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LUCAS Schools Project

This images shows a group of eight African postgraduates standing in a line in front of a school entrance.

The LUCAS Schools Project (2004-2020) was an outreach initiative that recruited, trained, and supported over 120 African postgraduate students at the University of Leeds to deliver more than 350 African Voices activity programmes to over 9,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools in Leeds about the African continent and its peoples. The development of the African Voices programmes was practice-led, it evolved from the experience gained in the delivery of activities in the classroom and from the evidence gathered of impact assessments. The project’s comprehension of young people’s perceptions of Africa and Africans reflected and corroborated theoretical concepts of ‘otherness’ explored by advocates of theories of postcolonialism and infrahumanisation.

The LUCAS Schools Project has now been suspended and may return at a future date. In the mean time, the key learning points from the project are summarised on these pages. Research data collected about young people's perception of Africa and impact evidence gathered about the effectiveness of the African Voices programmes has been analysed in the following article in the LUCAS Bulletin.

Influence of Affluence and Diversity on Perceptions of Africa: The African Voices Schools Project