Table Of ContentEducation as Social
Action
Knowledge, Identity and Power
Edited by
Ashok Swain
Education as Social Action
This page intentionally left blank
Education as Social
Action
Knowledge, Identity and Power
Edited by
Ashok Swain
Department of Peace and Conflict Research,
Uppsala University,
Sweden
© UNRISD 2005
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-4914-1
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First published in 2005 by
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Education as social action :knowledge,identity,and power /
edited by Ashok Swain.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1.Popular education – Cross-cultural studies.2.Educational
equalization – Cross-cultural studies.3.Basic education –
Cross-cultural studies.I.Swain,Ashok.
LC196.E37 2005
370.11(cid:2)5—dc22 2004063614
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Contents
Foreword viii
Acknowledgements x
Contributors xii
Acronyms xiii
1 Introduction: Knowledge, Identity and Power – Education
Movements in the Global South 1
Education: Source of knowledge; manufacturer of identity 1
Global initiative on education 4
Working together with civil society 8
Social movements for education: Origin and organization 10
Organization of the book 14
2 Food for Starved Minds: The Mobilization of
African-Americans for Education 20
Why mobilize for education? 21
African-American communities mobilizing for
education: A recurring phenomenon 25
Contemporary mobilizations for education in
African-American communities 41
Conclusion 49
Epilogue 51
3 Education Movements, Power and Identity in
Bosnia and Herzegovina 52
Communal identity and education in Bosnia and
Herzegovina 53
Private education in Bosnia and Herzegovina 61
Conclusion 73
4 Universal Elementary Education in India:
An Exploratory Study of Movements in Civil Society 75
Analysing social movements in India 76
State failure in providing UEE: A background 80
Changing social attitudes and movements/initiatives
in civil society for UEE 87
v
vi Contents
National Alliance for Fundamental Elementary
Education (NAFRE) 90
NGOs in partnership with the state 93
Alternative private initiatives 97
Conclusion 101
5 Muslim Madrasasin Contemporary South Asia 105
The origins of the madrasain Muslim society 106
Madrasaeducation in South Asia 107
Madrasasin present-day South Asia 111
Islamic education in South Asia today 114
Student life at traditional madrasas 120
Management of the madrasa 121
Government-assistedmadrasas 123
Changes in the madrasasystem 124
Madrasasfor girls: A new development 127
Conclusion 129
6 Education among Indigenous Peoples from
Colombia and Peru: Social Movement or Public Policy? 132
Educational policies and indigenous peoples 134
The state of basic education in Colombia and Peru 136
The indigenous peoples of Peru and Colombia 137
Land reform in Peru and Colombia 140
Peasant and indigenous mobilization 143
Indigenous mobilization in Colombia since the 1960s 144
The indigenous movement in Peru since the 1960s 148
Education policies for indigenous peoples in Colombia 151
Educational policy for indigenous peoples in Peru 152
Conclusion 154
Appendix: Indigenous organizations 155
7 Education as an Agenda of Social Action in Malaysia:
The Search for Unity in a Plural Society 159
Pre-independence plural educational system 161
Educational Policy Adjustment in the Days
Leading to Independence 165
Education as social action: Creating national unity 167
The New Economic Policy (NEP) 169
Continuing the search for national unity: The
vision school and the English language debate 171
Conclusion 175
Contents vii
8 Social Movements and the “Education Revolution” in
Postapartheid South Africa 178
Education, power and identity 179
How “South” is South Africa? 180
Future imperfect: Social movements and
Bantu education policy 182
Soweto, politicization and people’s education 186
The landscape of social movements in the
postapartheid moment 188
Past present: The consequences of apartheid-era education 191
Postapartheid reforms 193
Back to the future? A provisional assessment 197
Future imperfect: Social movements new and old 198
Conclusion 203
9 Conclusion: Social Action for Education, the State
and the Global Network 205
Significance of the state 209
Global network 211
Formulating the policy well 213
Notes 215
References 227
Index 242
Foreword
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), at the end of the last millennium more than
110 million children had no access to primary education, 880 million
adults were illiterate and gender discrimination continued to permeate
education systems. It is against the background of these appalling statis-
tics that virtually all the major international conferences of the 1990s
affirmed their commitment to basic education. The World Education
Forum, held in Dakar, Senegal, on 26–28 April 2000, stated: “Education is
a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development
and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indis-
pensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies
of the twenty-first century, which are affected by rapid globalization.
Achieving EFA (Education for All) goals should be postponed no longer.
The basic learning needs of all can and must be met as a matter of urgency”
(UNESCO 2000).
Although international aid and commitments play an important role
in education in some developing countries, the ultimate responsibility
for education rests with the national governments and their citizens. In
many cases, governments have been persuaded that education is of
intrinsic human value because it empowers citizens to exercise their
human rights; it is an instrument for development because it provides
the “human capital”, and it is a vital instrument in nation building
because it socializes the population into the new social arrangement.
Progress on virtually all nationally and internationally agreed targets for
poverty reduction and reduction of inequality are premised on progress
toward education for all. However, agreement on these aspects of the
case for education does not mean that adequate attention will be paid
to its provision. The wide disparities in provision of education even
among countries with similar levels of per capita income suggest that
more is involved than just lack of resources. Education, both in its form
and content, touches at the core of the political economy of individual
countries because it impinges in a fundamental way on resource allocation
and determines the depth and amplitude of citizenship. Its form and
content shape the socialization of citizens, the reworking of their iden-
tities or the acquisition of new ones. Its capacity to empower citizens
can also mean greater capacity to challenge both social authority and
viii
Foreword ix
the premises of their inclusion in the state’s nation-building project. It
is precisely because education has such far-reaching effects, that its pro-
vision is a source of contestation among different social groups. Not
surprisingly, a wide spectrum of social movements has coalesced around
struggles for access to education and in shaping its content. In many
cases, governments have provided education in response to pressure from
various social actors in society.
At the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
(UNRISD), research on civil society and social movements has been
based on the understanding that social movements constitute the
dynamic element to civil society’s involvement in the struggle for access
by different social groups to social services and economic and natural
resources. This book focuses specifically on the role of civil society and
social movements in access to education. It contains studies conducted
in carefully selected countries worldwide. Significantly, these studies
interrogate a number of conceptual presuppositions about social move-
ments with respect to their social base, their ideological motivations,
and their capacities for social mobilization. The studies also show that
while social initiatives in the educational domain have often originated
when states have failed to provide facilities and opportunities for their
citizens to receive basic education and/or when a certain section of soci-
ety feared losing its identity due to nation-building projects of the state
through educational curriculum machination, the success and failure of
social movements for education depends on both the capacities and
character of the state and the roles of a variety of social forces.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ashok Swain for accept-
ing the challenge of preparing the initial project document, identifying
the researchers, coordinating the research network and, finally, editing
this volume. Thanks are also due to Krishna Ghimire who has been
responsible for in-house liasing with the network.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the governments
of Denmark, Finland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom for core support to UNRISD.
Thandika Mkandawire
Director, UNRISD
February 2004
