Poluha’s The Power of Continuity
As one of her lesser-known works, Eva Poluha’s the Power of Continuity was published in 2004 and has been overlooked ever since.
By exploring how a group of students interact with their peers as well as their teachers, this book analyzes how social norms and cultural conformity are instilled in Ethiopian children. Providing a very interesting and revealing window into how children recreate many of the social attitudes they see around them. Especially when it comes to matters of gender, social status and the type of automatic obedience that is owed to authority figures.
Given Poluha’s long and storied background in the field of sociology, as well as her over 30 years’ of experience in researching and living in Ethiopia, it would be wrong to hastily dismiss the Power of Continuity. As she not only builds on the well-established idea that schools are heavily influenced by the society they serve. She also highlights how institutions of learning are active participants in prioritizing and reinforcing certain social attitudes at the expense of others.
And although this book has received some attention in academic circles, its impact on public opinion, especially in Ethiopia, has left much to be desired.
For whatever small influence it has managed to achieve in our country, the Power of Continuity has been unable to transcend our very loud and myopic brand of educational discourse. Where the ideal student is characterized as an obedient and timid pupil that is more concerned with following established ideas and rules of behavior than questioning those that seek to regulate their educational and social lives.
But if you are someone that places stock in dynamic and critical students that actually reflect on what they’re told to memorize, then this is the book for you.
With its 20-year anniversary right around the corner, the Power of Continuity gives us a clear explanation as to why hierarchical, deferential and conformist attitudes have not only persisted in contemporary Ethiopia. But also how they limit our children’s ability to be the active, informed and independent citizens we claim we want them to be.
And although such a perspective might be off-putting to those of us that went through this type of socialization, this book can also benefit us. As it might help us understand why we still, even in our adult lives, feel the need to conform, seek validation from others, and adhere to some imagined or pre-determined role - be it due to our gender, age, educational level or social status.
