A Critical Literacy Analysis of How Nonmainstream Ethnic Groups Are Represented in Public School Textbooks

• In Event: Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum, Textbooks, and Nation-State

Abstract

Textbooks as cultural artifacts are produced through sociopolitical processes associated with a certain time and place. As such, they are not without biases. Roll out of the Common Core State Standards offers a unique opportunity to move from a narrow conception of critical thinking to a critical multicultural stance. The study analyzes textbooks used in the Southwestern region of the United States. The analysis instrument developed by Grant and Sleeter (2009) involved counting images of ethnic and gender groups and noting how groups were represented. Results indicated that although some progress has been made toward increasing the depiction of ethnic/racial groups in textbooks, White Euro-Americans continue to dominate the majority of the texts and stereotyped patterns of representation continue.

Authors

• Paulo A. Oemig, New Mexico State University

• Andrea Abeita, The University of New Mexico

• Lucia Chacon Diaz, New Mexico State University

• Christine E. Sleeter, California State University - Monterey Bay