Gallagher, Michael

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

Minimal computing in refugee education in Uganda: economies of digital use and non-use, and the right constraints

By Akello, Martha

Using the Foundations for All (FFA) project as a frame for broader discussions of minimal computing, this paper expores education for displaced populations in Uganda and the role technology has in that education. FFA (2018–2022) was a collaboration designed to develop and implement a blended bridging programme for refugee students to participate in universities in Uganda. This paper explores the role that digital technologies had to play in this project in imagining educational futures predicated on minimalism and the judicious use and non-use of technology. When used, the emphasis on available technology was dominant, as was a pedagogical emphasis on psychosocial support and social justice. Technology seen in this approach is best imagined as facilitating opportunities for contact and care, rather than as the driver of the educational enterprise. Such an approach runs counter to many of the discourses around digital development. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Integrating refugee students into Ugandan higher education: Language, othering and everyday enactments of participation

By Nambi, Rebecca

This paper examines the everyday enactments of participation of refugee students in Ugandan higher education emerging from a research project (2020–2022). Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action was used to determine how students responded to the dominant languages, further noting the acts of othering that occur throughout this process that impact this participation and inclusion. Data were collected from three public and four private universities beginning in 2020 and ending in 2021 through interviews with refugee students and administrative staff who worked routinely with these students. The findings reveal social spaces within universities that allow for participation that largely sit outside the formal curriculum. These include the networks of support for the refugees themselves, and their engagement with informal activity, such as city walks and galas. However, the catalyst that initiated interaction with these spaces emanated from their aspirations for the future and their sense of communicative capacity in relation to those aspirations. Recommendations include providing explicit communication to point them directly to events, spaces and opportunities that they can exploit to advance their integration process. © The Author(s) 2023.

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