As we start a new academic year we have a new Center for African Education (CAE) team. Some students have returned to support the center in their second and final year at Teachers College (TC), while others are starting their time at TC along with their time at CAE. In addition, we are lucky to have a long time member joining us as she returns to academia for another degree. The diversity in our team allows us to meet the needs of the various students at TC and in the Comparative and International Education program. Each of our members come to us with previous experience on the African continent or the diaspora inspiring the center to constantly grow and change to meet the needs of the field, the students and the region. In this blog post you will learn more about each of our team members and the projects they are conducting this year through the George Clement Bond Center for African Education.
Professor S. Garnett Russell continues to direct and guide the center. She is an Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and the Director of the George Clement Bond Center for African Education. Her research focuses on areas linked to education and conflict, peace-building, transitional justice, human rights, and citizenship in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Rwanda and South Africa. She has also conducted research on resettled refugees in the U.S. and on education for urban refugees in Ecuador, Lebanon, Kenya and other countries in the global south. Recent publications appear in Comparative Education Review, the British Journal of Sociology of Education, and the Journal on Education in Emergencies. In addition, her book on education and peacebuilding in post-genocide Rwanda, Becoming Rwandan, is published with Rutgers University Press.
A list of questions were shared with each team member to get a better understanding of their past experience, their role with CAE, the goals they have for the center and their perspectives on African education within the Comparative and International Education field. Please find below a collection of their responses.
Experience in Education
Each member was asked about their experience in education and the responses spanned from twenty years of experience teaching and administrating on the continent to only a few years of classroom experience in various contexts; others held positions supporting students outside of teaching. Nevertheless, it is clear education is a value all CAE members hold.
Shawnette Brandt joins the Center for African Education as a first year Master’s student in the International Educational Development program with a concentration in International Policy and Planning. Her experience in education stems from her role as a school counselor in the K-12 system and as a Peace Corps volunteer in St. Lucia. While Shawnette has extensive experience supporting student’s social and emotional development, she has also worked at the high school level supporting students through college and career advising. Another member of our team, Theresa Cann, has similar experience with students approaching higher education.
Theresa Cann, a former Affiliate Student Researcher of CAE returns to the center this year as a Graduate Assistant. She is a first year doctoral student in the International and Comparative Education program. Theresa is a student affairs practitioner with experience in student support services, teaching, academic advising, directing global educational programs and collaborating with educators to design training programs infused with human rights norms. Human rights are another recurring interest of many of our members such as Margaret Kepley and Madison Collins.
Margaret Kepley returns to CAE this year in her second year as a Master’s candidate in International Educational Development with a concentration in Peace and Human Rights. Margaret’s experience in education began with her undergraduate degree and has led to various teacher education roles in Slovakia and Uganda. Margaret has been a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, as well as Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda. Margaret’s work in teacher education and her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer parallel Madison’s experience.
Madison Collins also returned to the center this semester as a Graduate Assistant completing her Master’s in International Educational Development with a concentration in African Education. Madison was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia where she conducted a teacher training workshop, alongside teaching junior and senior high students, which has led to her work in human rights education for teachers and the focus of her Integrative Project. In the United States, Madison most recently worked with the International Rescue Committee teaching high school students in the Newcomer Youth Summer Academy. Nick Haffner also worked for this summer program to support refugee and immigrant students newly arrived in New York City.
Nick Haffner joins CAE in his first year at TC studying for a Master’s in International Educational Development with a concentration in African Education. Nick has held various roles in education such as youth behavioral specialist to teaching high school Social Studies. He has also worked in various contexts teaching English such as South Korea and Uganda where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. More than half of the CAE team are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers; Shawnette, Margaret, Madison, and Nick. Dior, on the other hand, has experience with non-profit organizations in education.
Dior Mbengue joins the Center for African Education in her second year at TC as a Master’s candidate in the International Educational Development program concentrating on African Education. She has worked with two organizations in Senegal: City Year and Communities in School. Dior plans on utilizing her first hand experience in Senegal to complete her Integrative Project.
David Ashong brings a unique perspective to CAE as a first year Master’s student in the Music and Music Education program at TC. David is a principal of a Basic School in Ghana with 20 years of teaching experience in music education. His concurrent role as an educator in Ghana and a member of CAE provide practical and relevant understandings of education on the continent.
