ABSTRACT

Education played a vital role in the shifting nature of colonial administration and the reshaping of colonial relations in the nineteenth century. The activities that occurred within classrooms shaped the behaviour and identity of children towards an imperial norm while beyond the school walls the changing management structure tied various local actors together within state regulations. This paper examines the process of centralising education in Trinidad. While influenced by the model of nationalised education emerging in white-settler colonies, the constellation of local relations resulted in something uniquely different. Reforms in Trinidad demonstrate how colonial governance was reshaped by co-opting non-state actors into its functioning but had to ensure that those actors maintained their field of independent actions to do so. While educational reforms took a unique path in Trinidad, the expanding influence from the colonial centre eventually shaped the education system to align with other systems elsewhere in the Empire.

摘要

教育在 19 世纪殖民管理性质的转变和殖民关系的重塑中发挥了至关重要的作用。课堂内发生的活动将儿童的行为和身份塑造成一种帝国规范，而在学校围墙之外，不断变化的管理结构将各种地方行为者在国家法规内联系在一起。本文考察了特立尼达集中教育的过程。虽然受到白人定居者殖民地出现的国有化教育模式的影响，地方关系的星座导致了一些独特的不同。特立尼达的改革展示了如何通过将非国家行为者纳入其运作来重塑殖民治理，但必须确保这些行为者保持其独立行动领域才能这样做。