Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies, 1833–1880

Description

This book tracks the changes in government involvement in Indigneous children’s education over the nineteenth century, drawing on case studies from the Caribbean, Australia and South Africa. Schools were pivotal in the production and reproduction of racial difference in the colonies of settlement. Between 1833 and 1880, there were remarkable changes in thinking about education in Britain and the Empire with it increasingly seen as a government responsibility. At the same time, children’s needs came to be seen as different to those of their parents, and childhood was approached as a time to make interventions into Indigenous people’s lives. This period also saw shifts in thinking about race. Members of the public, researchers, missionaries and governments discussed the function of education, considering whether it could be used to further humanitarian or settler colonial aims. Underlying these questions were anxieties regarding the status of Indigenous people in newly colonised territories: the successful education of their children could show their potential for equality. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 1-34 ‘The Gift of Education’: Emancipation and Government Education in the West Indies, Britain and Beyond (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 35-72 Civilising Spaces: Government, Missionaries and Land in Education in Western Australia (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 73-100 ‘Forgotten and Neglected’: Settlers, Government and Africans’ Education in Natal (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 101-129 A Useful Education: Humanitarianism, Settler Colonialism and Industrial Schools in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 131-167 Researching Education: Florence Nightingale, British Imperialism and Colonial Schools (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 169-198 Education and Obligation: Compulsory Schooling, Childhood and the Family (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 199-233 Conclusion: The ‘Chief Blessing of Civilisation, the Benefit of Education’ (Rebecca Swartz)....Pages 235-244 Back Matter ....Pages 245-253