Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro

Schooling, Community, and Gender in East Africa

Amy Stambach author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

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Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro cover

Sambach brings together an ethnograhic study of a school and community in East Africa. Stambach focuses on the role school plays in the development of the children's identity and relationships to their parents and community, as well as in the development of the region. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of East Africa-ideas about gender roles, sexuality, identity, and family and communal obligations are all at stake. Stambach looks at the controversial practice of female circumcision in the context of school and community teachings about girls' bodies and examines cultural signifiers like music, clothing and food to discuss the tensions in the region.

"...[A] welcome contribution to the field of gender and education in Africa...important for those interested in gender issues and concerned about education as a tool to empower women." -- Comparative Education Review
"The strengths of this book lie in its detailed imagery and personal portraits. I appreciated the illustrations and the location map, images to augment the dialogue in the text. The author poses many useful questions. How can such divergent views of schooling be reconciled in a community? How do community members remain loyal to national principles and curriculum even in the face of questions about the direct relevance of the curriculum? The author's honesty about her roles as researchers is refreshing, telling us how she operated both as a participant and as observer, and how she was received as an outsider, with the admonition that "a person living in a foreign place should not question everything she sees, but upon returning to her natal household, may comment all she wants." -- Anthropology & Education Quarterly, December 2001
"[A] welcome contribution to the field of gender and education in Africa...offers insight into the dynamics that yield differentials in the processes, outcomes, and socioeconomic effects of education...important for those interested in gender issuesand concerned about education as a tool to empower women." -- Comparative Education Review May 2002

ISBN: 9780415925822

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

224 pages