Critical Pedagogy and Empowerment of Business Education Students in Marginalized Communities in Northern Nigeria: An Ethnographic Study

This study employed an ethnographic approach to investigate the role of critical pedagogy in the empowerment of Business Education students from marginalized communities in Northern Nigeria. Critical pedagogy, rooted in the Freirean tradition of consciousness-raising and problem-posing education, challenges oppressive social structures and positions students as active agents of personal and community transformation. In the context of Northern Nigeria, where structural inequalities, gender disparities, and ethnic marginalization intersect to limit educational outcomes, understanding how critical pedagogical practices function within Business Education is both theoretically significant and practically urgent. A two-year ethnographic study was conducted in four Business Education classrooms in secondary schools and a college of education across Zamfara, Yobe, and Niger States. Participant observation, in-depth interviews with 60 students and 15 teachers, and focus group discussions were employed for data generation. Data were analyzed using thick description, reflexive thematic analysis, and discourse analysis. Findings reveal that Business Education classrooms employing critical pedagogical approaches, including problem-posing exercises, community business case studies, and student-led economic analysis, produced significantly greater levels of critical consciousness, civic participation, and entrepreneurial agency among marginalized students. However, teacher comfort with power-sharing and institutional resistance to curriculum flexibility were identified as structural barriers. The study makes an original theoretical contribution by applying critical pedagogy theory to Business Education in conflict-affected Northern Nigeria. Keywords: critical pedagogy, student empowerment, marginalized communities, Northern Nigeria, Business Education ethnography