Towards social progress and post‐imperial modernity? Colonial politics of literacy in the Anglo‐Egyptian Sudan, 1946–1956

Abstract

Towards social progress and post-imperial modernity? Colonial politics of literacy in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1946-1956 Iris Seri-Hersch* 'Why people should be literate! Relating this to the ideal of democracy and the promotion of social life'. 1 This is how a civil servant of the British Sudan Government advocated the spread of Arabic literacy among Sudanese adults early in 1950, when giving a communication on the organisation of adult literacy campaigns at a conference hosted by the Institute of Education in Bakht er Ruda. 2 The idea of promoting literacy on a mass scale was part of a new set of educational policies elaborated in late colonial Sudan. These were the result of both local developments and wider political, ideological, and economic processes unfolding in the British Empire during and after the Second World War. Situating Sudanese colonial politics of literacy within local and imperial contexts, this paper focuses on two key-issues: What were the purposes and uses of literacy in the eyes of colonial authorities in the Sudan? What means were used to spread and perpetuate literacy skills among Northern Sudanese people? There is no single definition for the term literacy, whose meaning significantly varies in different historical periods and cultural contexts. For my purpose, I shall use it in a narrow sense, namely the ability to read and write in a given language. This is the meaning referred to

Ruptured imaginings amid emerging nationhood: The unsettled narrative of “unity in resistance” in South Sudanese history textbooks

“…In advancing its regime of unity and a new post‐independence grand narrative and “monumental history” (Nietzsche, 2010), the textbooks' discourse presents a succession of oppressive colonial Others—Turco‐Egyptian, Mahdist, Anglo‐Egyptian, and Sudanese rule—and limits discussion of historical and current internal identity‐based conflict and of intergroup dynamics more generally, which would disrupt the grand narrative of unity in resistance. This minimisation of the topic is reminiscent of the manner in which history and military instruction textbooks produced in Khartoum before 2011 omitted Sudan's civil wars (Seri‐Hersch, 2023). It may be possible to interpret this partial silence in current South Sudanese history textbooks as an incipient opening for classroom engagement with such sensitive questions in a conflict‐ridden context.…”

Mass education and the British Empire

“…Criticisms of adapted education, changing international norms and sources of expertise, and wider debates about nascent welfare states gradually led to a shift toward development rhetoric in Africa by the 1930s. Seri‐Hersch's (2011) study of the Sudan indicates that British policies of earlier eras were increasingly viewed as outmoded, and mass education could be used to promote development (p. 338). Kallaway (2020) contends that developmentalist ideas in African colonies originally applied only to economic ideas, but ultimately came to reflect a broader meaning about the development of society (p. 95).…”

Que sont les “études soudanaises” après l’éclatement du cadre national soudanais? Repenser les rapports entre bouleversements politiques et pratiques académiques

“…Enfin, des systèmes scolaires distincts furent établis dans chacune des régions (Said 1965, 33-35 ;Abd al-Rahim 1966 ;Beshir 1968, 48-53, 115-118 ;Collins 1983) (Febvre [1942(Febvre [ ] 2003Marrou 1961Marrou , 1510 (Wai 1980 ;Malwal 1981 ;Ruay 1994 ;Deng 1995 ;Jok 2001 ;Guarak 2011) Majīd 1949 ;Beshir 1969 ;Al-Sayyid [1975Osman 1979 ;Sanderson et Sanderson 1981 ;Aḥmad 1983 ;Ibrāhīm 1987 ;El Gizouli 1999 ;Al-Ḥājj 2005;Al-Amīn [2005. Les populations scolaires (enseignants et élèves), les programmes scolaires, les matériaux didactiques, les pratiques pédagogiques prescrites et réelles, ainsi que les effets du processus éducatif sont tout autant de sujets et de problèmes qui ont commencé à être explorés (Sandell 1982 ;Sharkey 2003 ;Förster 2008 ;Seri-Hersch 2011, 2012a Ibrahim 2012) mais qui demandent à être approfondis. D'une manière générale, il me semble intéressant de développer des recherches susceptibles de questionner les périodisations établies, à forte dominante politique, de l'histoire soudanaise.…”