Education, Social Progress, and Marginalized Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: Historical Antecedents and Contemporary Challenges

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This book employs sociohistorical, narrative, and discourse frameworks to discuss the sociopolitical complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in sub-Saharan Africa since western education was introduced in the region. It outlines the systemic and structural challenges faced by marginalized children in the education system that prevent them from fully participating in the education process. This book focuses on how the props underlying Christian missionary education, colonial education, and early postcolonial educational enterprise all served to marginalize certain groups, including women, some geographical regions and/or communities, such as Islamic communities and people with disabilities, from the colonial and postcolonial economic discourses. This historical background provides the springboard for discussions on the complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in some communities in sub-Saharan Africa in the contemporary times. This book also highlights the challenges of the recent policies of policy makers and the strategies and initiatives of civic societies, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to promote marginalized childrens participation in education. This book elucidates the varied ways certain groups and communities continue to interrogate the structural and systemic challenges that marginalize them educationally. It argues that the level of marginalized groups participation in education in sub-Saharan African in the 21st century will determine the progress the region will make in the Education for All (EFA) initiative and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Furthermore, it argues that increasing educational participation in marginalized communities requires implementation of educational programs that address marginalized groups structural social arrangements and socioeconomic contexts.

Reviews

My general reaction to the book as one who has lived and taught in West Africa is that it is an immensely detailed and well-referenced overview of the factors which have led to marginalisation. . . . Much more research remains to be done on this subject. This book is a good place to start. * International Review of Education *
This book is a refreshingly thorough intersectional analysis of class, gender, geography, and religion and their interplay in the provision of education to children in sub-Saharan Africa. It is very well researched, written in accessible language, and challenges us to consider, among other things, whether the education of children in sub-Saharan Africa should be a human right or human capital issue. -- Martha Donkor, West Chester University
Obed Mfum-Mensah has made a significant contribution to understanding both context and situation analysis of the education of marginalized children in Africa. Together with Milka Perez Nyariro, they explore the historical underpinnings that have contributed to the creation of marginalizing conditions for girls, rural populations, pastoralist communities, and persons with disabilities. The book offers a critical perspective on the interaction between the education enterprise and marginalized populations. It further examines the complexities in the enactment of policies in practice in spaces of marginalization. The is timely authoritatively constructed works that is a must-read for those currently engaged in translating the Sustainable Development Goal of quality education for all in the post-2015 era. -- Edith Omwami, University of California, Los Angeles
Mfum-Mensah has skillfully interwoven a post-colonial discourse on the ideological tension between human rights and human capital into a cogent analysis of the intersectionality and impact of factors responsible for the further marginalization of marginalized children in Sub-Saharan Africa. -- Karen L. Biraimah, University of Central Florida, Orlando

Author Bio

Obed Mfum-Mensah is professor of sociology and education at Messiah College.