Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between 'diasporas' and processes of educational change in their homelands. Drawing on ethnographic research with US-Senegalese children in Senegal and British-Ghanaian children in Ghana, it examines how 'returns' affect educational landscapes and practices.

Paper long abstract:

This proposed paper explores the relationship between 'diasporas' and processes of educational change in their homelands. Most of the existing literature studying this relationship has limited itself to looking at migrant remittances and their role in supporting the education of children 'back home', for instance by paying school fees, or by financing school infrastructures. This means that other dynamics, including those triggered by increasing 'diaspora' demand for 'homeland education', have remained in the dark. A growing body of literature documents how migrant parents in Western countries look to their 'homelands' today for educational solutions as they struggle to bring up their children. Yet, little is known about the experiences of 'sent back' children attending educational institutions in their 'homelands'. This ties in with a broader lack of knowledge about the educational institutions catering to these children and youths. Drawing on ethnographic research on the educational experiences of US-Senegalese children in Senegal and British-Ghanaian children in Ghana, this paper examines the effects of return migration and transnational modes of living on educational landscapes and practices in the 'homeland'. The paper attends to the gap in the literature by asking how education markets in Senegal and Ghana have responded to the specific education demands of their 'diasporas'. What, if any, educational 'entrepreneurs' have responded to this demand and to what effect?