The idea of the nation in post-colonial History textbooks. A comparative analysis of Senegal and Zambia

This dissertation consists of a comprehensive comparative analysis of the education systems, History and Social Studies syllabi, and textbooks of post-independence Senegal and Zambia. Focusing on a six-decade-long period, this work aims to assess how both countries have utilized education - particularly History education - to bolster their nation-building processes. National education systems are regarded as powerful instruments for socialization and ideologization, often subject to intense politicization on account of their potential to legitimise existing socio-political orders. The significance of History teaching is pivotal in this process, with political elites striving to shape and disseminate a unified narrative to forge a shared collective memory and identity. While textbook research has delved into national identity formation through History teaching, the post-colonial world, especially in Africa, remains only partially explored. Yet its unique characteristics – including the weight of colonial heritage and international influences on educational models and school publishing – make it particularly intriguing for this field of research. The concentration on two national cases, Senegal and Zambia, adds to the interest, given their distinct colonial legacies and relative stability compared to such conflict-ridden countries as have attracted the bulk of scholarly attention. The present research is guided by three primary objectives. Firstly, it aims to reconstruct the education history of Senegal and Zambia, exploring the goals set by governments and the impact of their nation-building efforts on educational structures inherited from the colonial era. Here, the study adopts a transnational perspective to understand if and how international educational practices have influenced Senegalese and Zambian policies. The second objective is to analyse the History and Social Studies syllabi of primary and junior secondary schools with a view to evaluating how Senegalese and Zambian ruling elites have drawn on these teachings to support nation-building and establish a national identity grounded in historical justification and legitimacy. The research also aims to clarify the key features of this national identity and explore its evolution over time in response to domestic and international pressures. Thirdly, and finally, the research presents an in-depth discussion of the History and Social Studies textbooks adopted in the two countries. The analysis centres primarily on the contents of these textbooks, evaluating their alignment with official instructions. Specifically, it assesses the portrayal of the nation-state, encompassing its borders, cultural, political and religious attributes, symbolic representations, origins, periodization as well as key figures. Through this exploration, an effort is made to comprehend the shape and contents of the officially sanctioned national identity and whether the latter can be correlated, at least partially, to the stability that Senegal and Zambia have experienced since gaining independence. For this purpose, the dissertation is structured as follows. After the introduction, which outlines the research objectives, current historiography and the sources and methodologies employed, the dissertation is divided into two parts, devoted to Senegal (part I) and Zambia (part II), respectively. Within each part, the evolution of the school systems in the two countries is scrutinized, along with an analysis of their History and Social Studies syllabi and the respective textbooks published from 1960/1964 to the present. The conclusions draw a comparison between the findings derived from the examination of the two national cases.