Paper long abstract

The early 1990's saw a revolution in South African schools where black learners moved away from the historically disadvantaged schools in search for better education elsewhere. This was further influenced and accelerated by the opening up of schools in 1995 that marked the end of restricted access to schools on the basis of colour. This paper is based on data collected through my close observation as a practitioner in this context as well as through semi-structured interviews conducted with parents, learners, principals and teachers. The paper discusses research evidence of how the market ideology of choice has implications on South African education system. The paper concludes by the discussion of the negative impact of school choice on previously disadvantaged schools and points to a new diversity of schools that have emerged as a result. The findings of the study based on close observation and the perspectives of the interviewees show that the choice of a better school is not based on any informed decision by the chooser.

Paper long abstract

Since its launch in 1962, the African Writers Series (AWS) has enabled the dissemination of ‘African literature’ worldwide, and contributed to the creation of a critical sensitivity among readers and critics alike to its distinct qualities and values. An important amount of critical scholarship has in the meantime been produced by scholars with diverse theoretical orientations, indicating the relevance of African realities and experiences to audiences in the metropolis and elsewhere. Chinua Achebe, Aye Kwei Armah, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o among others are today recognised not only as Nigerian, Ghanaian or Kenyan writers but more significantly as postcolonial African authors whose works have had a universal appeal. Most importantly, African literature written or translated in English is appreciated as a ‘writing back’ to the empire – a counter intellectual force that serves to increase and heighten our understanding of post/colonial conditions. My paper will attempt to provide cultural and historical explanations for the role which a major British publishing company, Heinemann Educational Books, played in the emergence of an ‘African literature’ in English. In particular, it seeks to highlight the diverse responses it has evoked among critics, historians and academics which are indivisible from the ongoing debate regarding British ‘neo-colonial’ enterprise in Africa. Whereas the reluctance of British companies to publish for Africa was in a large measure determined, albeit indirectly, by contemporary colonial policies and interests, the open, wholehearted encouragement of African writings in the 1960s and 1970s suggests a radical shift in the attitudes of British publishers. This shift arguably occurred at a time when the entire publishing industry in England witnessed profound readjustment following the war years. Yet more importantly, the full-scale ‘decolonization’ process in Africa as in the rest of the empire forced British publishers such as HEB to adopt new strategies to keep their businesses going in Africa. Heinemann African Writers Series, for its part, has given new, complex cultural dimensions to the relation of England with its former African colonies.

Paper long abstract

Nigerian bookselling business started in 1869 when the CMS bookshop was opened in Lagos. R.O. Ekundare said that in 1873, the British Colonial government in Lagos exempted from import duties, educational books and other materials required by the administration. That statement spotlighted the issues of the booksellers dealing mainly on school textbooks and also of dependence on imported books. It is the social structure of a country which determines the attitude of the people towards the writing and reading of books. The Nigerian educational system has been adversely criticised as one based on rote. The students are not encouraged to carry out research and to continue reading after gaining their paper qualifications. Nigeria, with a population of about 120 million produces less than 25, 000 books per year.

Different kinds of bookselling exist in Nigeria and there is no uniformity of practice among all of them. The open market booksellers, for example, have been called the "Shylock Bookseller". They have been accused of hoarding books and by so doing, create artificial scarcity. There are some common problems facing all Nigerian booksellers such as piracy; illiteracy among booksellers; governent's negative attitude towards books; scarcity of books, and high price of books.