Sudan and the British Empire in the Era of Colonial Dismantlement (1946-1956): History Teaching in Comparative Perspective
Résumé
Situating late colonial Sudan within the wider British Empire, this chapter explores an understudied field in the scholarship on Sudan and empire: history teaching, namely history as a school subject that was theorized by educators and practiced by teachers and pupils in the 1940s and 1950s. Although not a colonial territory stricto sensu, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899-1956) was closely connected to other British dependencies in the educational sphere. Knowledge, debates and opinions on educational matters circulated through colonial journals and publications. A significant number of British officials serving in Sudan had past -or would have future- work experience in other parts of the Empire. Books published by British metropolitan, as well as American, pedagogues in the first half of the 20th century inspired colonial educators across the Empire. Paying attention to the crucial distinction between prescribed and taught curricula, this chapter investigates conceptions and practices of history teaching at a time when the British Empire was rapidly dismantling. It maps out the position of Sudanese school history in relation to contemporary school histories in other (ex-)British territories and in the metropole. Comparative insights are drawn with regards to the purposes of history teaching, curriculum contents, the ideological framing of historical narratives, teaching materials and methods, and teaching staff. Based on the analysis of textbooks, handbooks, reports, and journal articles from the period under review, the chapter highlights significant, though largely overlooked, commonalities between Sudan and various categories of territories within the crumbling post-war British Empire: colonial dependencies (British Africa), a semi-independent country (Egypt) and sovereign states (India, Britain).
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