Abstract
This chapter provides evidence from a range of Anglophone African national curriculums developed between the 1960s and 1980s that demonstrate Christianity’s integration in the new national curriculum to assist in the development of nationhood. The use of Christian Western education systems by newly independent African nations as a tool of national assimilation is a major part of any discussion on “Christianity and Politics in an Age of African Liberation.” As African nation-states took over the colonial education systems, Africanization of the curriculum was the immediate demand of the people and the promise of the new administration. In reality, Christianity and neocolonial sentiments of Western modernity kept much of the curriculum Western and Christian with few exceptions. A new twist on this continued integration of Christianity and formal education developed within Anglophone Africa that resulted in nationalized curriculums embedded with religious, most often Christian, doctrine. On the one hand, education was a necessary tool to create a unified national identity. On the other hand, due to the long history of missionary Christian influences in the imposed Western education system, it proved impossible to separate education and religion. Christian religion took on a different tone in new African nation-states. It was no longer a means to discipline and assimilate African Indigenous societies to a European colonial ruler. It was now part and parcel of the new national identity used to promote and enforce nation making and national citizenship. This chapter argues that while African leaders spoke of Pan African liberation, much of what developed on the ground was a neocolonial Christian model of nationhood that kept Indigenous ethno-national identities, their religions, and education systems in the margins.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abidogun, Jamaine. 2000. “Ghana: Educational and Cultural Transformations.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA; Bell & Howell Information & Learning Co, Ann Arbor, MI.
Abidogun, Jamaine. 2003. “Ghana: Educational and Cultural Transformation.” International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities, and Nations 3: 560–568.
Adeyemi, Michael B. 1986. “Nigerian Social Studies.” The Social Studies 77 (5): 201–204.
Alwy, Alwiya, and Susanne Schech. 2004. “Ethnic Inequalities in Education in Kenya.” International Education Journal 5 (2): 266–274.
Anderson, J. E. 1965. “The Kenya Education Commission Report: An African View of Educational Planning.” Comparative Education Review 9 (2): 201–207.
Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities: Rejections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Anim, N. 1966. “Ghana.” In Church, State, and Education in Africa, edited by D. G. Scanlon, 165–196. New York: Teachers College Press.
Antwi, M. K. 1992. “Development of Education in Ghana.” In Introduction to Education in Ghana, edited by Okechukwu Abosi and Joseph Brookman-Amissah, 11–27. Accra: Sedco Publishing Ltd.
Azikiwe, Nnamdi. 1968. Renascent Africa. Lagos: Cass.
Berman, Edward H. 1974. “African Responses to Christian Mission Education.” African Studies Review 17 (3): 527–540.
Coleman, J. S. 1958. Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Falola, Toyin. 2005. A Mouth Sweeter than Salt: An African Memoir. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Federal Ministry of Education. 1977. Federal Report of Nigeria National Policy on Education. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information.
Federal Ministry of Education. 1981. Federal Report of Nigeria National Policy on Education. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information.
Giroux, Henry. 1992. Border Crossings. New York: Routledge.
Great Britain, Colonial Office, Advisory Committee on Native Education in the British Tropical African Dependencies. 1925. Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa. Cmd. 2347. London: H.M.S.O.
Lonsdale, J. M. 1968. “Some Origins of Nationalism in East Africa.” The Journal of African History 9 (1): 119–146.
Mazrui, Ali A. 1971. “The King, the King’s English and I.” Transition 38: 57–66.
Mazrui, Ali A. 1973. “The Sacred and the Secular in East African Politics.” Cahiers d’Études Africaines 13 (52): 664–668.
Modiba, Maropeng, and Angela Odhiambo. 2009. “Teachers’ Understanding of a Kenyan Identity as a Basis for Their Teaching Strategies.” African Identities 7 (4): 477–490.
Ndzovu, Hassan. 2009. “Muslims and Party Politics and Electoral Campaigns in Kenya.” Working Paper Series no. 09-001, Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa: 1–13.
Nigeria National Curriculum Conference. 1972. A Philosophy for Nigerian Education: Proceedings of the Nigeria National Curriculum Conference 1969. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria).
Nkrumah, Kwame. 1943. “Education and Nationalism in Africa.” Educational Outlook 18 (1): 32–40.
Nkrumah, Kwame. 1964. Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonisation and Development with Particular Reference to the African Revolution. London: Heinemann.
Olson, Jerry B. 1972. “Secondary Schools and Elites in Kenya: A Comparative Study of Students in 1961 and 1968.” Comparative Education Review 16 (1): 44–53.
Paden, John. 1981. “Islamic Political Culture and Constitutional Change in Nigeria.” Issue: A Journal of Opinion 11 (1/2): 24–28.
Republic of Kenya. 2008. Secondary Education Syllabus. Nairobi: Kenya Institute of Education.
Urch, George E. 1971. “Education and Colonialism in Kenya.” History of Education Quarterly 11 (3): 249–264.
Wallbank, T. Walter. 1938. “British Colonial Policy and Native Education in Kenya.” The Journal of Negro Education 7 (4): 521–532.
Wane, Njoki. 2005. “Social Organization of Teacher Education in Africa: A Kenyan Case Study.” In Issues in African Education, edited by Ali A. Abdi and Ailie Cleghorn, 275–295. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wright, Marcia. 1971. “African History in the 1960’s: Religion.” African Studies Review 14 (3): 439–445.
Young, Robert. 1990. White Mythologies: Writing History and the West. London: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abidogun, J.M. (2020). Anglophone Africa: Education, Religion, and Nation Building, 1960s–1990s. In: Abidogun, J., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38277-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38277-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38276-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38277-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)