Knowledge Education and Social Structure in Africa

<p>In searching for the potential that lies in African societies the chapters of this volume consider relationships between knowledge education and social structure from multiple angles from a macro-continental scale to national education systems schools and local communities. The themes that cut across the chapters include education as a mode of transmitting values the contrasting effects of school credentials and knowledge for use politics and interactions among people surrounding a school and knowledge acquisition as a subjective process. The rich empirical analyses suggest that the subjective commitment of and mutuality among people will make the acquired knowledge a powerful 'tool for conviviality' to realize a stable life even given the turmoil created by rapid institutional and environmental changes that confront African societies.</p>