Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Somali Opposition to Government Education: R. E. Ellison and the Berbera School Affair, 1938–1940 1

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00467600701352331

1464-5130

Anthony Olden,

African history and culture analysis

Abstract British Somaliland, a protectorate from which Christian missionaries were excluded, opened its first government‐run school in 1938. The intention of the new director of education, Randall Ellison, was to use written Somali in preference to Arabic. This drew intense criticism from local religious leaders, and had to be abandoned. Accused of being a missionary in disguise, Ellison’s work led to a riot in the town of Burao in 1939 in which three people were killed. Although the school at Berbera functioned for just two terms, the opposition it aroused forms a link in an anti‐Western chain of events that stretches from the 1899–1920 revolt of Sayyid Muhammad ‘Abdille Hassan up to the Al‐Qaeda‐linked killing of two British teachers in 2003. This paper is based on Ellison’s letters to his family and on official and other sources. 1 The author first touched on this topic in “Colonial and Post‐Colonial Somaliland: How Religion and Politics Have Impacted on Book and Educational Development.” Library History Seminar XI, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, 27–30 October 2005. He would like to thank the Africa Educational Trust for enabling him to visit Somaliland, although these visits were not research‐related; Mary Lambert for recollections of her uncle, R.E. Ellison, and of the Ellison family; Fawzia Y.H. Adam for the story of her father, Yusuf H. Adam; and Terry Barringer (African Research & Documentation), Abdisalam Issa‐Salwe (Thames Valley University), Lucy McCann (Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House), Rosemary Seton (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Marion Wallace (British Library) for help and advice with sources. Notes 1 The author first touched on this topic in “Colonial and Post‐Colonial Somaliland: How Religion and Politics Have Impacted on Book and Educational Development.” Library History Seminar XI, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, 27–30 October 2005. He would like to thank the Africa Educational Trust for enabling him to visit Somaliland, although these visits were not research‐related; Mary Lambert for recollections of her uncle, R.E. Ellison, and of the Ellison family; Fawzia Y.H. Adam for the story of her father, Yusuf H. Adam; and Terry Barringer (African Research & Documentation), Abdisalam Issa‐Salwe (Thames Valley University), Lucy McCann (Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House), Rosemary Seton (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Marion Wallace (British Library) for help and advice with sources. 2 Report cited by Carr, Henry, in his letter to J.D.B. Fowells, 26 August 1960. BW 127/4, National Archives, London. 3 Statistics cited in Whitehead, Clive. “The Contribution of the Christian Missions to British Colonial Education.” Paedagogica Historica supplementary series 5 (1999): 321–337. 4 Nyerere, Julius K. Tanzania Ten Years after Independence. Dar es Salaam: TANU, 1971: 29. 5 Memorandum by John Beaumont Whitehead on his Career in the Colonial Education Service: 5. MSS.Afr.s.1755, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (hereafter Rhodes House). 6 Samatar, Said S. Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad ‘Abdille Hasan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 7 Issa‐Salwe, Abdisalam M. The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: the author/Haan Associates, 1994; Lewis, I.M. A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa. 4th ed. Oxford: James Currey, 2002. 8 Lieutenant‐General Sir R. Wingate’s Special Mission to Somaliland. Appendix V: Sir R. Slatin to Sir R. Wingate, 10 June 1909: 67. Unpublished, 1909, FO 881/9507, National Archives. 9 Wingate’s Special Mission, 4. 10 Minute by Lee, F.G., 9 August 1937. CO 535/124/11, National Archives. 11 Wingate, Sir Ronald. Lord Ismay: A Biography. London: Hutchinson, 1970: 7. 12 Wingate’s Special Mission, 66. 13 Jardine, Douglas. The Mad Mullah of Somaliland. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1923: 315. 14 Archer, G.F., to Viscount Milner, 23 December 1920. CO 535/119/3. 15 Hussey, E.R.J. Report on Education in the Somaliland Protectorate. CO 535/119/3. This document is not paginated. 16 Lawrance, Sir A.S., to W.G.A. Ormsby‐Gore, 5 November 1936. CO 535/119/3. 17 Whitehead, “Christian Missions”, 325. 18 Cited in Etherington, Norman. “Education and Medicine.” In Missions and Empire, edited by Norman Etherington. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 261–84. 19 Lawrance, Sir A.S., to W.G.A. Ormsby‐Gore, 13 July 1937. CO 535/124/11. 20 Minute by Lee, F.G., 9 August 1937. CO 535/124/11. 21 Lawrance, A.S. Memorandum on the Provision of Further Education Facilities in the Somaliland Protectorate. CO 535/119/3. 22 Colonial Office. Tanganyika and Somaliland Department. Memorandum on the Administration of Somaliland, April 1939. CO 535/134/14. 23 Minute by Lee, F.G., 16 August 1937. CO 535/124/10. 24 Somaliland Education Commission, 1936. Report: 6. CO 535/119/3. 25 Scott, G.C. Education in the Somaliland Protectorate, 31 August 1936: 5. CO 535/119/3. 26 Education in Somaliland (Notes by R.K. Winter): 6. CO 535/19/3. 