British Education System Research Articles

Jan Konopnicki (1905-1980) - badacz szkolnictwa i organizator edukacji nauczycieli polskich na uchodźstwie

Jan Konopnicki spent years of World War II in exile in Great Britain where he initially served in the Polish army quartered in Scotland. Soon, however, he became involved in the educational activity of the Association of Polish Teachers in Great Britain and came into contact with British teachers. He cooperated with the Office of Education and The Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment of the Polish government in Great Britain. He organized and managed a lot of courses for Polish teachers who stayed on in the British Isles. He managed a Teacher Training Course at the University of Edinburgh which prepared teachers of pedagogical subjects for future teacher training institutions in Poland. He created a curriculum for a two-year-long teacher training school in exile and also was the author of a conception on teacher training in Poland in the period just after the war. Together with a group of teachers he paid much attention to the research into the British education system. Under his leadership (with the use of questionnaire) a research was conducted into some development disorders of children. The outcome of that research were publications and articles printed in “Wiadomości Nauczycielskie” (“Teacher’s News”). After the war he returned to Poland.

Social Work Education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Building a Profession

Social work in the Pacific nation Aotearoa New Zealand has developed within a unique cultural and socio-political context. An essentially western model of social work developed sixty years ago in a colonial state which imposed British education, policing, child welfare, criminal justice and mental health systems into to the lives of Māori people. Growing awareness of the negative impacts of those systems on Māori families and communities led to significant challenges to the social work profession, leading to conflict and continuing ambivalence about the emergent professionalisation project. Social work education reflects these tensions, being influenced by political forces, the global struggles of indigenous peoples and, in the last three decades, the impact of neoliberalism in social welfare reform. A limited form of statutory regulation in 2003 saw the introduction of benchmark educational qualifications for entry to social work. In 2018, legislation will introduce mandatory registration and protection of title. The aim of this article is to explore the history of social work in this national context with reference to a Bourdieusian framework of professional capital to explain why social work education is, and will remain, a site of struggle in its mission for social justice and human rights informed practice.

Colorectal Surgery Training in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and China.

Until 1st July 1997, Hong Kong was under the governance of the British Government; therefore, the British system of education was followed. After internship, 7 years of general surgical training is required to obtain registration and fellowship qualifications of the College of Surgeon of Hong Kong and Edinburg. After having become a specialist in general surgery, the surgeon could choose to specialize in colorectal surgery with an additional 3 to 5 years of specialist training in an accredited centre and 6 months of overseas training with subsidies. On the contrary, China has more than 600 medical schools, and students can enroll in different programs to become a medical practitioner. Despite a great discrepancy exists in the quality of teaching and supervision but there are comprehensive regulations governing the accreditation of hospitals, credentialing of operations, medical records, etc. to ensure medical and patient safety. Vast amounts of resources are being invested to strengthen the quality and to advance the technology used in patient care, not only by supporting basic and clinical research but also by providing extra resources to “import” experts and help develop services with clinical excellence. To accomplish this, the aim of the “three fames project” with a 5-year funding of 3 million United States dollar is to invite overseas experts to help build medical teams in specific areas. Due to its huge population (more than 1.3 billion people), China is a country full of potential for development in clinical research, collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the provision of premier medical services.

Shapes and Spaces: Inside Joseph Lancaster's "Monitorial" Laboratory

In this article I examine the nature of discipline in the monitorial school. Recognizing that much post-Discipline and Punish research has concentrated on contemporary educational institutions, I return to Lancaster's original school model not simply to identify the presence of discipline, but to describe its function. In other words I define what discipline is. Particular attention is paid to the architecture of the school, showing how the design of the school room operates to discipline and place the pupil. I also examine in detail two engravings that appear in Lancaster's treatise, The British System of Education (1810) in order to suggest that an identifiable anxiety underlies his ostensible confidence in the monitorial system. Finally, I look at the influence which the British monitorial school had on its North American counterpart and advance theories for the system's failure.

Deliberative theory and the legitimacy of Islamic influence in the British education system

This article argues that deliberative theory provides an important contribution in the debate about the legitimacy of an Islamic influence within the British education system. The contribution is a timely one, in light of the tendency to view issues involving Islam and Muslims through the distorting prism of Islamophobia. The contribution of deliberative theory is developed and explained through a constructive comparison with two positions within debates about the legitimacy of religion and the accommodation of minority claims within education: ethical liberalism and ethical pluralism.