Experience in Africa and the Diaspora
Along with their diverse experience in education, the members of the Center for African Education have equally diverse experience across Africa and the diaspora. Some members’ identity draws them to work on the continent, while others found a passion for the region while visiting. Similarly, many members are beginning their careers with a focus on the contexts across Africa, while others have established their careers on the continent and expanded their work beyond its borders to the diaspora.
Shawnette’s experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in St. Lucia gave her experience in the diaspora, while Margaret and Nick’s Peace Corps service provided them experience in East Africa in Uganda. Margaret’s time in Uganda was a return from her previous visit during her undergraduate studies in education. In West Africa, Madison’s service in Liberia has inspired her to focus her work in the program and her career in the Liberian context.
Elsewhere in West Africa, Dior’s identity as a Senegalese-American continues to draw her to Senegal where she has worked in many areas from business to agriculture. Dior calls her draw to Senegal “a natural inclination to [her] place of origin.” Similarly, Shawnette has visited Guyana, her parents’ country of birth.
David is from Ghana and has lived there for most of his life. He has worked with schools, actors and faith based organizations. This extensive work relates to Theresa’s dedication to the continent through her work. She has led initiatives on a youth empowerment program at a radio station in Dalun, Ghana, collaborated with practitioners in community projects on HIV-AIDS, gender, and civic literacy in Senegal, South Africa, and Kenya. Additionally, she created a Financial Literacy and Independence Curriculum, grounded in Human Rights Education, for the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) in Kenya. For Soronko Academy in Ghana, Theresa developed a monitoring and evaluation tool to assess program impact and output.
Why CAE
The Center for African Education seems like an obvious place for those with such experience within Africa and education as described above, but each team member was asked why they wanted to join CAE. While all members joined the center to support its mission, many also joined to raise awareness for African education in the field of International and Comparative Education. Other members joined for personal growth and exposure to the literature and theory applied to the continent.
Margaret remarked she joined the Center for African Education at Teachers College “because of the potential it has to raise awareness of and amplify the voices of African Scholars and research to the wider Columbia community.” This is echoed by Theresa who joined the center to support this mission by “making visible the work of scholars on the continent and in the diaspora, through research, sustained partnerships and teaching and learning about Africa.”
Dior and Nick both emphasize the personal and professional networks the center establishes within Teachers College and beyond by providing a place for students with similar interests in African Education to connect and work together. This is shared by David as well who appreciates a place to consolidate content regarding African Education within the college.
Shawnette expands on these sentiments by illustrating CAE’s ability to provide personal and professional growth to its members. This is a reflection expressed similarly by Madison who is toward the end of her time at CAE and recognizes invaluable experiences and opportunities provided by the center.
Roles and Goals for CAE
Each member described their role with the Center for African Education at Teachers College and the goals they have for the center moving into the new academic year.
Theresa Cann is one of the center’s Graduate Assistants, she coordinates academic research projects, as well as exchanges and partnerships with African universities. Her goal for the center includes “building linkages between CAE and various actors (educators, researchers, teachers, practitioners, and policy makers) on the African continent and in the diaspora.” She also hopes CAE can “develop a platform for actors to showcase their ongoing scholarship about education in Africa through the center.”
Madison Collins is the other Graduate Assistant and supports the center by developing and planning events. She also manages the internship projects and general logistics of the center. Madison’s goals for the center are to “expand the awareness and reach of CAE to all students at Teachers College and those who are interested throughout Columbia University.” Similarly she hopes for an “increased awareness of the resources the center can offer to those working on the continent.”
Margaret Kepley is the Events Intern and supports the center by providing technical and logistical support for all the events hosted by CAE. Her goals for the center include “amplifying the voices and knowledge of African Scholars and research, raising awareness on and around campus of educational issues affecting both the continent and the diaspora and providing a space for TC students and the larger Columbia University campus to learn and share resources.”
Dior Mbengue is the General Logistics Intern, she supports the center in various ways through external communication and event management. Dior hopes CAE can continue to “promote students, and faculty interested in African education at Teachers College and on the African continent.”
David Ashong is the Research Intern, he works with universities and professors on the continent to bring their perspective to view and tap into the new research areas they are interested in. David hopes CAE will “collaborate and create a database with universities and their professors, increase networking and bring a lot of African perspectives to bear by continuing to support research.”
