Peer Reviewed Articles
Dunlop, E. 2024. "Looking to the Past to Understand the Present: Legacies of Inequality, Status Changes, and Collective Memory in Burundi's Post-War Schooling." Ethnopolitics.
Abstract:
How do efforts to reduce ethnic inequality in schooling interact with narratives of inequality and past grievances in schools after ethnicity-based conflict? In this paper, I analyse interviews with 114 youth in Burundi to explore the intersection of these narratives given a power-sharing agreement and changes in group status in post-war Burundi. I show that despite government efforts, narratives of exclusion and inequality in the past persist, and have become more complex. This study has implications for our understanding of the role of redressing education inequalities in short- and long-term peacebuilding processes.
Abstract:
How do efforts to reduce ethnic inequality in schooling interact with narratives of inequality and past grievances in schools after ethnicity-based conflict? In this paper, I analyse interviews with 114 youth in Burundi to explore the intersection of these narratives given a power-sharing agreement and changes in group status in post-war Burundi. I show that despite government efforts, narratives of exclusion and inequality in the past persist, and have become more complex. This study has implications for our understanding of the role of redressing education inequalities in short- and long-term peacebuilding processes.
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Dunlop, E. and Y. Bekkouche. 2023. "It's our turn (not) to learn: The pitfalls of education reform during post-war institutional transformation in Burundi." International Journal of Educational Development.
Abstract: In this study, we investigate the relationship between education reform, institutional legacies of inequality, and changing political institutions in a poor, conflict-affected country. Burundi experienced a dramatic change in ethnic and regional power relations after the 1993–2005 civil war. The post-war government prioritized education to previously marginalized regions, both in access and in attainment. Moreover, they needed and wanted to deliver on wartime and election promises after the 2010 elections. We leverage test score data from four nationwide exams in primary and secondary education from 2006 to 2012. Our difference-in-differences analysis shows a dramatic shift in test scores, with the schools in the north of the country, deprived before the civil war, outperforming schools in the south. Results are robust across datasets. We derive policy implications for understanding how post-conflict governments can build inclusive institutions through education after conflict, and how governments can overcome institutional legacies of educational inequality. Dunlop, E. (2021). "Ethnicity, Exclusion, and Exams: Education Policy and Politics in Burundi from Independence to the Civil War (1962—1993).” Africa Spectrum.
Abstract: Education policy can embed ethnic inequalities in a country and contribute to conflict. Education in Burundi, with its historically exclusive political institutions and education, represents an important case for understanding these interactions. In this paper, I interview twelve Burundians about how they experienced and perceived ethnicity and politics in their schooling from 1966-1993. I argue that education contributed to tangible and perceived social hierarchies based on ethnic inequalities. I show that this exclusion reflected both overt and covert policy goals, through proxies used to identify ethnicity in schools and through the exclusive nature of national exams at the time, which promoted members of the Tutsi minority at the expense of the majority Hutus. This study has implications for understanding how perceptions of inequality in education manifest as grievances against the state. It sheds light on the importance of understanding covert education policy as a potential mechanism for generating exclusion and contributing to conflict |
Dunlop, E. 2023. “Regional Favouritism, Elections, and Legacies of Inequality: The Dynamics of Education Redistribution in Post-War Burundi.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.
Abstract: Addressing education inequalities is important for institution building post-war. Yet, tensions exist in education development between persistent institutional legacies of inequality and changing ethnoregional power after violence. I analyse the distribution of national exam participation in post-war Burundi to explore this tension. I find that while marginalized groups have gained access to political power, inequalities in access to education have increased over time. I argue that redistributive education priorities are not directly able to overcome legacies of institutional inequality in the short- and long-term without policies that look holistically and beyond education access in resource poor-countries such as Burundi. Dunlop, E. & E. King. (2021). “Education at the intersection of conflict and peace: the inclusion and framing of education provisions in African peace agreements from 1975—2017.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 51 (3): 375-395.
Abstract: International actors have called for greater inclusion of education provisions in peace agreements given the important symbolic and practical roles peace agreements play post-conflict. Yet, the inclusion, framing, and roles of education in peace agreements remain understudied. This paper investigates the trends in education’s inclusion in African peace agreements from 1975–2017. We provide a descriptive quantitative analysis of education trends over time, test several hypotheses that may explain these trends, and apply these findings to a qualitative case study in Burundi to illustrate key factors in implementation. We find that education is present in 46% of agreements, that the presence of international actors and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration provisions increases the likelihood of inclusion, and that educational structure and content clauses are equally likely to be included. These findings have implications for international education practice and forward a research agenda for further study by international education and conflict scholars. |
Book Chapters in Edited Volumes
Dunlop, E. (2022). From Peace Agreement to Textbook: Education Content for Peacebuilding in Post-War Burundi. In C. Vanner, T Kovinthan-Levi and S. Askeer (Eds) Teaching Peace and Conflict: The Multiple Roles of School Textbooks in Peacebuilding. Springer.
