ABSTRACT
In this chapter, education is explored in relation to its essential function in the rise of the modern form of the nation-state. The role of education in the politics of national identity is explored as is the role of the apparatuses of education in shaping a self-governing citizenry and in charting its condition. The global scope of education as we know it is briefly described, and the effects of geo-education on geopolitics is considered. The rise of education as an area of academic study is described in its constrained functioning, as purveyor of myth, in relation to the ethic of improvement and redemption. The almost universal theological faith in education that prevails is explained. The chapter finally proposes that historical ontology requires that we rethink the identity of educational apparatuses in relation to their historical emergence and material development rather than in theological terms.
