The Struggling State

Following independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea's leaders were praised for their success at building a coherent nation, but over the last two decades the government has increasingly turned to coercion particularly by forcing citizens into endless military service. The Struggling State: Teachers, Mass Militarization and the Reeducation of Eritrea is an ethnographic exploration of how citizens' redefined their relationship with the nation in response to the state's increased authoritarianism and use of force. Extremes of coercion and control led Eritreans' to imagine the once-heroic ruling party as turning against them, which, in turn unraveled the legitimacy of state-produced imaginaries of the nation. The book focuses on teachers, who were situated to do the work of hyphenating, or gluing, nation to state but instead had to navigate between their devotion to educating the nation and their discontent with their role in the government program of mass militarization. As teachers confronted their own conflicted imaginaries of the state and questioned what it meant to be Eritrean, they reeducated the nation, but not necessarily in the way the government wanted them to

Following independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea's leaders were praised for their success at building a coherent nation, but over the last two decades the government has increasingly turned to coercion particularly by forcing citizens into endless military service. The Struggling State: Teachers, Mass Militarization and the Reeducation of Eritrea is an ethnographic exploration of how citizens' redefined their relationship with the nation in response to the state's increased authoritarianism and use of force. Extremes of coercion and control led Eritreans' to imagine the once-heroic ruling party as turning against them, which, in turn unraveled the legitimacy of state-produced imaginaries of the nation. The book focuses on teachers, who were situated to do the work of hyphenating, or gluing, nation to state but instead had to navigate between their devotion to educating the nation and their discontent with their role in the government program of mass militarization. As teachers confronted their own conflicted imaginaries of the state and questioned what it meant to be Eritrean, they reeducated the nation, but not necessarily in the way the government wanted them to. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

Introduction: Everyday authoritarianism, teachers and the tenuous hyphen in nation-state --Struggling for the nation: Contradictions of revolutionary nationalism --"It seemed like a punishment": Coercive state effects and the maddening state --Students or soldiers?: Troubled state technologies and the imagined future of educated Eritrea --Reeducating Eritrea: Disorder, disruption and remaking the nation --The teacher state: Morality and everyday sovereignty over schools --Conclusion: Escape, encampment and alchemical nationalism.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Everyday Authoritarianism, Teachers, and the Decoupling of Nation and State -- 1. Struggling for the Nation: Contradictions of Revolutionary Nationalism -- 2. "It Seemed like a Punishment": Coercive State Effects and the Maddening State -- 3. Students or Soldiers? Troubled State Technologies and the Imagined Future of Educated Eritrea -- 4. Educating Eritrea: Disorder, Disruption, and Remaking the Nation -- 5. The Teacher State: Morality and Everyday Sovereignty over Schools -- Conclusion: Escape, Encampment, and the Alchemy of Nationalism -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Introduction: Everyday authoritarianism, teachers and the decoupling of nation and state --. - Struggling for the nation: Contradictions of revolutionary nationalism --. - "It seemed like a punishment": Coercive state effects and the maddening state --. - Students or soldiers?: Troubled state technologies and the imagined future of educated Eritrea --. - Educating Eritrea: Disorder, disruption and remaking the nation --. - The teacher state: Morality and everyday sovereignty over schools --. - Conclusion: Escape, encampment and the alchemy of nationalism