Is there such a thing as ‘white ignorance’ in British education?

I argue that political philosopher Charles W. Mills’ twin concepts of ‘the epistemology of ignorance’ and ‘white ignorance’ are useful tools for thinking through racial injustice in the British education system. While anti-racist work in British education has a long history, racism persists in British primary, secondary and tertiary education. For Mills, the production and reproduction of racism relies crucially on cognitive and epistemological processes that produce ignorance, and which promote various ways of ignoring the histories and legacies of European colonialism and imperialism, as well as the testimonies and scholarship of those who experience racism in their everyday lives. I survey these concepts within Mills’ work then marshal evidence in support of my claim that ‘the epistemology of ignorance’ and ‘white ignorance’ provide a useful framework for thinking through problems of racial injustice in British education.

АРХІТЕКТОНІКА ТЬЮТОРИНГУ У ВИЩІЙ ШКОЛІ

Modern trends of human civilization development determine the individual educational way of person on the open education basis. A special place in supporting of personality development in the information society belongs to a tutor. A tutor is a central figure while a tutorial is an officially recognized component of the British educational system. Today this profession is actualized in many European countries. Social and personal request for a tutorial support is increasing in Ukraine. A tutorial is developing as a basis for the formation of teacher-student partnership. On the other hand, pedagogically expedient, subject-subjective, moral and aesthetic relations are a condition for the tutorial technology implementation. They form a personally oriented activity of two equal partners - a tutor and tutorant. It should be emphasized on the individual-socializing nature of tutorial. A tutor is not only responsible for the level of knowledge, but also for the formation (upbringing) of the individual. A tutorial accompaniment is a pedagogical education individualizing activity which is directed at the identification and development of educational motives and interests of the person, the search for educational resources for the creation of an individual educational program, the formation of person educational reflection. It involves the educational environment organizing, actual support for the formation and implementation of a tutor`s individual educational program; its methodical support. A tutorial support is carried out in accordance with the peculiarities of the age of the tutorants (from preschool age), provides the pedagogical provision of autonomous formulation and realization of the person's educational goals, stimulation and motivation of independent educational activity. The Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Higher Education has carried out a tutor professional and pedagogical training at the National Dragomanov Pedagogical University since 2015.

Forming Pedagogical Aesthetic Culture of Students in British Experience

Abstract The author of the article analyzes the concept and primary factors of personality aesthetic culture development in the context of higher education in England. The scholars’ works and pedagogical advanced experience of the country nowadays pay special attention to forming personal creativity and self-realization of modern specialists. They are grounded on a high level of aesthetic culture. Among these essential conditions, the following are indicated: solving the issue of forming aesthetic culture at the national level, financing educational cultural projects and the cultural environment in educational institutions, functioning a wide network of cultural centers, which create the opportunities for everybody to aspire to cultural development. Determining the role of control and coordination of the process of forming students’ aesthetic culture, the author highlights the state policy that is interested in education of personal aesthetic culture as well as encourages students’ creative projects. The pedagogical factors of forming aesthetic culture in higher education institutions have been distinguished, namely, aestheticization of the education process, integration of academic subjects and art, implementation of art disciplines, introduction of new methodologies and technologies in the education process. In the article, there have been shown the best standards of experience of English pedagogy for higher education institutions, indicated on the research base of foreign and native scholars. They deserve a thorough study and adoption: collaboration between artists, culture experts an educational institutions, aesthetic practice of students as a part of public life, support of modern cultural-aesthetic environment of educational institutions. It has been concluded that the British education system offers exciting possibilities for development of aesthetic interests for everybody who aims at cultural growth with the help of the wide network of creative centers, educational institutions, public institutions and churches.

Wastage of talent?

