Culture and Mass Schooling by Platas, Melina R.;

The Colonial Roots of Educational Inequality in Africa

Series: Cambridge Studies in the Comparative Politics of Education;

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Product details:

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Date of Publication 31 January 2026

ISBN 9781009640367
Binding Paperback
No. of pages260 pages
Weight 250 g
Language English

Short description:

Reveals a widespread gap in education between African Muslims and Christians, and examines the role of culture in its persistence.

Long description:

Education is central to politics, economic growth, and human well-being. Yet large gaps in levels of education persist across different groups, often for generations. Why?&&&160;This book argues that culture - specifically, community norms about schooling - plays a central role in explaining the persistence of educational inequality across groups. Melina R. Platas uses the case of the Muslim-Christian education gap in Africa, where Muslims have on average three fewer years of education than Christians, to examine the origins and persistence of educational inequality. She documents the colonial origins of this gap and develops a cultural theory of its persistence, focusing on the case studies of Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda. Platas uses census and survey data from nearly 30 African countries, archival documents, interviews, focus groups, and coordination games to explore this ubiquitous yet underappreciated gap in educational attainment, and to measure divergent schooling norms across religious communities in Africa today.

'Why is there a persistent educational gap between Christians and Muslims in Africa, especially in predominantly Muslim areas? This innovative, rich study focuses on the transmission of colonial legacies and community values, and argues that where the colonial project sought to convert Muslims to Christianity, a skepticism about education led to a persistent gap. Melina Platas transforms our understandings of identity, informal institutions, and historical legacies.' Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. The puzzle of persistent inequality; 2. Schooling as a norm; 3. The colonial origins of inequality; 4. The limits of existing explanations; 5. Education as seen from the ground; 6. Empirical evidence of schooling norms; 7. Generalizing the argument; 8. Matters of culture; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

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