The politics of education in Senegal, 1885--1914

This dissertation focuses on the political implications of education in Senegal from 1884 to 1914, a period during which French colonial officials created significant numbers of new schools and reformed existing ones. It asks how the development of colonial schooling in Senegal figured into local political struggles, and it questions how the politics of pre-existing educational methods---those based in the family and in Qur'anic schools---shaped Africans' perceptions of French schools. The dissertation also addresses the politics of generation, considering the extent to which young people, especially school applicants and members of the Young Senegalese political party, used colonial schooling as a resource in challenging existing power hierarchies. Finally, it asks how French schools shaped an emerging politics of race and difference, particularly visible among Senegalese students in France and North Africa and in debates about school segregation.;This dissertation is based primarily on archival research conducted in Senegal and France; oral interviews, ethnographies, and other sources supplement the archival materials. I rely on over two hundred fifty letters written by African adults and children, which allow me to approach the subject of schooling from African points of view. Police officers' reports on the Young Senegalese provide key evidence regarding the implications of schooling for generational politics in Saint-Louis. A variety of other documents reveals French and African goals and locates moments of negotiation and debate.;The history of schooling in colonial Africa is not a new subject of inquiry, but my work contributes to the existing literature by exploring an African politics of education. Rather than focusing on policies or institutions, I highlight local controversies regarding colonial schooling, and I analyze African attempts to incorporate these institutions into their own personal or political strategies. Focusing on a variety of African actors, including chiefs, teachers, parents, and especially young people, and on the dynamic exchanges between African forms of education and French schools, I conclude that Africans not only sought to employ colonial schools in strategies to obtain power and prestige, but that they also actively shaped the experience of colonial schooling.