Desire and Decline Schooling Amid Crisis in Tanzania

«The book is beautifully written. Frances Vavrus engages us in a powerful and critical analysis of one of the central salvation narratives of modernity – education as panacea for solving society’s ills and making its future. The resulting study illuminates with great clarity the assemblage that connects international agencies’ policies, healthcare programs for HIV/AIDS, and curriculum health projects, with the experiences of family and students in the Kilimanjaro Region.» (Thomas Popkewitz, University of Wisconsin-Madison)



«Frances Vavrus challenges our faith in schooling as necessarily a transformative enterprise and panacea for social ills. Using wide-ranging field data spanning six years, this book provides an exceedingly insightful study of the local meanings of what it is to be educated, exploring the interactions of local forces with global discourses, policies, and practices. Written with compassion and concern, Vavrus’s analysis of empirical data from northern Tanzania advances theory on women’s education in postcolonial societies. This book should be read by all concerned with education and development or with understanding the interaction of gender, fertility, economic decline, and schooling.» (Suzanne Grant Lewis, Assistant Professor and Director, International Education Policy Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education)