primary school level.
In Units I and II, we examine how schooling spread across the world, and along with it, the rise of international educational standards and organizations such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), UNESCO, and the World Bank. This course then moves into thematic units, each of which is linked to in-depth case studies from countries in the Global South. We will explore colonialism (Senegal), conflict (Rwanda and Afghanistan), and activism (Pakistan and Brazil). Throughout these thematic units, we will look at several key theorists that influenced how we think about education and the Global South: Pierre Bourdieu, Clifford Geertz, and Paulo Freire.
Readings range from official documents by international organizations, writings by sociologists, historians, political scientists, and anthropologists. Comparative Education provides an excellent opportunity to see how scholars from different disciplines approach the study of education.