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12 August 2020 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Supplied
Dr Rebecca Swartz’s book Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies, 1833-1880 has been honoured with various international awards.

Dr Rebecca Swartz, postdoctoral scholar in the International Studies Group, received glowing international recognition for her publication: Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies, 1833-1880 (Cham: Palgrave, 2019). 

The book has won the prestigious Grace Abbott Book Prize (best book in English) from the Society for the History of Children and Youth (SHCY), which is awarded biannually, as well as the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) First Book Award. It has also been nominated for the Kevin Brehony prize from the History of Education Society (UK).

“It feels wonderful to have my work recognised by the international academic community,” said a delighted Dr Swartz.

Education as tool for oppression

She explains that the book traces the involvement of government in the education of indigenous people across a number of former British colonies.  

“It shows how education was increasingly seen as a government responsibility towards indigenous people during the nineteenth century. However, this does not mean that there was widespread access to education in the colonies; rather, education was provided along racial lines. In the two major sites of my study, KwaZulu-Natal (then Natal) and Western Australia, education for indigenous people was used to train them as workers, rather than to provide a literary education. The book shows that even when education was posed by imperial and colonial governments as a humanitarian intervention – something that would ‘uplift’, ‘improve’ or convert or ‘civilise’ the population – in settler colonial contexts such as South Africa and Australia, it was part of the apparatus of control and dominance over colonised people.”

For her, the most remarkable thing that her research has brought to light, was how the colonial project was full of contradictions. The imperial government provided education to the very same people it dispossessed of land and coerced into settlers’ labour forces.
“It was important for the British imperial government to appear to be humanitarian in outlook. However, they did not consider halting colonial settlement, and continued to violently colonise other parts of the world. As the nineteenth century progressed, they increasingly turned to rigid racial hierarchies to justify their practices,” says Dr Swartz.

International accolades

The SCHY called Dr Swartz’s work “a tour de force and an impressive template for how to do a multi-sited history where childhood is central to questions of imperial, political and educational history.”

The award committee’s commentary also stated: “Drawing on detailed archival research relating to the education of indigenous children in a range of British settler colonies, Rebecca Swartz offers convincing new insights into the centrality of childhood to shifting ideas around race and indigeneity in the British imperial project.”Some of the criteria considered by adjudicators of the ISCHE award were: Excellence and thoroughness of historical research, innovative and rigorous thinking, use of original and primary materials, and impact on history of education. 

Relevance for SA education today

Dr Swartz believes the book shows that education (both schooling and broader social education, such as teaching children good manners and morals, for example) is always reflective of broader political contexts.

“My work shows how in this country, education systems were actually set up to support and sustain forms of colonial rule by keeping certain skills, institutions, and systems of knowledge away from the majority of the population, while simultaneously denigrating their pre-existing knowledge and education systems. We need to understand more about the colonial origins of our education practices if we are to radically shift these in order to make education more equitable and inclusive,” she explains. 

ISG stimulating intellectual excellence

Dr Swartz describes the International Studies Group as “the most stimulating intellectual home that I have had in my research career to date”. She is grateful to be part of a community of brilliant scholars from all over the world, guided by Prof Ian Phimister, ISG Head, sharing ideas in formal seminars and also enjoying informal exchanges of ideas over coffee in the mornings.

“Prof Phimister has been a wonderful host and mentor. He is always available for advice and to read work, but also allows us postdocs to get on with what we do best: research and writing.”

News Archive

UFS works closely with employees in the post-Reitz settlement process
2013-05-20

20 May 2013

In the light of an article in IOL News on 18 and 19 May 2013 and in Sunday Independent and Sunday Tribune on 19 May 2013 in which it is alleged that the University of the Free State (UFS) has failed to honour its commitment to the five Reitz employees we are pleased to report on the ongoing process and progress made with respect to their employment.

The university remained consistently true to the settlement agreement and High Court order of 2011 and cannot apologise for complying with the law. It was therefore impossible for us to talk to our colleagues directly until last week when we had a breakthrough meeting, which was cleared by the Human Rights Commission (HRC), and matters were resolved.

The UFS continues to work closely and now directly with the five employees to ensure that their rights as employees remain the highest priority in the post-settlement process.
 
All but one of the conditions of the Reitz settlement (own business) has already been met; however, we are in the process of providing training and support for the establishment of an independent business led by the employees.

After some delays, and frustration on all sides, we have found the right training provider for them and are satisfied that the process remains on track. The business office (furnished) has been allocated at the South Campus in Bloemfontein.

Already in late 2012 the Chair of the HRC expressed his satisfaction with the commitments made by the university to the process. By 30 June 2013 this outstanding commitment to establish an independent company with trained employees would also have been met in full.

Beyond the settlement agreement, the UFS has also committed to providing free education and training to the children of the employees so that their next generation of families emerge as strong, independent, well-trained and productive members of society. The child of one of the colleagues is in fact finishing Grade 12 this year and we are in discussion about possible studies at the UFS. This is our pledge and commitment as a university.

This final step in the post-Reitz settlement is being led by Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector of the University of the Free State.

 

Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director Strategic Communication
Tel: +27 (0) 51 401 2584 / +27 (0) 83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 (0) 51 444 6393
Web: www.ufs.ac.za

 

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