Power, Politics, and Higher Education in Southern Africa: Interna ...

Focusing on Mozambique as the specific national case study,Dr. Cossa locates convincingly this case in the broader historical/ colonial and current globalized contexts of the transfer and control of education in Africa and the political economy that constitutes the ground of the multilevel struggle for control. He unravels the historical, contemporary, cultural, political and socio-geographic specificities of Mozambique—from the inception of the colonial education policy to the Machel and Chissano administrations and Southern African organizations such as SADC. He deals effectively with the delicate balance of analyzing a concrete case while offering a foundation for examining and understanding the general situation in other African states and regional organizations, as well as the continent as a whole,in the power arena of the global political economy and national educational processes.

Based on his findings, Dr. Cossa acknowledges the formidable power that is still appropriated by external forces and global regimes. However, his conclusions do not suggest any dogmatic perspective that would consider the domination of these powers over African agencies as ineluctable. He points to some of the important conditions for African countries and regional institutions to conquer some of the contested power for the benefits of the African countries, institutions, and people. As he argues “the implications translate beyond the area of higher education to all other sectors of a country’s life.”

Amidst the ongoing worldwide globalization process, African struggle continues in finding strategies to break the cycle of structural vulnerability that originated from the inception of colonial policies and has continued in postcolonial era through global organizations. The book offers a needed critical look into the dynamics of interaction between these organizations and thenational units transiting and operating within the sub-regional socio-geographic levels. It will contribute to the debate and policy deliberations of policymakers, students, and scholars in Africa and globally.