Adwa in Ethiopia’s High School History Curriculum: The Interface among History, Pedagogy, Ideology and Nation Building

Abstract

The principal objective of this research is to assess the representation of Adwa in
the Ethiopian secondary school curricular resources, especially textbooks and
syllabus. I argue in this study that Adwa has not been given the coverage it
deserves in Ethiopian secondary school curricular materials; syllabus, text books
and other teaching-learning resources. I claim that high school history during the
two regimes, the Derg and the EPRDF, has not been sufficiently exploited to
promote our national consciousness, our historical achievements and the nation’s
glorious past. The study demonstrates the linkage between power and knowledge
creation, and the historical truism that states tend to support educational system
and policy that guarantees their own survival and perpetuation. By so doing the
study purports the instrumentality of Adwa in fostering community cohesion,
patriotism, a sense of common past and other useful civic virtues, an objective
which had not been adequately exploited thus far. This study therefore aims to
demonstrate (mainly on the basis of content analysis of the resources at hand) that
our shared common past such as the victory of Adwa had not been given the
coverage it deserves in Ethiopian Secondary School curricular resources,
reiterating that this has been a missed opportunity to promote community cohesion
and national unity.