27 Hayward, Derek. “Ellison, Gerald Alexander (1910–1992).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol 18. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 274–75. 28 Ellison, R.E. Journal, February 1945–: 7. MSS.Afr.s.1947, Rhodes House. 29 Ellison, R.E., to his mother, 22 October 1937. R.E. Ellison letters (uncatalogued), Rhodes House. All of Ellison’s letters are from the collection deposited by family members after his death. References are only supplied to letters from which direct quotations are taken. 30 Ellison to his father, 7 October 1938. 31 Ellison to his mother, 24/25 April 1938. 32 Zoller Booth, Margaret. “Settler, Missionary and the State: Contradictions in the Formulation of Educational Policy in Colonial Swaziland.” History of Education 32 (2003): 35–56. 33 Ellison to his mother, 26 May 1938. 34 Ellison to his mother, 12 June 1938. 35 Ellison to his mother, 7 October 1938. 36 Whitehead, Clive. “The Medium of Instruction in British Colonial Education: A Case of Cultural Imperialism or Enlightened Paternalism?” History of Education 24 (1995): 1–15. 37 Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. Nairobi: Heinemann Kenya, 1986: 11. 38 Desta Arefaine Bokre, and Anthony Olden. “Elementary Education in Eritrea: How Mother Tongue Language Policy Affects Pupils and Their Access to Information.” Alexandria 18 (2006): 81–95. 39 Iliffe, John. A Modern History of Tanganyika. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979: 208–09. 40 Ellison to his mother, 19 February 1939. 41 Ellison to his mother, 29 October 1938. 42 Somaliland Protectorate. Education Department. Annual Report for 1938 Submitted by R.E. Ellison, March 1939: 12. CO 535/133/5. 43 Whitehead, “Medium of Instruction”, 13. 44 Zoller Booth, “Settler, Missionary and the State”, 35. 45 Whitehead, Clive. “Education in Far Away Places: Evidence from the Periphery of Empire of the Problems of Developing Schooling in British Colonies.” Education Research and Perspectives 16 (1989): 51–69. 46 Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies. Memorandum, 21 January 1937. CO 535/119/3; MacDonald, Malcolm, to Sir Arthur Lawrance, 26 November 1935. CO 535/119/3. 47 Ellison to his mother, 30 July 1938. 48 Somaliland Protectorate, Education Department, Annual Report for 1938. 49 Ellison to his father and mother, 4 December 1938. 50 Ellison to his mother, 2 January 1939. 51 Ellison to his mother, 5 February 1939. 52 Ellison to his mother, 29 January 1939. 53 Ellison to his mother, 29 October 1938. 54 Ellison to his mother, 16/17 April 1939. 55 Glenday, Vincent, to A.J. Dawe, 3 June 1939. CO 535/132/18. 56 Somaliland Protectorate, Education Department, Annual Report for 1938. 57 This account has been compiled from Ellison, R.E. [Official account], 20 May 1939; Smith, R., to the secretary to the government, 22 May 1939, both in CO 535/132/18; and Ellison’s letters to his mother of 21 and 26 May 1939. The quotations are from Smith. 58 Mohamed, Jama. “‘The Evils of Locust Bait:’ Popular Nationalism During the 1945 Anti‐Locust Control Rebellion in Colonial Somaliland.” Past and Present no. 174 (2002): 184–216. 59 Glenday, Vincent, to A.J. Dawe, 3 June 1939. CO 535/132/18. 60 These quotations from the report of the commission of enquiry are taken from: Somaliland Protectorate. Education Department. Annual Report for 1939 Submitted by R.E. Ellison, March 1940: 4–5. CO 830/3. The author has not been able to locate a copy of the enquiry report itself. 61 Mohamed, “Evils of Locust Bait”. 62 “Extract from a semi‐official letter from Mr. Glenday, Governor, Somaliland, to Mr. Dawe dated the 7th January, 1940.” CO 535/133/3. 63 Minute by Boyd, E.B., 4 January 1940. CO 535/132/18. 64 Minute by Cohen, A.B., 25 October 1939. CO 535/133/3. 65 Minute by Vischer, Hanns, 26 October 1939. CO 535/133/3. 66 Interview with Fawzia Y.H. Adam, Hayes, Middlesex, 19 September 2006. 67 Ellison to his mother, 28 April 1940. 68 Ellison to his father, 5 August 1940. 69 Ellison to his family, 25 August 1940. 70 Allen, Charles, ed. Tales from the Dark Continent. London: Andre Deutsch and the BBC, 1979: 33. 71 Minute by Boyd, E.B., 4 January 1940. CO 535/132/18. 72 Interview with Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim, Hargeisa, 31 August 2004. 73 Interview with Yusuf Ali Abdi, Hargeisa, 28 August 2004. 74 Childs, H., to G.S.O.1, Political Branch, E.A. Command, Nairobi. CO 535/137/9. 75 Interview with Fawzia Y.H. Adam, 19 September 2006. 76 Memorandum by Whitehead, 7, 21. MSS.Afr.s.1755, Rhodes House. 77 Ellison, Journal, 39, 44. 78 Address given by the Rt Revd & Rt Hon. G.A. Ellison at the Memorial Service for Randall Ellison in Westminster Abbey on Monday 23 July 1984. MSS.Afr.s.1947, Rhodes House. 79 Ellison, Journal, 31–32. 80 Interview of F.D. Hibbert and R.E. Ellison: 16. MSS.Afr.s.1332, Rhodes House. 81 Lewis, Ioan. “Literacy and Cultural Identity in the Horn of Africa: The Somali Case.” In The Written Word: Literacy in Transition, edited by Gerd Baumann. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986: 139, 142. 82 Ellison to his father, 3 September 1938. 83 SOS Children’s Villages. “Profile: Dick and Enid Eyeington.” Available from http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity–news/eyeingtons.htm. 84 Cowan, Rosie. “From African Bush to Scotland Yard – The Murder Trail That Led to al‐Qaida.” Guardian 15 November 2005: 25.