"Re-Membering" North African Immigrants in High School French History Textbooks: A Fanonian Analysis

• In Event: 42.074 - Troubling (Post)Colonial Histories: Curriculum, Policy, and Public Spaces

Abstract

The theoretical interrogation of the curriculum and ideology has been an object of critical analysis in educational studies throughout the twentieth century. In this paper, we continue the interrogation of curriculum and ideology by using Franz Fanon's theories on colonization to conduct a textual analysis of immigration, race, and religion in high school French history textbooks. We argue that the history curricula imparted upon young French citizens is imbued with a racialized ideology that (mis)educates French citizens about the history of North African immigration in France. We position King, Swartz, Campbell et al.'s (2014) scholarship on "re-membering" history as a framework for "re-membering" historical knowledge to advance a truthful and socially just history of North Africans in France.

Authors

• David Alexander, Georgia Department of Education

• Michael Bartone, Central Connecticut State University