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- Convenor:
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Elizabeth Cooper
(Simon Fraser University)
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- Discussant:
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Erdmute Alber
(University of Bayreuth)
Short Abstract:
In formerly colonized countries, boarding schools tend to be regarded in complex ways: they are associated with schooling success as well as risks of harm to young people and families. This panel will attend to boarding school experiences and controversies in contemporary African contexts.
Long Abstract:
Boarding schools are paradigmatic disciplinary institutions, and colonial legacies in many contexts. In formerly colonized countries, boarding schools tend to be regarded in complex ways: they are associated with schooling success as well as risks of harm to young people and families. In recent years, governments in countries with high numbers of boarding school students, including Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, for example, have announced intentions to abolish boarding schools and particularly for primary pupils. At the same time, many families consider boarding schools as necessary for raising and educating children. This panel will provide in-depth considerations of boarding school controversies, with particular attention to how boarding schools are a site of clashing concerns for children’s wellbeing and futures.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 28 June, 2024, -Ali Baba Sanchi (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Amy E. Stambach (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Paper long abstract:
The insurgency movement in Zamfara State, Nigeria has had a profound impact on boarding school students, affecting their social-emotional and academic performances. Traumatic events of kidnapping in nearby schools, and ongoing threats of violence and instability across Zamfara, create an environment of fear and anxiety, leading to students’ difficulties concentrating and learning. Students who have seen or experienced adversarial, violent events are often plagued by intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, making it challenging for them to focus on their studies. Such trauma may lead students to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as irritability or hypervigilance, which further impedes their abilities to concentrate. Many boarding schools in Zamfara do not have adequate resources or trained teachers and professionals to address the psychological needs of traumatized students. Lack of adequate mental health support exacerbates students’ situations. Drawing on anthropological studies of violence and trauma and how trauma affects learning, this paper investigates the effects of insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping movements in Zamfara on students’ social-emotional well-being and academic performances. The study analyzes the significant impact of insurgents’ criminal acts on boarding school students' health and well-being, resulting in a spiraling decrease in their academic performance. Finally, the study presents and analyzes the issues of insecurity that have caused detrimental effects on the state’s educational system.
Elizabeth Cooper (Simon Fraser University)
Paper long abstract:
Public boarding schools are intensive filters in Kenya’s highly competitive and unequal secondary education system. On the one hand, a student’s admission to a secondary boarding school affords some prestige, as it evidences the student’s merit and potential to succeed. On the other hand, only some students will earn the top results leading to a next step of higher education and associated professional employment. As such, many school administrators and teachers tend to practice the logic that only the most disciplined and determined individuals will succeed, and they seek to develop students’ determination through inflicting trials of pain and suffering. At the same time, even public schools are run as businesses in a competitive marketplace, with students’ exam scores distinguishing one school from another, and one school manager from another. In this paper, we draw from ethnographic research conducted over the 2023 school year in an over-subscribed girls’ secondary boarding school in western Kenya to analyze the multiple harms perpetrated through this school system, and how these debase the ideals of education for students, teachers, and broader society. Findings highlight the institutionalization of cheating as a mode of survival and 'success' and the demoralization this system ingrains in its participants.
Ayisha Ahmed (SOAS)
Paper long abstract:
These demands include behaving in accordance with Christian values, the academically rigorous school environment, high expectations regarding what it means to be a successful man in Ghana, coupled with parental hopes and ambitions. This presentation explores the impact of the boarding school environment upon students’ aspirations and masculinities and contextualizes this within the wider school objective of training Christian Gentlemen. How do students cope under such expectations? To what extent do they accept this model of manhood? How far do they deviate from or resist this? The journey to manhood is fraught with numerous pressures and competing ideas of what it means to be a successful man, and young boys must navigate this murky terrain whilst keeping their grades up. Based on participant observation in a boys’ boarding school in Ghana this paper argues that the impact of boarding school regimes on the formation of students’ masculinities must be situated within a wider historical, social and cultural context to understand the competing expectations that young men face as they navigate their futures and form their aspirations. Rich ethnographic research is needed on how boarding school regimes are shaping the values and aspirations of children in Ghana and this presentation aims to contribute towards this literature.
Key words: Boarding schools, Ghana, masculinities, aspirations