Schools with invisible fences in the British Southern Cameroons, 1916–1961: colonial curriculum and the ‘other’ side of modernist thinking

Abstract

In this paper, I revisit the popular position in British colonial education literature which suggests there is no evidence that Britain had any predetermined wish to dominate, subvert or control the minds of Africans with an official education policy emanating from Whitehall, the seat of the colonial office. I have used archival data and some critical testimonies from Cameroon to show that British colonial education was experienced and understood differently. Cameroon is relatively unrepresented in the colonial legacy discourse, especially in the context of education. I argue that the curriculum contents and the overall school culture at both the senior elementary and secondary school levels were essentially Eurocentric and therefore served purposes of cultural imperialism. This was not an unintended fallout of curriculum implementation, but a major goal of British colonial education policy initiated at the colonial office and sustained by various colonial administrations. I conclude that a discussion of British colonial education based on policy documents which advocated adaptation, without an emic perspective of their experience with implementation, is likely an unfinished appraisal of Britain’s goal in educating her colonial territories.