Goldthorpe, J.E. (1996) The sociology of post-colonial societies: economic disparity, cultural diversity, and development Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Limited connection to African examples – even though Goldthorpe spent much time in colonial East Africa. Notes below as noted by page number.
Pages 150-157 or so, Goldthorpe gets into the issue of cultural diversity and language in Africa. Swahili is a particular focus, as is Uganda (given his history there). Goldthorpe confirms the point made by Breuilly about the Ugandan Army being the conduit to Swahili use in Uganda (the Baganda disavowed any use of it – they saw it as a colonial language unconnected to Uganda, something white settler in Kenya spoke to their houseboys and housegirls). The Kings African Rifles was a joint effort between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda colonial subjects, so Swahili was a natural lingua franca.
It seems clear that Goldthorpe defines the ‘post-colonial’ in his title as a question of history/time – a matter of ‘former’ colonies - rather than as a conceptual matter, as judged by the simple nature of the following quote about education in former colonies, page 162:
“The establishment and expansion of formal school systems accordingly became an essential part of the drive to modernity in the cause of nation-building. Schools contributed to that cause by spreading the use of the national language, teaching the nation’s history and literature, and fostering national consciousness and pride. . . In general, little but lip service was paid to transmitting, still less revitalizing, indigenous cultures; the main thrust of nationalist policies was rather to break down tribal, linguistic and cultural barriers and do away with tribalism. Those perceptions accorded well enough with the aspirations of many parents in ‘Third World’ countries to see their children gain a foothold in the modern sector, with its high rewards and glittering prizes.”
The very short section on Tanzanian education is superficial at best –read Samoff and others for substance.
Appropriate for Julius and nation-building, especially around the Kikuyu example, and the African Schools Movement:
p. 191: “. . . the independent school movement among the Kikuyu, which was in turn a part of the reaction to conquest and white settlement in the much harsher atmosphere of Kenya. That reaction had its political aspects in the African nationalist parties and movements which arose during the period from 1920 onwards, most of them to be suppressed by the colonial administration in a conflict which eventually took the form of an armed revolt and guerrilla movement which Europeans called ‘Mau Mau’. There has been a good deal of dispute about the character of this movement; the colonial administration at first regarded it as yet another ‘dini’ or religious movement, and it certainly had its ritual side in the form of oathing ceremonies. Later interpretations characterized it as an African nationalist political movement and rejected explanations in religious terms. The truth may well be that it was both, or more exactly that it was hard to disentangle the religious, educational, political and military aspects of a broad movement of revolt among the Kikuyu against white settlement, Christian missions, and colonial rule. There was in fact a large and numerous growth of sects in Kenya, ranging from groups which, like Sundkler’s Ethiopians, aspired to be fully Christian through free from foreign control, through syncretistic traditional African cultures of the region, to cults whose predominant character was that of a chauvinistic revival of traditional or quasi-traditional beliefs and practices: a notable study of that was that by Sangree of the situation in Tiriki, a small area of Western Kenya.”
