Creating Cultural Hybridity by Exporting Metropolitan Structures and Cultures of Schooling and Educationalisation? The Emergence of a Congolese ‘Elite’ in the 1950s as a Starting Point for Further Research

Abstract

This article consists of five sections. First, it briefly describes the results of the authors' previous studies on the history of colonial education in view of the problem introduced by the special issue of which this article is a part. Second, it links these results to such central concepts as the so-called grammars of schooling and educationalisation. Third, in order to further nuance and deepen these concepts, it concentrates on the crucial case of the 1950s in which -in terms of educational as well as social, political and cultural factors -an 'elite' was slowly but surely emerging in the Congo. Fourth, it deals with the question of the extent to which the forging of this elite created cultural hybridity in the colonial and postcolonial era and how to research it. Fifth, it tries to qualify the authors' aspirations for future research.

Colonial education in the Congo - a question of “uncritical” pedagogy until the bitter end?

“…This type of Eurocentric perspective on matters revealed the fundamental paradox (see Depaepe and Hulstaert, 2013), in all its naivety and triviality, which most colonial educators observed being implemented in the field. On one hand, an introduction to the system of Western thought and patterns was indispensable to the success of the colonial enterprise, while on the other, an "excess" of education could result in alienation and uprooted-ness.…”

Why Even Today Educational Historiography is not an Unnecessary Luxury. Focusing on four Themes from Forty-four Years of Research

“…Implicitly and explicitly -the use of French springs to mind as an overarching, national language -Zairisation could never escape the grip of a Western neo-colonialism. It is obvious that this created diverse forms of cultural hybridity, especially for the elite (Depaepe & Hulstaert, 2013).…”