Ethiopian Education E. Sylvia Pankhurst Surveys Schools and Students in Postwar Ethiopia 1947

Sylvia Pankurst Education In Ethiopia

Pamphlets

Pankhurst, E. Sylvia. Education in Ethiopia, 1947, examines Ethiopian education during the postwar reconstruction of a school system disrupted by the Italian occupation of 1936–1941. Better known for her leadership in the British suffrage movement, Pankhurst became an outspoken opponent of Fascist Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia and subsequently devoted decades to Ethiopian political and social affairs through New Times and Ethiopia News. Published with a foreword by Ato Emmanuel Abraham, Director-General of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, the pamphlet addresses the development of Ethiopian schooling through contemporary information and extensive photographic documentation of students, classrooms, and educational institutions.

Pankhurst, E. Sylvia. Education in Ethiopia. London: New Times and Ethiopia News, Norman, Hooper & Co., [1947]. First edition. 36 pages, with 27 photographs and a map. Original printed publisher’s wrappers, stapled as issued. 8vo. Foreword by Ato Emmanuel Abraham, Director-General of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education. The illustrations show Ethiopian children in classrooms and other educational settings, supplying a visual record of the schools discussed in Pankhurst’s text. The map places the educational survey geographically, while Abraham’s contribution connects the publication directly with the Ethiopian government ministry responsible for education.

The pamphlet appeared six years after Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia following the end of Italian occupation and during the rebuilding and expansion of the country’s educational institutions. Pankhurst’s sustained involvement with Ethiopia distinguishes the work from a general British account of African education: she had founded New Times and Ethiopia News in 1936 in opposition to the Italian invasion and continued publishing on Ethiopian affairs after the war. The combination of Pankhurst’s text, Abraham’s foreword, 27 contemporary photographs, and the map records Ethiopian education during this period of post-occupation reconstruction. Paper lightly browned due to stock; otherwise a very good copy.

Item #16717

Price: $225.00