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This study examines how students of majority and minority ethnic backgrounds in Botswana understand national identity as inclusive of their ethnic groups. Within assimilationist policies and curriculum, we find that the value of national identity rests on its positioning as a path toward higher levels of education and employment. However, for ethnic minority students, enacting this national identity requires sacrifice of other desired dimensions of a future good life, including ethnic identity.

This article examines nation state policies that have prioritized toleration of diversity over recognition through comparative case studies of three junior secondary schools in Botswana. Through data collected in observations, focus groups, interviews and participatory action research, we demonstrate how the schools, which varied in the ethnic composition of their students, teachers and surrounding communities, responded differently to the reality of their multicultural student bodies. Two followed national policies closely, while the third crafted school-level policies adapted to its student population, yet tightly constricted by national policies and curriculum. In all three schools, students of ethnic minority backgrounds experienced varying degrees of shame, discrimination and a sense of exclusion from the nation and found little recourse to discuss and address these experiences within the structures of their schools. We argue that schools could better develop students' capacity for equal citizenship were they supported by national education policies and curriculum to recognize the cultural, historical and linguistic diversity of Botswana's ethnic minorities explicitly in schools.

This study examines how education can disrupt threats of conflict, specifically in the presence of ethnic diversity. We present a historical analysis of Botswana, using methods of process tracing drawing on documents, in-depth interviews, and Afrobarometer survey data. Postindependence Botswana engaged in redistribution of educational access across ethnic groups and promotion of common civic principles of social harmony. At the same time, it constructed through schools ethnically based national identity, which excluded many minorities. Lack of recognition for ethnic minorities remains a persistent challenge, yet it exists in a context of high commitment to unity and the nation-state, even among minority groups, which may have allowed recent dissent to happen peacefully. The article defines mechanisms by which educational redistribution and recognition can disrupt resource-based and identity-based inequalities that often lead to conflict. This model holds promise for conflict avoidance and mitigation in multiethnic states globally.

Background: Cancer incidence is increasing in Africa, and the majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, limiting treatment options and survival. We sought to understand care patterns and factors contributing to delayed diagnosis and treatment initiation among patients with cancer in Botswana. Patients and Methods: We recruited 20 patients who were enrolled in a prospective cancer cohort in Botswana to a qualitative substudy that explored cancer care pathways and factors affecting cancer care access and quality. We conducted an in‐depth interview with each participant between October 2014 and January 2015, using a a structured interview guide with questions about initial cancer symptoms, previous consultations, diagnosis, and care pathways. Medical records were used to confirm dates or treatment details when needed. Results: Individual and interpersonal factors such as cancer awareness and social support facilitated care‐seeking behaviors. However, patients experienced multiple delays in diagnosis and treatment because of provider and health system barriers. Health system factors, such as misdiagnosis, understaffed facilities, poor referral communication and scheduling, and inadequate laboratory reporting systems, affected access to and quality of cancer care. Conclusion: These findings highlight the need for interventions at the patient, provider, and health system levels to improve cancer care quality and outcomes in Botswana. Results also suggest that widespread cancer education has potential to promote early diagnosis through family and community networks. Identified barriers and facilitators suggest that interventions to improve community education and access to diagnostic technologies could help improve cancer outcomes in this setting. Implications for Practice: The majority (54%) of patients with cancer in Botswana present with advanced‐stage cancer despite universal access to free health care, limiting the options for treatment and decreasing the likelihood of positive treatment outcomes. To reduce time from symptom onset to cancer treatment initiation, causes of delay in cancer care trajectories must be identified. The narratives of the patients interviewed for this study give insight into psychosocial factors, outlooks on disease, lower‐level provider delays, and health system barriers that contribute to substantial delays for patients with cancer in Botswana. Identification of problems and barriers is essential for development of effective interventions to mitigate these factors, in order to improve cancer outcomes in this population. The cancer burden in low‐and middle‐income countries (LMIC) is significant and is increasing. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore care‐seeking patterns and identify factors contributing to delayed cancer diagnosis and treatment among cancer patients in Botswana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ways in which education policy and practice in Botswana negotiate tensions between assimilationist and multiculturalist approaches to ethnic diversity. We find that the curriculum, as written and as taught, is preoccupied with unity and the avoidance of armed conflict, goals that have perpetuated an assimilationist approach, normed around the culture and language of the Tswana ethnic majority. We argue that a multicultural approach could foster conditions of positive peace, including recognition and equality of opportunity across ethnic groups, which is more urgent today given the sustained absence of armed conflict. We offer strategies for how practitioners and policy makers might move forward in transforming existing multicultural policy discourse into multicultural school practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how education can disrupt threats of conflict, specifically in the presence of ethnic diversity. We present a historical analysis of Botswana, using methods of process tracing drawing on documents, in-depth interviews, and Afrobarometer survey data. Postindependence Botswana engaged in redistribution of educational access across ethnic groups and promotion of common civic principles of social harmony. At the same time, it constructed through schools ethnically based national identity, which excluded many minorities. Lack of recognition for ethnic minorities remains a persistent challenge, yet it exists in a context of high commitment to unity and the nation-state, even among minority groups, which may have allowed recent dissent to happen peacefully. The article defines mechanisms by which educational redistribution and recognition can disrupt resource-based and identity-based inequalities that often lead to conflict. This model holds promise for conflict avoidance and mitigation in multiethnic states globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]