The Idea of the Nation in History Textbooks

How do postcolonial states use the past to shape a sense of national belonging? And what happens when the school systems tasked with forging a shared identity are themselves a legacy of colonial rule?

Drawing on a comparative analysis of Senegal and Zambia, this book traces the evolution of educational policies, curricula and History textbooks from independence to the 2010s. Situating these developments within the political trajectories of the two countries, it considers how inherited educational models were preserved, adapted and transformed after independence, and analyses the national narratives conveyed through school curricula and textbooks. Bringing together political history, the history of education and textbook research, the book examines the relationship between schooling and nation-building in two postcolonial contexts.