The project analyzed the political and institutional context in which negotiation processes about the definition of interpretive patterns and memory narratives in Eritrean educational media take place.
The decision to focus on Eritrea followed two systematic considerations:
- First, it was assumed that analyzing the interaction of global, national, and local influences in an African country would lead to important insights into the consequences of globalization on the periphery of world society.
- Second, Eritrea was considered an interesting case study in the African context primarily because it is one of the few successful examples of African nation-building. Moreover, the creation of social coherence under conditions of ethnic, religious and linguistic fragmentation here also seemed to be a result of effective education policy.
Aims
In the academic discourse on the causes of state failure in Africa, one-sided reference has been made to ethnic fragmentation. The project intended to put this perspective into perspective. The decision to focus on Eritrea was based on systematic considerations. Eritrea represents one of the few cases of successful African nation-building in which the establishment of social coherence under conditions of ethnic fragmentation is apparently also a result of effective education policy. The specific objectives of the project were threefold: First, to clarify whether the construction of the multi-ethnic Eritrean society in and for educational media makes an effective contribution to the establishment of coherence in the still young nation-state of Eritrea. Second, it aimed to find out whether the ideas and concepts negotiated in global discourses on dealing with multiethnicity and memory have left traces in Eritrean educational media. Third, it wanted to ask, conversely, with normative intent, whether Eritrean recipes and solution strategies can be fed into global discourse.
Methodology
The political and institutional context in which negotiation processes about the definition of interpretive patterns and memory narratives in Eritrean educational media take place was examined. Methodologically, this was accomplished by analyzing key documents, curricula, and collecting qualitative interviews with actors relevant to educational policy.
Using Eritrea as a case study, the project analyzed whether and how textbooks and other educational media act as catalysts for integration in national integration processes of multiethnic societies.
Questions
- First, the project analyzed the representation of the multi-ethnic Eritrean society in different educational media. It focused on the representation of sensitive events and periods in Eritrean history that are potentially remembered controversially by members of different ethnic groups. This relates primarily to the question of how the experience of Ethiopian foreign rule is coded. Conceivably, the experience of oppression may be interpreted in religious, ethnic, social, or political terms.
- Second, the project examined the institutional and political context in which educationally relevant concepts of multiethnic coexistence and patterns of interpretation of one's own history and present as a multiethnic society are negotiated, produced, received, and effective.
Classification in the state of research
The role of education in Eritrea's nation-building process has hardly been researched scientifically.
Methodology
- Analysis of policy documents, textbooks, and other educational media; participant observation; qualitative interviews.
Results
