Full Description
Since the 1950s when most African countries gained political independence, schooling has presented very difficult challenges. In the discussion of these challenges, however, the issue of diversity has received relatively little attention. Schooling and Difference in Africa aims to understand how differences such as ethnicity, class, gender, language, religion, and disability play out in African schools systems, and more specifically in Ghana.
Together, George J. Sefa Dei, Alireza Asgharzadeh, Sharon Eblaghie Bahador, and Riyad Ahmed Shahjahan promote 'educational inclusion' in the context of African schooling. The aspects of diversity explored in this study include: minority / majority relations, race, ethnicity, gender, language, class, religion, and physical (dis)ability. The authors build their analyses of these issues around a series of interviews, which project a perspective that policy makers and administrators rarely seek out. By studying the challenges of inclusive education in Ghana and, further, by making comparisons with the Canadian context, this volume seeks to shed light on the ongoing struggle for an empowering school system in Africa and elsewhere.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Threads of Inclusive Schooling
Understanding Difference: Method and Practice
Acknowledging Difference, Responding to Diversity
Majority and Minority Relations: A Question of Power
Complicating Schooling: The Question of Ethnicity
Gendered Subjects: Extending Beyond a Critique of Culture
The Economics of Schooling: Class and Poverty
Resisting Normalcy: Disability and Inclusive Schooling
Language as a Site of Exclusion
Evoking the Sacred: Religion and Spirituality in Schools
Concluding with a Comparative Lens: Lessons and Possibilities
References
Index