Abstract The extent to which societies suffer ‘wastage of talent’ due to social inequalities in educational attainment is a longstanding issue. The present paper contributes to the relevant literature by examining how social origins and early-life cognitive ability are associated with educational success across three British birth cohorts. We address questions of over-time change, bringing current evidence up-to-date. Our findings reinforce the well-established trend that the importance of cognitive ability declined for cohorts born between 1958 and 1970, but we show that for a cohort born in the early 1990s this trend has reversed. We further show that the relative importance of family background has not seen a corresponding decline. In distinguishing between different components of social origins, we show that family economic resources have become somewhat less important for children’s educational success, while socio-cultural and educational resources have become more important. Even high ability children are unable to transcend the effects of their social origins. The problem of ‘wastage of talent’ remains; young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are still lacking the opportunity to fully realise their potential within the British educational system.

Pupils’ perceptions of the religious links to terrorism

With the increased requirement to incorporate counter-terrorism measures into the British education system, teachers are now expected to discuss terrorism within the classroom setting. However, this is a challenging endeavour due to the complex nature of the phenomenon, including definitional questions and links made to certain ideologies, in particular religious motivations. This paper explores my research findings from a project conducted over several years into pupils’ perceptions of terrorism and its links to religion in general, as well as the specific links made with Islam, Sikhism and Christianity. To contextualise the research, a brief overview of the methods and results has been provided, followed by an analysis of the issues raised. Overall, the pupils thought that religion in general, as well as Islam in particular, was something that motivated terrorism. However, many pupils also expressed concerns about associating entire religious communities with terrorism, perceiving it as a stereotype, and expressed interest in discovering more about how and why religion was used to justify such violent attacks.

The construction of British Chinese educational success: exploring the shifting discourses in educational debate, and their effects

ABSTRACTThe high achievement of British Chinese students in the British education system is established in the official literature and has recently been subject to increased attention and comment; albeit it remains the case that few studies have asked students or their families about the factors contributing to their success. This paper revisits findings from an earlier research project that investigated the extent to which British Chinese students and their parents value education (and their rationales), their experiences of British education, and the construction of British Chinese students by their teachers. The study revealed the ‘hidden racisms’ experienced by British Chinese students, the problematisation of their perceived approaches to learning by British teachers in spite of their high attainment, and the benefits, costs, and consequences of their valuing of education. This article contextualises these prior findings within more recent discourses and debates around ‘Chinese success’, precipitated by increased policy attention to the educational attainment of different groups of students, especially from low socio-economic backgrounds. It argues that these discourses on one hand elevate Chinese successes and teaching methods (in contrast to prior narratives), but on the other they continue to exoticise and ‘Other’ the British Chinese, misrecognising educational practices common among White middle-class parents.

How effective is Philosophy for Children in contributing to the affective engagement of pupils in the context of secondary Religious Education?

This paper reports the findings of a predominantly qualitative study that explored the effects of the practice of Philosophy for Children (P4C) on pupils’ affective engagement.[1] From its conception, the practice of P4C has been linked to the development of caring and collaborative thinking and the study aimed to closely consider that relationship. An appropriate self-designed P4C program was implemented with 75 Year 9 pupils (aged 14 and 15) of Religious Education (a compulsory subject in the British education system in which pupils explore world religions in a non-confessional manner) at an independent secondary school in the United Kingdom. An interpretive research approach was taken and thematic analysis was appropriated to analyse the data. Findings supported the claims of previous research that P4C can foster affective engagement in many pupils, particularly those pupils who find emotional expression and interpersonal interactions challenging. A tentative conclusion reached supposes that P4C has the potential to contribute to the affective engagement of pupils, but with the recommendation that implementing a P4C program must be executed carefully and with the mindfulness that it may not have the same potential or usefulness for all pupils universally.[1] This research was conducted at the University College London. The author is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Birmingham.

Exploring students’ perceptions and experiences of the transition between GCSE and AS Level mathematics

Children experience numerous types of learning transitions throughout their educational lives physically (changing schools) and substantively (moving through different key stages in school), and daily (in moving between subjects). One transition that is frequently overlooked within the British education system is that from the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) usually completed at the age of 16 to Advanced Subsidiary Level (AS Level) usually completed at the age of 17. This case study addresses this issue by focusing on students’ perceptions and experiences of the transition between GCSE and AS Level mathematics. It involves a small qualitative study of 28 students from a post-16 college in the UK and uses questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to ascertain students’ views of their transition in studying mathematics at a higher level. The evidence suggests that many students struggle with the transition from GCSE to A Level making AS Level Mathematics inaccessible for many students. Ways of addressing the difficulties experienced by students are discussed with implications for teachers, students and policy-makers in the hope of supporting smoother learning transitions to advanced level study for all.

