“What was best for a white child need not be the same for a dark child”: Producing the ‘educated African child’ in colonial Uganda’s schools, 1877-1963

Abstract

Childhood is generally understood to denote a universal stage of development between infancy and adulthood. However, recent scholarship calls for a reinterpretation of childhood as a historically- and culturally-bounded concept. This dissertation takes up a neglected chapter in the history of childhood, namely, colonial constructions of childhood that simultaneously identified childhood as a developmental stage experienced by all children and a particularly precarious period for African children. Focusing on colonial Uganda, this research illuminates how notions of race, gender, religion, and 'development' shaped educational policy for African children and how these categories continue to inform education in post-colonial contexts.