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Vithetens normalitet - diskriminering och representation av familjekonstellationer : En kvalitativ läromedelsanalys i samhällskunskapens digitala läromedel för årskurs 4–6

Authors
  • Larsson, Linnea
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2020
Source
DiVA - Academic Archive On-line
Keywords
Language
Swedish
License
Green
External links

Abstract

One of the major principles in teaching are textbooks materials. The purpose of this study is to examine how textbooks materials unintentionally become intermediaries of structural discrimination. One important area to examine is how civic textbooks talk about the family and discrimination. Based on the concepts of white normativity and ethnocentrism, three digital educational materials for the civics subject of primary school are examined. With theoretical points on skin colour, this study examines which individuals are included and excluded from the textbook materials and in what contexts individuals are represented. With a discourse analysis as theory and method, several questions have been asked about the texts and images of the textbook materials used in this study. The overall purpose is to try to answer the question; is there a perceived underlying expression of a white normativity and ethnocentrism in the teaching materials? Specifically, the study will examine the two questions touched upon above: Which individuals are included and excluded in the teaching materials? and How does the Western ethnocentric perspective and white normativity in the teaching materials appear? The results of the study demonstrate that white normativity prevails in all the textbook materials studied and that there are examples of ethnocentric expressions. An underlying pattern can be seen that non-white individuals are underrepresented in the textbook materials and that the contexts which non-whites are represented demonstrate a discriminatory and narrow framework. In addition, the study opens for interpretation that the area studied in the textbook materials used, does not reflect an overall picture of what Sweden's population actually looks like for children and adolescents today. Furthermore, the results present that the content of the examined learning material goes against what the school's regulatory documents express, i.e. that the school should convey values and explicitly distance itself from discrimination and racism.

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