Tharaphi Than. Women in Modern Burma. London and New York: Routledge, 2014, 182pp.

Women in Modern Burma Tharaphi Than London and New York: Routledge, 2014, 182pp.The 2015 election in Myanmar was a pivotal moment in history due to landslide victory of National League for Democracy, led by world-renowned politician Daw Aung San Su Kyi. The presence of an outstanding female leader appears to be a testament of popular narrative that Burmese are powerful agents granted equal rights and status in society. In Women in Modern Burma, Tharaphi Than challenges this notion and reassesses social, economic, and political position of in Burma throughout twentieth century.The introduction offers an overview that includes official narrative and popular image of Burmese along with a brief political and cultural outline of twentieth-century Burma. Than shows how national framework of historical writing has defended privileged positions of Burmese women, who have been portrayed as powerful agents enjoying high status and equal rights to men. Contrary to this narrative, book attempts to challenge concept of liberated Burmese women by showing that Burmese experience little freedom in reality. It accomplishes this by exploring world of female soldiers, politicians, writers, and prostitutes and by referencing women's writings, personal interviews, newspapers, and magazine articles (p. 4). Next, Myanmar's political and cultural situation in twentieth century is briefly outlined as follows: transition to independence (1945-48), Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) (194652), Pyidawtha or Happy Land Years (1952-56), Burma Socialist Program Party (1962-88), and post-1988 period with a post-independence media landscape.Chapter 2 focuses on how female journalists, editors, and writers struggled to achieve their positions in print media. After first English-language newspaper in Burma was published in 1910, print media, especially newspapers, flourished in country and regarded as nonlethal weapons with which to challenge British colonial rule. Thus, young, educated Burmese nationalists viewed journalists and teachers as most attractive professions that could build a full engagement with national politics. Educated Burmese elite men often moved easily within print media industry, politics, and business arena, while such mobility was not available to women. Daw Phwa Shin became first female editor and publisher of newspaper Tharawaddy. However, she used her husband's name as publisher and editor, because she feared that readers would think Tharawaddy was inferior if it was known to be run by a woman. Even Independent Daw San, who demonstrated that a woman was indeed capable of managing a newspaper, wrote under a male pseudonym for fear of being blamed for not embracing modesty. However, independence caused a seismic shift in discourse of Burmese literature and female writers. Women writers played a significant role in shaping national themes and goals for post-independence literature, particularly for preservation of Burmese culture and contributions to nation building and national identity formation.Chapter 3 takes up subject of women's education. On subject of female education in colonial period, Chie Ikeya (2011) has already argued that British education system was crucial to success of Burmese middle-class and that modern education triggered most radical transformation in history of female education and professionalism. On other hand, Than insists that while British education system might have triggered a transformation, the transformation may simply have been a matter of learning in an institution and that Burmese were not empowered to make their independent way in world, with few exceptions (p. 49). Certainly, statistical data obtained by local NGOs, United Nations Population Fund, and government show that either highly educated or highly illiterate (p. …

The Importance of Polytechnics for Africa's Development

Most African countries that were former British colonies replicated the British higher education system and created both universities and polytechnics. However, in order to increase their tertiary education enrolment, these countries are gradually upgrading their polytechnics to universities. This article argues that this is a wrong move as polytechnics are as important as universities for Africa’s development, and calls for a re-consideration of the polytechnics conversion policy.

A comparative study of vocational education and occupational safety and health training in China and the UK

In order to enhance Chinese workers’ occupational safety awareness, it is essential to learn from developed countries’ experiences. This article investigates thoroughly occupational safety and health (OSH) in China and the UK; moreover, the article performs a comparison of Chinese and British OSH training-related laws, regulations and education system. The following conclusions are drawn: China’s work safety continues to improve, but there is still a large gap compared with the UK. In China a relatively complete vocational education and training (VET) system has been established. However, there exist some defects in OSH. In the UK, the employer will not only pay attention to employees’ physiological health, but also to their mental health. The UK’s VET is characterized by classification and grading management, which helps integrate OSH into the whole education system. China can learn from the UK in the development of policies, VET and OSH training.

