Godfrey N. Brown – författare

Originally published in 1975, this book was something of a pioneering study. It examines the three main traditions of African educational development – indigenous, Islamic and ‘Western’ – and the resulting harmonies and conflicts that arise from these traditions. Its contributors are all specialists writing about their own particular area of interest covering many countries of tropical Africa. They include a number of well-known African scholars as well as some comparatively new names in the field of African Studies at the time. A feature of the book is the attention that it gives to the education of women – an aspect of ‘nation-building’ that had often been rather neglected.This study is an inter-disciplinary work, calling into contribution History, Sociology, Anthropology, Law, Linguistics, and Medicine, as well as Education. It seeks to show how complex the educational situation is in Africa – and how this complexity needs to be appreciated as a background to educational planning. Nobody who has read this volume will be inclined to dismiss educational reform in Africa as ‘a relatively simple matter’ – a point of view too frequently implied by those who have not studied the subject in depth. ‘Off with the old – on with the new’ cannot be so easily implemented as critics within and without the continent sometimes seem to think. More constructively, however, this volume provides many useful insights into ways in which social tension may be reduced and harmony promoted in, and through, education.Although it is likely to be of most immediate value to those who are concerned with African education and its administration (especially in teacher-education), the book constitutes a significant contribution to understanding problems of ‘development’.

Originally published in 1975, this book was something of a pioneering study. It examines the three main traditions of African educational development – indigenous, Islamic and ‘Western’ – and the resulting harmonies and conflicts that arise from these traditions. Its contributors are all specialists writing about their own particular area of interest covering many countries of tropical Africa. They include a number of well-known African scholars as well as some comparatively new names in the field of African Studies at the time. A feature of the book is the attention that it gives to the education of women – an aspect of ‘nation-building’ that had often been rather neglected.This study is an inter-disciplinary work, calling into contribution History, Sociology, Anthropology, Law, Linguistics, and Medicine, as well as Education. It seeks to show how complex the educational situation is in Africa – and how this complexity needs to be appreciated as a background to educational planning. Nobody who has read this volume will be inclined to dismiss educational reform in Africa as ‘a relatively simple matter’ – a point of view too frequently implied by those who have not studied the subject in depth. ‘Off with the old – on with the new’ cannot be so easily implemented as critics within and without the continent sometimes seem to think. More constructively, however, this volume provides many useful insights into ways in which social tension may be reduced and harmony promoted in, and through, education.Although it is likely to be of most immediate value to those who are concerned with African education and its administration (especially in teacher-education), the book constitutes a significant contribution to understanding problems of ‘development’.

Originally published in 1967, this book represents the late Professor Brown’s twin skills as historian and as educationalist at their best. It is one of a series of books which he edited, and which was offered to Africa teachers in training. The series was designed to help those who were called upon to teach the many subjects of the primary school curriculum or two or more subjects with the junior forms of secondary schools. It is dedicated to the proposition that giving a good basic education to a country’s children is vital to its development programme. Godfrey Brown’s book starts with a discussion of the place and purpose of history in education – why do we teach it to children? He then describes methods of teaching language skills in history, observation and (at some length) social development through history. He ends with The History of the Future and two practical appendices listing where the African teacher of history could obtain useful teaching material.