Abstract:
Recent policy on education in conflict argues that it is important to include education in peace agreements to promote peace after violence. However, little is known about the effects of such inclusion on peace or how such provisions would be implemented in classrooms. This chapter looks at their implementation in textbooks, using the case of Burundi's social science textbooks from Years 7 to 9. Burundi's Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement (APRA) mentions education 24 times—far exceeding any other African peace agreement from 1975–2018. The APRA has explicit mandates to address educational causes of violence including clauses for peace, national unity, democracy, ethnic tolerance, and human rights education. Through a content analysis of these textbooks, applying the IREC framework and work by Lynn Davies, I find that education alternates between serving as a transformer of, and accomplice to, violence. I argue that while textbooks do address several clauses in the peace agreement, they also provide contradictory messages relating to peace building after violence. This contradictory nature is indicative of larger trends in implementation of peace agreement clauses and highlights the need for greater specificity and implementation plans post-agreement.
Dunlop, E. (2022). From Peace Agreement to Textbook: Education Content for Peacebuilding in Post-War Burundi. In C. Vanner, T Kovinthan-Levi and S. Askeer (Eds) Teaching Peace and Conflict: The Multiple Roles of School Textbooks in Peacebuilding. Springer.
Abstract:
Recent policy on education in conflict argues that it is important to include education in peace agreements to promote peace after violence. However, little is known about the effects of such inclusion on peace or how such provisions would be implemented in classrooms. This chapter looks at their implementation in textbooks, using the case of Burundi's social science textbooks from Years 7 to 9. Burundi's Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement (APRA) mentions education 24 times—far exceeding any other African peace agreement from 1975–2018. The APRA has explicit mandates to address educational causes of violence including clauses for peace, national unity, democracy, ethnic tolerance, and human rights education. Through a content analysis of these textbooks, applying the IREC framework and work by Lynn Davies, I find that education alternates between serving as a transformer of, and accomplice to, violence. I argue that while textbooks do address several clauses in the peace agreement, they also provide contradictory messages relating to peace building after violence. This contradictory nature is indicative of larger trends in implementation of peace agreement clauses and highlights the need for greater specificity and implementation plans post-agreement.
Book Reviews
Dunlop, E. (2018). (Re)constructing Memory: Education, Identity, and Conflict. Michelle Bellino and James Williams. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2017 in Journal of Education and Emergencies.
Under Review/Working Papers
*indicates first author.
“The More, the Better? A Comparative Study of Primary School Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa” (with Yasmine Bekkouche)
* “Education in Post-Conflict Reconstruction” In. A. W. Wiseman, E. Anderson, L. Damaschke-Dietrick, E. Gallegher, N. Dzotsenidze, & M. Park. (Eds). The Handbook of Comparative Education. Invited, Anticipated 2024 Publication Date. Edward Elgar Publishers (with Rena Deitz, with editors for review)
“Does Access to Higher Education Affect Pro-Democratic Values in Kenya? Evidence from A Regression Discontinuity Design” (with Elisabeth King, Dana Burde, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill, Simon Grinsted, and Dorothy Seaman)
"Constructing Hope: Adapting the Everyday Peace Indicators Methodology to Understand Youth Hope in Kenya" (with Amanda Blewitt, Elisabeth King, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill, Dana Burde, and Simon Grinsted)
*indicates first author.
“The More, the Better? A Comparative Study of Primary School Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa” (with Yasmine Bekkouche)
* “Education in Post-Conflict Reconstruction” In. A. W. Wiseman, E. Anderson, L. Damaschke-Dietrick, E. Gallegher, N. Dzotsenidze, & M. Park. (Eds). The Handbook of Comparative Education. Invited, Anticipated 2024 Publication Date. Edward Elgar Publishers (with Rena Deitz, with editors for review)
“Does Access to Higher Education Affect Pro-Democratic Values in Kenya? Evidence from A Regression Discontinuity Design” (with Elisabeth King, Dana Burde, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill, Simon Grinsted, and Dorothy Seaman)
"Constructing Hope: Adapting the Everyday Peace Indicators Methodology to Understand Youth Hope in Kenya" (with Amanda Blewitt, Elisabeth King, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill, Dana Burde, and Simon Grinsted)