Kindred Spirits: The Speculative Fictions of Pauline E. Hopkins, Octavia E. Butler, and Tananarive Due

CLA JOURNAL 95 94 CLA JOURNAL Tosha Sampson-Choma Black Power!, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, New York, NY. Curator; Kevin Young, Museum Director. February 1, 2017-December 31, 2017. Césaire, Aimé. Discourse on Colonialism: A Poetics of Anticolonialism, 2000 edition. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000. Christian, Mark.“The Politics of Black Presence in Britain and Black Male Exclusion in the British Education System.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 35, no 3, 2005, pp. 327-346. Dyson, Michael Eric.“The Politics of Black Masculinity and the Ghetto in Black Film.” The Subversive Imagination: The Artist, Society, and Social Responsibility. Ed. Carol Becker. New York: Routledge, 1994, pp. 154-167. Guerrero, Ed. Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. Hammond, Thomas N.“Paris-New York: Venues of Migration and the Exportation of African American Culture.” CLAJ, vol. 41, no. 2, 1997, pp.135-46. Henry, Matthew.“He Is a ‘Bad Mother*$%@!#’: Shaft and Contemporary Black Masculinity.” African American Review, vol. 38, no. 1, Spring 2004, pp. 119-126. Levy, Andrea. Fruit of the Lemon. London: Review, 1999. Rassool, Naz.“Fractured or Flexible Identities? Life Histories of ‘Black’ Diasporic Women in Britain.” Black British Feminism: A Reader. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 187-204. Kindred Spirits: The Speculative Fictions of Pauline E. Hopkins, Octavia E. Butler, and Tananarive Due Marlene D. Allen Pauline E. Hopkins’s Of One Blood, Tananarive Due’s African Immortal series, and Octavia E. Butler’s final novel Fledgling may at first glance seem not to bear much in common, given the basic premises of each novel and different times in which the works were written. Published from 1902 to 1903 in the Colored American magazine during the“nadir”of African American literary history,Of One Bloodisafantasticalromancethatfeaturesaprotagonistof mixedrace,ReuelBriggs, who has turned his back on his African heritage to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor and scientist of the occult. Due’s four-part African Immortal Series (My Soul to Keep [1997], The Living Blood [2001], Blood Colony [2008], and My Soul to Take [2011]) tells the story of four-hundred-year-old African David Wolde, a member of the immortal Brotherhood, and his relationship with his twentiethcentury wife Jessica and their hybrid human-immortal child Fana. Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling (2005) features vampires called the Ina who are at war with each other over differing opinions of the morality of the creation of Shori Matthews, a vampire-human hybrid. Despite major differences in characters, setting, and plotlines, the works are all Afrofuturist feminist texts that employ the narrative freedom of speculative fiction to memorialize African diasporic history and culture in innovative ways. I explore common motifs, themes, and techniques utilized by these authors to signify upon the traumas of Afrodiasporic enslavement, evoke the painful legacies of American racism and sexism, and refute science-based notions from the past about the inferiority of black bodies and intellect. In the end, each author’s work advocates for an Afrofuturist world in which the sharing of blood and peaceful co-existence across racial and gender lines are posited as a healthier alternative to the characters’ present realities of biological exclusion and male domination as the prevailing world paradigms. USE OF GOTHIC CONVENTIONS TO EVOKE THE AFRODIASPORIC PAST One of the ways that all three writers memorialize Afrodiasporic history is through the use of gothic conventions. It might seem oxymoronic to say that the gothic is also an aspect of Afrofuturism because of the gothic’s association with the past,while the very term“Afrofuturism”implies looking forward in time. However, an essential aspect of Afrofuturism as an artistic aesthetic is its preoccupation with the past and Afrodiasporic history. As Alondra Nelson expresses, “AfroFuturist CLA JOURNAL 97 96 CLA JOURNAL Marlene D. Allen narratives insist that who we’ve been and where we’ve traveled is always an integral component of who we can become.They create reflections on the African diasporic past and renderings of our possible futures. These are past-future visions, and in this sense, AfroFuturism is an antidote to unbridled, raceless future-lust” (2). As such, one of the most powerful...

