In a narrative that goes far beyond a simple retelling of events, the authors dissect the origins of educational inequality in South Africa by framing the narrative within the country's broad socioeconomic history from the time of the Dutch settlements in the 1650s to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. CONTENTS: A Timeline of Southern African Formal Schooling: 1658-1910 Introduction. A Palimpsest: Erasure and Inscription. A Troubled Start: Locating the Basis for the Introduction of Schooling. "Upwards and Onwards?" The March of Modernity into the Sub-Continent. Building the Formal System of Schooling: The Cape of Contradictions. Missionary Education in the Wider Region of Southern Africa from 1795. British Natalia: Making White Supremacy.

Establishing a Schooling System North of the Orange River: Boer Modernity. The Acceleration of Modernity: The Impact of the Mineral Revolution on Education. The Making of a Single South Africa and the Entrenchment of Racial Segregation in Schooling in South Africa.