The Imperial Curriculum : Racial Images and Education in the British Colonial Experience

This volume presents the first comparative analysis of racial attitudes in the formal schooling of both Britain and its former dominions and colonies. The various contributions examine the issue right across the British imperial experience – with case studies ranging from Canada, Ireland, East and South Africa, through the Indian subcontinent to Australia and New Zealand. Racial indoctrination is considered from the perspective of both colonizer and colonized. The central theme throughout is that a racial hierarchy was taught through both curriculum and text in schools throughout the former British Empire.

This volume presents the first comparative analysis of racial attitudes in the formal schooling of both Britain and its former dominions and colonies. The various contributions examine the issue right across the British imperial experience – with case studies ranging from Canada, Ireland, East and South Africa, through the Indian subcontinent to Australia and New Zealand. Racial indoctrination is considered from the perspective of both colonizer and colonized. The central theme throughout is that a racial hierarchy was taught through both curriculum and text in schools throughout the former British Empire.