The Relative Weight of Subject Knowledge and Type of University Attended: A Comparison of Law Higher Education in England and Germany

This paper explores the relationship between legal practice and type of university attended and degree course studied for English and German lawyers. For England, some of the analysis is only based on data for barristers. We find that university attended matters a great deal for English barristers if they tend to have graduated from elite universities within the stratified British higher education system. In contrast, the flat German higher education system is also mirrored in the profile of lawyers who were graduates in the top jobs come from a wide range of institutions. For Germany, attainment at university and graduating in law are keys to unlocking elite positions whereas the status of university seems second to none in the British system, trumping having studied law as a first degree. The paper thus empirically confirms anecdotal insights that knowledge and skills directly related to law matter more for early career entry in Germany and generic skills and socialization at elite universities matter more for transitioning into elite legal employment in England. It is unclear from the available data whether the different structures mean that the social make-up of the legal professions differs, but it is clear that different ways of accessing this key profession operate in the two contexts.

Emotional Labour in the Classroom: Lessons from a History of the British Education System

Research and policy in education often draws on language accentuating opposing ideological principles, claiming definitions of “good” versus “poor” teaching strategies. These unhelpful dichotomies are legitimised through surveillance and evaluation strategies because pressures from economic and social policies promote competitive, audit cultures. New Zealand education policies are largely modelled on the British system; Britain is arguably positioned at the extreme of a continuum of marketised, commercial models. However, when the importance of integral emotional processes of learning are diminished through neoliberal, managerialist strategies which favour quantitative outcomes, there are negative consequences for students and teachers. By definition, developments of culturally-sensitive pedagogies centre on the emotions of teaching and learning. New Zealand policymakers could therefore benefit from studying the history of emotions in British classrooms to gain insights which could lead to improved outcomes on macro and micro levels.

Cameroon’s national literatures: An introduction

In the Afterword of my book The Sacred Door and Other Stories: Cameroon Folktales of the Beba (2008), I wrote the following: “My earliest impressions of Cameroon were gleaned from the stories told by older people. Their comments revolved around two things: first, that Mount Cameroon—also known as Mount Fako, the Throne of Thunder, and the Chariot of the Gods—the highest peak in West and Central Africa, is the site of the earliest recorded volcanic eruption in the region; and second, that the country they call home was named after prawns by some white people. It is said that in the fifth century BCE, while sailing along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, Hanno, the Carthaginian explorer and ship’s captain, observed Mount Cameroon erupting and inscribed in his travel writings the name Theon Ochema, Chariot of the Gods. He is said to have noted that the fires from the mountain were so hot and so bright that the flames reached up and touched the stars. Firm believers in this historical version point out that Mount Cameroon (also called Mount Fako because it is situated in Fako Division of the South West Province) is the only active volcano on the coast of West Africa, erupting seven times in the twentieth century alone. They also point to the fact that the mountain is known locally as monga-ma loba—Seat of the Gods. I was born in the South West Province but was raised through my teenage years in the grasslands of the North West, where Beba, my village of origin, is situated. Mount Cameroon has therefore held a kind of mystery for me. As a young girl, I was fascinated with these stories of the so-called discovery by Hanno, of flaming arrows reaching for the stars, and with the fact that Debundscha, the wettest place on the African continent and the place with the second-highest rainfall in the world, lies at the foot of the Seat/Chariot of the Gods. I found it amusing that my country was named after big juicy shrimp, and by a bunch of white men we did not know. I could not grasp what that act of naming really entailed, but the teachers who taught me in primary school and the adults who told us stories by the evening fire were not amused. They insisted that branding us with the name of shrimp was an invitation to a feast. The metaphor was lost on my young sensibilities. As I got older and attended primary and secondary school, our curriculum was tailored to the British education system of O Levels and A Levels. In our history lessons, little was afforded the various peoples who migrated to and now inhabit the sahel and plateau regions of the mostly Muslin north, or the grasslands, littoral, and forest regions of the mostly Christian south. History lessons were dominated by European and Cameroon’s colonial history. Only later, at the University of Yaounde, did I, on my own, read all the books I could that addressed the various kingdoms, chiefdoms, and indigenous civilizations of the people who today call Cameroon home.