Nick Haffner is the Resource Intern, he develops, sources and collects resources for the CAE office and website to be used by students, faculty and others. Nick imagines CAE in the future as a place where people can “share their resources, knowledge, and experiences.” He also envisions CAE developing its “relationships with other areas of the Columbia community.”
Shawnette Brandt is the Outreach Intern in which she builds relationships throughout Teachers College, Columbia University, and the wider community as it relates to African education. Her goal for CAE is to “expand its expertise in African education and become a significant resource in the field of Comparative and International Education.”
The Field of Comparative and International Education (CIE)
Through learning more about the new CAE members, their opinions were asked about African education’s place in CIE and gaps in the scholarship. Some members added foundational literature they often turn to as well as theories they apply to the region.
Theresa overviewed African education’s importance in the field quite clearly. She understands “without African Education, our scholarly endeavor in knowledge construction and understanding of histories that shape our human experience would be incomplete. African education challenges knowledge construction to critique what is known, discover the unknown, and acknowledge intentionally subjugated epistemologies.”
Many members identified the historical context of the region as an important aspect that should be confronted within the field. Nick highlighted the diversity within the continent of Africa, while also noting the collective historical strive the region is still dealing with, such as the “effects of colonization and the [results of] various educational systems...transplanted onto the continent.” These factors identify, for Nick, the importance of African education as a prominent feature within the CIE field. Madison agrees with this and underscored the necessity for CIE to “hold space for African education to combat the years of mistreatment and harmful rhetoric that can still be found today, diminishing the ability of Africans to work toward their own educational development.” Dior summarizes these sentiments well by explaining “we can learn alot from history in order to get us back to the academically advanced educational institutions of places such as Timbuktu, Cairo, and Fez.”
Margaret appreciates the literature coming from the field of CIE as it addresses some of the criticisms known too well to those on the continent regarding educational development. She points out “so often education systems on the continent are used as petri-dishes for the global north to try out new pedagogical approaches or initiate eurocentric best practices. Therefore, it's exciting to read work by Richard Tabulawa that can provide another perspective on [well received] approaches like learner-centered pedagogies and how they too are rooted in neoliberal values.” Theresa expands on examples of authors and literature found through the field of CIE such as Ama Ata Aidoo author of “The Dilemma of a Ghost”; Chinua Achibe author of “Things Fall Apart” and Makau Matua author of Human Rights: A Political and Cultural Critique. These examples highlight a scholarly and literary importance to the African education facet of the field of CIE.
Shawnette points out “there is tremendous growth opportunity [of the countries on the continent] for education, as well as the simultaneous implementation of equitable economic trade with strong social, environmental, and security policies.” She expands on this to illustrate the role the field of CIE plays in providing “best practices and research to assist” with the renewed development of African education. Similarly, David sees African education as a place to fill gaps within the field.
Some of the gaps in the scholarship regarding African education as presented by the field of Comparative and International Education are examined by our members.
Dior feels “that oftentimes the diversity within African cultures are missed and are… seen as a monolith especially when trying to tackle education issues.” Madison agrees with Dior and highlighted a broader gap; the lack of country specific literature outside of South Africa and Egypt. These sentiments are echoed by almost all CAE members while another similar point of language diversity was acknowledged by Theresa and Nick. Margaret specified that she has experience first-hand through her studies at Teachers College with the gap in the “adoption of indigenious knowledge into pedagogical approaches.” She explained this further by drawing attention to its “use to refer to the indigenious communities within North and South America and rarely is discussed in the context of Africa.” Madison expressed this same lack of consideration for the region but in regard to Decolonial theory.
By identifying these gaps as members of the Center for African Education, this year’s team can work towards bridging these gaps and creating a more diverse, inclusive, context appropriate and realistic approach to African education and its role within the Comparative and International Education field.
Food and Music
Each member was asked to share their favorite food or dish from the continent or diaspora and their favorite song. Their recommendations are listed below.
Theresa: Ghanaian dish-Kenkey, fried fish, and shito
Madison: Cassava leaf soup and Rice Kalla
Margaret: Doro Wat
Desert Blues/ Tuareg rock
Dior: Soupou Kandja or Dakhine
David: Kenkey with Fried fish and Chilly pepper
Highlife Music and Cultural Songs
Nick: Matoke with gnut sauce