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African Studies Seminar: Schools as Change Agents?

21 March 2019, 1:15 pm–2:45 pm

schools agents

The UCL African Studies Seminar welcomes Simone Datzberger, UCL Institute of Education, for the fifth and final seminar of this autumn term: ‘Schools as Change Agents? Education and Individual Political Agency in Uganda’. Seminars will take place every other Thursday this term.

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Cost

Free

Organiser

Hélène Neveu Kringelbach

Location

IAS Seminar room 20
First floor, South Wing, UCL
London
WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

By drawing on the case study of Uganda, we challenge common assumptions about education, gender, regional differences and political agency. Comparing findings from four different regions, we scrutinize whether and how educational institutions empower Ugandan youth to participate in society as active, informed, critical and responsible citizens. Theoretically, we focus on four different aspects of individual political agency that education can foster, namely: understanding of political structures; independent critical thinking; levels of political interest; and political participation. Throughout our analysis, we make use of a survey (n=497), conducted in 2017 with respondents from secondary schools and universities; and data obtained from 37 qualitative interviews across four regions in Uganda. The aim behind the survey was to move beyond a priori models on how education affects the political agency of individuals. Instead, we offer insights on how Ugandans themselves perceive the politically empowering elements of the education they receive, connecting this to the wider cultural political economy context of Uganda. We find that Ugandan schools make only a very modest contribution towards nurturing an individual’s political agency. While the majority of respondents felt they critically reflect on societal issues in school, their knowledge of national political institutions, and on how they would claim and advocate for their rights as citizens was remarkably low.

Download the Winter 2019 programme here

All welcome.

This seminar series is convened by the African Studies Research Centre/IAS: