Van Dijk Paper on Racism and Textbooks

8/18/2019 Van Dijk Paper on Racism and Textbooks

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Paper for a symposium on Human Rights in Textbooks, organized by the

History Foundation, Istanbul – April 2004

Racism, Discourse and Textbooks

The coverage of immigration in Spanish textbooks

Teun A. van Dijk

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Second draft, April 9, 2004

Introduction

In this paper I examine some properties of the discursive

reproduction of racism in textbooks in Spain. Racism is a system of social

domination and inequality that is reproduced in many ways, for instance

by discriminatory practices. One of these practices is discourse.

Discourse is specifically relevant in the reproduction of racism because it

is also the principal means for the reproduction of racist prejudices and

ideologies. And since these racist beliefs in turn are the basis of

discriminatory practices (including discourse), it is obvious that discourse

plays a prominent role in the reproduction of racism (Van Dijk, 1984,

1987a, 1987b, 1991, 1993; Wodak & Van Dijk, 2000).

Not all discourse types are equally relevant though in these

processes of social reproduction. Obviously, news reports in the pressare more important than the weather report in this sense. Thus, because

of their impact on the formation of beliefs of many people, public

discourses have a more significant primary influence than personal,

private text and talk. There is little doubt that the discourses of the mass

media in contemporary society play a leading role in the reproduction of

socially shared beliefs.

The same is true for educational discourse. Among the few

discourse types that are ‘obligatory’ for some of the participants, namelythe students, forms of educational discourse such as lessons and


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textbooks, play a prominent role in the reproduction of society. Besides

their overt contents aiming at the acquisition of standard knowledge in

society and culture, textbooks and their hidden curricula also play an

important role in the reproduction of dominant ideologies, such as those

of race, gender and class. It is therefore important to examine in some

detail how textbooks do this (Apple, 1979, 1982, 1993; Apple & Christian-

Smith, 1991).

Also because of increasing migration, most contemporary

societies are more or less multicultural or multiethnic. Also North America

and Western Europe in the last decades have thus become increasingly

diverse. Such diversity is expressed in many ways, such as in social

practices, ideologies and discourses, for instance in politics, the media

and education. Adequate textbooks of multicultural societies may thus be

expected to reflect and promote the values of such multicultural societies.

Unfortunately, much research in the last decades has shown that this is

seldom the case. Most textbooks in the past -- and many still today --

rather reflect the prejudices and stereotypes of the dominant white,

European, group about the indigenous populations in the USA or

Australia, and about the immigrants from the South and East in virtually

all countries of Western Europe and North America (Blondin, 1990; Gill,

1992; Giustinelli, 1991; Klein, 1986; Mangan, 1993; Preiswerk, 1980;

Troyna, 1993).

Against the background of these general dimensions of discourse

and the reproduction of racism, and the more specific ones of the role of

textbooks in the discursive reproduction of racism, this paper shall

examine some properties of the coverage of immigration and minorities in

contemporary textbooks in Spain.

The case of Spain is interesting because unlike other westernEuropean countries, migration to Spain is much more recent – also

because until quite recently Spain was itself too poor a European country

to attract immigrants. Rather, it was for a long time itself the motherland

of many migrants, first of all to its own former colonies, and later to the

USA and North-Western Europe. Yet, at the same time, Spain had its

own minorities, such as the Jews and especially the ‘Gitanos’ (‘gypsies’),

who had been persecuted, expelled and discriminated against for

centuries. Until North-Africans, especially from Morocco -- often stillcalled ‘Moros’ -- arrived in large numbers during the last decade, the


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Gitanos were the main target of racist prejudice and discrimination (Calvo

Buezas, 1997; Colectivo IOE, 2001; Manzanos Bilbao, 1999; Martín Rojo

et al. 1994; SOS Racismo, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003; Van Dijk, 2003).

There are several other reasons to examine the representation of

immigration and minorities in Spanish textbooks. First of all, several

studies suggest that increasing immigration has been accompanied by

increasing racism, and that in that respect Spain has become more and

more like the other countries in Western Europe. Secondly, however, in

some respects Spain may be different than other western European

countries, for instance because of its own experiences of emigration and

the period of fascism under Franco. These experiences might have

created more pronounced ideologies of solidarity as a possible protection

against racism. Arguments for such a position might be the absence of

racist parties -- ubiquitous elsewhere in most Western Europe – and of

racist media and tabloids, as we know them from the UK and Germany.

In the present paper, thus, it is interesting to investigate whether

such a special situation of Spain – if it is true – would also be true to

textbooks. In this case we may compare to results of textbook research in

other countries which were at the same stage of immigration as Spain

has been in the last decade.

Racist discourse

It has been assumed above that racism as a system of social

inequality daily reproduces itself through social practices, such as various

forms of discrimination, exclusion, problematization, or marginalization(Back & Solomos, 2000; Bulmer & Solomos, 1999; Essed, 1991; Essed &

Goldberg, 2002; Feagin, Vera & Batur, 2001)

A crucial social practice in this case is discourse, language use or

communication. Both as directed at minorities or immigrants, for instance

in everyday conversation, as well as about Others in everyday talk as well

as public elite discourse in politics, media, education and research,

discourse plays a fundamental role in the perpetuation of racism. The

same is true, incidentally, for the reproduction of antiracism as a systemof resistance and opposition.


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Despite the vast differences between countries, ethnic groups and

discourse genres involved, racist discourse has a number of

characteristic general properties. First of all, as is the case for most

ideologically based text and talk, racist discourse tends to be polarized in

the sense that it features a negative representation of Them, combined

with a positive representation of Us. Century-old prejudices and

stereotypes fed by an ideology of racial (white) superiority have thus left

their traces in contemporary collective beliefs about non European

peoples. Such polarized representations can manifest themselves at all

levels of discourse, such as the choice of topics, the way discourse

participants are represented, in the syntactic means to emphasize or de-

emphasize agency and responsibility for good and bad actions, in

metaphors and in general in the way our good things and their bad things

are being enhanced or mitigated. We find such biased representations in

most political discourse, in the mass media as well as in textbooks

(Reisigl & Wodak, 2000, 2001; Van Dijk, 1984, 1987a, 1991, 1993;

Wodak & van Dijk, 2000).

Racism in textbooks

Textbooks are known to be shaped by the dominant ideologies of

society. They are intended not only as means to realize the explicit

curriculum of socially accepted knowledge, but also as the conduit for

prevailing norms, values and attitudes. It is therefore not surprising that

they also have been one of the main sites for the formulation of racist or

Eurocentric ideas, first about the peoples of the Third world, and then

about those from the South immigration to Europe and Northern America.

Whereas such racism in the early 20

th

century and until the Second WorldWar was quite explicit, and formulated in terms of white superiority,

contemporary forms of racism in textbooks have become more subtle and

implicit. Research on racism in textbooks of the last decades has found

the following typical characteristics:

· Exclusion: immigrants and minorities do not or barely appear as

groups represented in textbooks. Even when significant groups of

immigrants are present, many textbooks still represent society as


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homogeneous, monocultural and ‘white’. Diversity is not celebrated as

a positive value.

· Difference: if represented at all, immigrants, minorities and in

general non European peoples tend to be described as essentially

different from us; differences are emphasized and similarities are de-

emphasized.

· Exotism: The ‘positive’ side of the emphasis on difference is the

enhancement of the exotic, strange or otherwise distant nature of the

Others. This is especially the case for peoples living far away, or for

the first small groups of immigrants from such peoples.

· Stereotyping: Representations of the Others tend to be

stereotypical, schematic and fixed. Textbooks often repeat each other

in the reproduction of such stereotypes about poverty, lacking

modernity, backwardness, and so on.

· Positive self-presentation of Us: Our own group (Europeans,

nationals, etc.) are attributed many positive characteristics:

Technologically advanced, democratic, well-organized,

knowledgeable, and so on. Typically, We are being represented as

actively helping or assisting (passive) Them.

· Negative representation of Them: Besides the usual stereotypes,

Others may also be attributed many negative characteristics, such as

being violent, criminal, illegal, using drugs, authoritarian,

undemocratic, backward, passive, lazy or lacking intelligence.

· The denial of racism: The positive representation of Us also

implies the absence, denial or mitigation of the negative

representation of Us. Thus, our history of colonialism, aggression or

racism tends to be ignored or reduced. Racism is typically

represented as of the past (slavery, segregation in the USA) orelsewhere (e.g. in the USA or South-Africa), and seldom as being

here, now, among us, and in our institution.

· Lacking voice: The Others are not only represented stereotypically

and negatively, but also passively and as lacking voice. We talk and

write about Them, but they are seldom heard or represented as

speaking and giving their own opinion, and even less when saying

critical things about Us.

· Text and Images: Many of the characteristics mentioned above notonly are exhibited in text, but also in images, which typically exhibit


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the exotic, negative or problematic dimensions of Others or other

countries. Thus, we will typically see a picture of ‘huts’ in Africa or

igloos in Canada, rather than of a traffic jam among skyscrapers of

many cities in Africa, Asia or Latin America.

· Assignments: The didactic dimensions of textbooks often

presuppose the exclusive presence of ‘white’ students in class,

addressing them specifically and inviting them to reflect about the

Others as if these were not also present in class.

Many of these characteristics are not explicitly racist, but contribute to an

overall stereotypical image of a homogeneous monocultural society, and of

Them as being distant, different, absent or more or less subtly inferior to Us

Europeans. Once immigrants and minorities are being represented, such

representations may remain more or less stereotypical or negative – as Them,

rather than as part of Us. Problems of multicultural societies tend to be

emphasized, whereas the many positive aspects of diversity are ignored or

played down. Immigrants tend to be portrayed as creating problems for us, rather

than as contributing to our economic prosperity or cultural diversity.

These general characteristics of textbooks are more pronounced in

countries where immigrants or minority groups are recent. Thus, in the USA and

the UK, where debates about racism and textbooks have been going on for a

longer time than in (other) countries of Europe, textbooks have followed the

tendencies of a more general debate about multicultural education.

In Spain, this debate is more recent, and barely integrated in the

curriculum. The international debate in other countries is of course known to

education specialists in Spain, so that they did not need to begin from scratch

(for discussion, see Aparicio Gervás, 2002; Calvo Buezas, 2003; Colectivo

Amani, 2002; García Martínez & Sáez Carreras, 1998; Jordán Sierra, 2001;Martín Rojo, 2003; Ruíz Román, 2003; Sabariego Puig, 2002; Sierra Illán, 2001).

Under the influence of international debates on immigration, this also

means that Spanish textbooks are already markedly better than for instance

Dutch textbooks 20 years ago (for Dutch textbooks, see Van Dijk, 1987b). Let us

illustrate this general observation in more detail.

Spanish Textbooks


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In the remainder of this paper we examine some Spanish textbooks of

social science of obligatory secondary education (ESO), which in principle is for

adolescents between 12 and 16. Social science in general is taught together with

history and geography, and textbooks tend to be integrated. Some of the

autonomous regions use their own textbooks, in their own language. Thus

textbooks in Catalonia are in Catalan, and in order to be able to compare with

those in Castilian Spanish, we shall also examine one of these Catalan textbooks

(for details about Spanish textbooks and how they cover immigration, see

Castiello Costales, 2002).

Catalan textbook

The Catalan textbook we have examined is called Marca (Vicens Vives,

1rst edition, Barcelona 2003), used in the second year of secondary education. It

combines social sciences, geography and history and is written by a team of 5

authors (A. Albet Mas, B. Benejam Arguimbau, M. García Sebastián, C. Gatell

Arimont, and J. Roig Obiol, of which the first is professor of geography and the

others secondary school teachers). The first volume of this book, written for the

first year of ESO features a part on physical geography, and history from

prehistoric times to the Greek and Roman empires, and sections on Catalunya in

the times of the Greeks and the Romans. The volume we shall examine, Volume

2, continues the history part of this book, focusing on the Middle Ages, with a

special section on the Iberic peninsula.

Relevant for our analysis of immigration are the passages on the Arabic

period of Spain (Al Andalus). This section is written in rather ‘objective’ terms, on

the one hand in terms of conquest by the “Muslim army” and various periods of

Arabic administration between 711 and 1492, and on the other hand focusing on

the major cultural contributions, mainly those of architecture, such as the Mosquein Cordoba, and the Alhambra in Granada, as well as literary and agricultural

renewal. In other words, neither the content nor the style of this section imply a

negative attitude towards Muslims or Arabs other than in the usual way in which

historical battles and conquest is being described. On the contrary, the unique

cultural contributions of the Arab conquerors are emphasized.

The rest of the textbook is about the geography of the modern world:

demography, migration, social and political organization, rural and industrial

societies, Europe, Spain and Catalunya. Let us examine some sections of thispart of the book in somewhat more detail (words between double quotes are


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translations of Catalan words used in the text – whereas single quotes have the

usual functions of special uses of words, and so on).

A first categorization and polarization between the “developed” and the

“underdeveloped” world is made according to different “demographic models”,

with high and low birth rates, respectively (pp. 166 ff.). The demographic

“explosion” in the underdeveloped countries (nearly all in the South, and

appropriately colored orange on the world map, p. 167), which is also described

as a consequence of medical and sanitary advances (“coming from the

developed world”) is thus compared to the sometimes negative population

growth in the developed countries in the North (colored green on the map). Low

birth rates in the developed countries is explained in terms of increasing numbers

of women entering the work force and different attitudes about having children

now these are no longer needed for economic reasons. Rather strangely, no

mention is made of the increasing use of anticonception. For the

“underdeveloped” world, high birth rates are explained in terms of the economic

necessity of having many children, the social marginalization of women, and

religious beliefs. No such references are made for the religious beliefs in

developed nations such as the USA or Spain, and it is implied that women in the

South do not work, and hence more easily can have babies. These few

passages already suggest a rather generalized, if not stereotypical, polarization

between “developed” and “underdeveloped” nations, if only as far as their

demography is concerned. A picture of a well dressed, middle class, well to do

‘white’ family, seated at a table with much food, and with one child, two parents,

two grandparents (and a cat), all smiling (except the cat), and in bright colors, is

shown next to a picture of a very poor mestizo family in the countryside, with

many children, barefoot and dressed very poorly, standing in front of a very

simple house made of wooden sticks, and overall colored in brown like the soil

they are standing on. That is, the picture illustrates and emphasizes thepolarization provided in the text. No mention is made of rich nations, classes or

people in the South or of poor people in the North.

A separate chapter is dedicated to migration and population structure (pp.

172 ff). Migration is explained in terms of economic inequality in the world.

Several pictures on the first page of the chapter illustrate the multicultural

population in the UK, a Muslim woman in Ber lin, and a poor family “from”

Ecuador (without indication of where they are, but implicitly suggested that they

reside in Spain). As conditions that favor immigration are mentioned thatnecessities of people are not satisfied in the country where they live (whereas


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they can be satisfied in the country where they are going), the media that

transmit information about the new country so that people can compare with their

own circumstances, and means of transport to reach the other countries. No

mention is made of the necessities of the receiving countries, such as the need

for cheap, immigrant labor (as also the term ‘Gastarbeiter’ suggests), as well as

because of increasingly low birth rates. Besides economic reasons and natural

causes (catastrophes), also social (religious, political, etc) reasons of migration

are mentioned. That the causes of immigration are in the South and not in the

North is explicitly formulated as follows:

It is clear that migration flows are rather generated by the adverse

conditions in the countries of origin and not so much by the attraction

factors in the places of destination. Thus it is the desperation of the

inhabitants of many countries in the South which presently give rise to the

migration flows toward the countries of the North (p. 176).

A drawing linking “attraction territories” and “expelling territories” (territoris

de repulsió) shows a worried picture of a man in the first, and a happy picture of

a man in the latter, transmitted by TV to the first. Again, we see that the main

explanation of migration is the negative motivation of people in poor countries,

rather than the needs of rich countries. Also, this drawing seems to imply that

people in poor countries are unhappy and that immigrants in rich countries are

happy, thus contributing to unfounded generalizations and stereotypes, and to

ignorance about the actual living and working conditions of immigrants in rich

countries.

The authors of the textbook are of the opinion that measures need to be

taken against the “explosion” of migration. Thus, there will be less migration from

poor countries if the following actions are taken (p. 176):

· Growing investments in technology, education, health care and

infrastructure in the poor countries.

· Import barriers in underdeveloped countries need to be lowered

so that imported goods can generate wealth.

· Social and political changes (more democracy) will favor

progress.


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First of all, this passage implies that migration is a problem (“explosion”)

that need to be solved. Secondly, the solution is sought in the poor countries and

not in the rich countries. Thirdly, lowering import barriers in poor countries first of

all benefits the rich exporting countries. No mention is made of the necessity to

lower import barriers in the rich countries so that poor countries can export their

products. And finally, the poor countries are stereotypically associated with social

inequality and lacking democracy. That many of the undemocratic regimes in the

South have been created and supported by the ‘democratic’ regimes of the North

is another fact that is not fit to be read about by school kids. Thus, the textbook

gradually construes a polarized picture of the rich, democratic North and the poor

undemocratic South, and immigrants are associated with the latter.

After a brief description of the consequences of migration for the sending

and the receiving countries (in rich countries immigrants do work others do not

want to do), the focus of the next section is on migration control, described as

one of the major worries of the receiving countries. In other words, after briefly

suggesting that migrants may contribute positively to the demography and

economy of the rich countries, immigration is more emphatically defined as a

problem, as is also the case in politics and the media. These problems are

described as follows:

The countries that receive immigrants consider that the number of foreign

workers they can take in is related to the number of vacancies they need

to fill. If these limits are exceeded, illegal flows may result of persons

involved in clandestine jobs and the hidden economy.

The fact that immigrants do not find work may cause social

problems (…)

All this favors the arrival (…) of a large number of clandestine

immigrants through itineraries controlled by mafias who make money withsmuggling people and who even endanger the lives of the immigrants (p.

178).

The problem with such passages is not that they are totally wrong or

misguided, but rather that the selection of negative aspects of immigration and

immigrants creates a social representation that is predominantly negative. If only

a handful of things are being said about immigrants, and these are the same kind

of things the children hear from parents or friends or see on TV, then this canonly confirm established stereotypes. It would in that case be much more


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important to take advantage of the textbooks to emphasize those aspects of

immigration than are less known, or that tend to be denied or forgotten. Thus, in

the cited passage, immigrants are associated with such negative concepts as

‘illegal’, ‘clandestine’ as ‘creating social problems’, ‘smuggling’ and ‘mafias’, even

when they are victims of the latter. That immigrants often contribute positively to

the demography, the economy, the diversity, renewal and cultural richness of

their new homeland, would have been an alternative and less stereotypical way

of formulating the consequences of immigration. And among the social problems

one should not only mention or vaguely suggest those caused by them, but also

those caused by the receiving population, as is the case for prejudice,

discrimination and racism.

The latter issues are briefly dealt with in a special section on “Immigrants

and social problems at the place of destination”, where we find a brief typology of

different relations between immigrants and people in the receiving country, such

as integration, multiculturalism and marginalization (p. 179). When immigrants

are integrated this give us their norms, values and habits; this does not cause

any problems except a “loss of personality”. Multiculturalism is defined as the

acceptation of different norms, values and conduct by the receiving society, and

such should not lead to any problems. The third situations is defined as follows:

Marginalization or conflict arise when the receiving society and the

newcomers do not accept each other and do not respect the values,

norms and behavior of the others. Problems of racism and xenophobia

may thus be unleashed.

Migration policies are essential to avoid conflicts and to favor integration

and multiculturalism. (p. 179).

Again, in this passage, immigration and immigrants are presupposed tobe related to problems – which are said not to occur when the immigrants

integrate and do not need to occur when the receiving society recognizes and

accepts the immigrants. The latter passage mentions racism and xenophobia as

some kind of natural phenomenon, or as a problem that spontaneously arises,

and mutually between groups, and not as something engaged in by people of the

receiving society, that is of Us in the Northern countries. No more is said about

racism and its consequences than this one vague sentence. Moreover, the way

integration is defined it rather stands for assimilation, because there is nomention of possibly changing norms, values and habits of the receiving society.


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Finally, the textbook unambiguously seems to support “migration policies”, thus

implicitly favoring a limitation of immigration, and defining the problems and

conflicts in terms of the immigrants and not in those of the receiving society.

One year later…

A year later, the students of the third ESO grade get more information

about immigration in the next book of the series, Marca 3 (written by A. Albet

Mas, P. Benejam Arguimbau, M. Casas Vilalta, P. Comas Solé and M. Ollér

Freixa). Thus, in Chapter 3 about the population of the world, there is a section

on migrations today of two pages, with two pictures and a world map with arrows

indicating migration ‘flows’.

The first picture is of one of the ‘pateras’, that is, the little boats used by

undocumented immigrants crossing the Straits of Gibraltar. The second shows a

group of these immigrants sitting ashore with a police van behind them,

obviously having been captured by the Guardia Civil. Although the vast majority

of immigrants arrive by airplane, and through the airport of Madrid, Barajas, or

overstay after legal immigration, the prominent coverage of undocumented entry

by ‘patera’, and the often dramatic deaths of many immigrants by drowning,

suggest that most immigrants enter the country this way. The two pictures in the

textbook confirms this stereotype, and thus give a biased representation of how

the immigrants enter the country, at the same time emphasizing their ‘illegality’.

As in the previous volume, the text summarizes the main reasons for

immigration, and emphasizes that immigration is largely caused by globalization

and the difference in income between the rich North and the poor South, and

between Eastern and Western Europe. In this case it is also mentioned that the

rich countries needed cheap workers for their economy, but that they now apply

severe entry restrictions. So far so good: very succinct, but correct information.When however the textbook provides a rather heterogeneous typology of

immigrants, it distinguishes between immigrants who are qualified, those without

education, women, undocumented immigrants and refugees.

In the section with assignments there are three pages more about

immigration First a map and some text gives some further information about

migration in the past, which includes the emigration of many Spanish people to

the Americas – after the “discovery” of that continent. A second map, this time

with arrows indicating migration flows in and to Europe, and an interview withwell-known French deputy Sami Naïr, provide more information and opinion


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about immigration to Europe. The questions asked after this interview fragment

largely focus on “illegal” immigrants and the problems of immigration, but that is

only one aspect mentioned in the interview. Naïr also talks about xenophobia,

racism and exclusion, and on some positive measures that may contribute to the

development of the countries of origin. No questions or assignments are related

to these aspects of immigration. In sum, despite the fact that the textbook cites a

prominent expert on immigration, its reading and focus of this fragment is again

biased and focused on problems and illegality.

The next section, on immigration to Australia, mentions that this country

has received immigrants from 150 different countries, and that although some

sectors of the population are proud of being a land of immigrants and that

immigration has economically, socially and culturally enriched the country,

among other sectors of the population “anti-immigration sentiments have

emerged”. A following question about this speaks of “opinions against

immigration”. In both cases we recognize the familiar euphemisms for racism,

and in both cases we observe the well-known impersonal expressions “has

emerged” and “there are”, instead of identifying the actual subjects of these

‘sentiments’: the white (European) population of Australia.

The chapter on the cities of the world has a section that deals with their

multicultural nature and with immigration (p. 116 ff). It is first emphasized that

although in the developed countries there is a feeling of massive immigrants,

most immigration in the world takes place between countries in Asia or Africa. A

separate section provides concrete statistics. A next page focuses on the

consequences of immigration to the cities in the rich countries. A first two points

emphasize again the negative dimensions:

Concentration of ethnic minorities in run-down spaces. In these

places with cheaper rents poverty and the deterioration of housing aremore prominent.

The people who live in these neighborhoods have difficulty to find work

and, when they do not find it, very often they have to work in unstable and

ill paid jobs. Poverty promotes the development of insecurity and the

marginalization of these urban areas.

Big families. The immigrant populations of other cultures usually have

more sons and daughters than families of our own cultural environment

and therefore the percentage of citizens of other culture will continue toincrease, even when no new immigrants would come. (p. 117).


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These passages are quite typical of textbooks on immigration. What is

being said is not totally wrong, but seriously incomplete and biased. The

bias consists first in the fact that only negative aspects of immigration to

the big cities of the North are mentioned. Secondly, by omitting crucial

information a wrong impression about immigrants and immigration is

bound to be learned by the students. Thus, although it is true that families

of people immigrating to Europe and especially Spain tend to be bigger, it

is also true that within one or two generation immigrant birth rates soon

adapt to those in the host country, and that therefore there is no reason to

speak of the continuous growth of the immigrant population due to their

high birthrates. Similarly, the first passage focuses on the “insecurity” of

immigrant neighborhoods, and thus implicitly establishes the

stereotypical, if not racist, link between poverty, illegality and delinquency.

No positive consequences of migration for the cities of the North are

mentioned, such as the contributions to the vital economy of the cities

(construction, services, etc) and to the diversity of their population and

cultures. Indeed, except from one minor remark about economic

contributions, these textbooks say virtually nothing about the fact that

construction, hotels, restaurants, and so on, in the cities of the North

would cease to function without the presence of (low paid) immigrant

workers. That is, as much as the immigrants need the jobs of the North,

the North needs the cheap labor of the South. Neither this vital

interdependence nor the positive aspects of immigration are highlighted in

the textbook, not even at the level of the third ESO grade – for kids of 15

years old. Rather they are confronted with stereotypes about illegal

immigration in ‘pateras’, run-down neighborhoods, delinquency, and high

birth rates. Barely one page of biased information about immigrants in

‘our’ cities in a book of more than 300 pages is rather scant for thestudents to learn about a social environment that many (and soon most)

of the students will experience in the multicultural cities of the North.

Indeed, the urban adolescents who use these books need to read more

about the details of Catalan agriculture.

A Castilian Textbook


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The second book I shall examine more closely is written in Castilian and

used in Madrid: Geografía e Historia. Ciencias Sociales, written by M. Burgos, J.

Calvo, V. Fernández, M. Jaramillo, and F. Velázquez (Madrid, Anaya, 2002).

This means that whereas the Catalan textbook has special sections about

Catalonia, this textbook has special sections on the autonomous region of

Madrid.

Probably due to the general curriculum, the contents of the Catalan and

Castilian textbooks are very similar. Thus, of the 4 volumes, the first deals with

physical geography, and with prehistory and the “first civilizations” : Egypt,

Greece and Rome, including Roman Hispania.

The second volume, which will concern us here, has six sections, the first

on population and economic activity, the second on social and political

organization, the third on the cultural diversity of human groups, and the fourth,

the fifth and the sixth on medieval history. The first blocks feature several

lessons on the topics that interest us: immigration, ethnic minorities, African and

South America.

Migration is dealt with as part of the lesson on population. As is the case

in the Catalan textbook also this textbook makes a distinction between

“underdeveloped” and “developed” countries. The first have high birth rates,

vaguely explained by the “lack of control over births”, and the latter have low

birthrates, explained, as in the Catalan textbook, by the “incorporation of women

in the world of work”, and –strangely – also by the “general aging of the

population” (p. 15). Religious beliefs and traditional customs contrary to methods

of birth control are also mentioned as influencing birthrate, as well as economic

circumstances, for instance when families need their children to help them with

work on the land. Interestingly religious beliefs are thus mentioned as being

associated with high birth rates in “underdeveloped” countries, whereas until the

1970s and under Franco, the same was true in Spain, whose birthrate becameone of the lowest in the world in the 1990s.

Migration is explained in terms of hunger, looking for work, the wish to

improve life, wars, and political and religion persecution, as is also the case in

the Catalan textbook. Again, no economic causes of the receiving countries are

mentioned, so that the benefits of immigration only appear to be for those who

immigrate. This is also the reason why this book uses the word “to face”, th at is,

something that is a problem:


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At the moment the developed countries have to face an important

migration flow from the underdeveloped countries (p. 17).

It is however added that

in general immigration favors the developed countries, which thus get

cheap labor and a young population. But when the number of immigrants

is high, racism and xenophobia may take place, o feelings of rejection

towards those who arrive from abroad (p. 17).

Again, we find the same problems as in the Catalan textbook: racism and

xenophobia are mentioned only in one sentence, are formulated as something

that simply “occurs”, as a natural phenomenon, and is not explicitly attributed to

(Spanish) people. Moreover in Spanish the metaphor “brotes” is used, which

literally means “shoots” of a plant, and which is normally used to refer to

something that is incipient, and still small or reduced. This confirms the

association of racism with nature, and also mitigates its magnitude. The use of

the euphemism “feelings of rejection” (sentimientos de rechazo) further confirms

this well-known strategy of de-emphasizing our bad things. In a special ‘report’ of

one page about immigration to Europe the same euphemism is used as one of

the factors that make integration difficult for most immigrants, together with

problems of language, customs, lacking residence and work permits. Though

very succinctly, this book thus mentions that immigrants also have difficulties in

Europe. Unlike the Catalan textbook it does not associate immigrants as

explicitly with problems and illegality.

One of the next sections in the book deals with different types of societies

and cultures, such as traditional (now virtually extinct) hunter-gatherer and

agrarian societies and (post) industrial societies, the first associated with theThird World, and the latter with Europe. Also the pictures suggest this

polarization of the representation of societies and peoples: hunter-gatherers and

a village of adobe huts, and a black woman working the land with a child on her

back, on the one hand, and a picture of (white) people working on a computer,

on the other hand. The general distinction made between “underdeveloped” and

“developed” (p. 60) further emphasizes this overgeneralization.

Again, as such there is no problem associating for instance poor or

agrarian societies with the “Third World” or with Asia, Africa and Latin America,and (post) industrial society with the North. The problem is the unnecessary


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overgeneralization: Contrary to existing stereotypes the textbook might have

emphasized that also in Europe and the USA there is still agriculture – one of the

reasons why poor countries have difficulty exporting to the North – and that the

Third World has many modern, big cities and industry. Both in the text and in the

pictures, this would have been an opportunity to combat stereotypes the students

meet everywhere else in public discourse.

In section on social stratification there is also a ‘report’ of one page on

“ethnic minorities”. Brief mention is made of the Gitanos as one of the major

minority groups in Spain, but at the moment eclipsed by the high numbers of new

immigrants from e.g. Africa and Latin America. Not a single word more about

Gitanos. Only a generalization about multiethnic societies:

In our times many countries in the world are becoming multiethnic

societies. This fact on occasion leads to the emergence of certain

attitudes such as prejudice, discrimination and racism. Prejudices are the

consequence of judging all people belonging to a social group on the

basis of preconceived ideas, and not on the correct knowledge of these

people. Discrimination is a behavior, an attitude which implies that

certain rights or opportunities are withheld from minority groups. Finally,

racism consist in considering others as superior or inferior as a function

of physical, racial or ethnic differences.

Facing this behavior each day there are more people conscious of the

necessity to promote cultural pluralism, considering minority cultures as

a form of social and cultural enrichment (p. 64).

We see, again, that prejudice, discrimination and racism miraculously

erupt as a consequence of the multiethnic society, as a phenomenon, not as

something specific people engage in. The succinct further explanation of theseterms again remain very general and very vague, and in no way seem to

implicate Us, white Europeans. If not as ‘natural’ phenomena of societies,

prejudice, discrimination and racism are described of any multiethnic society in

the world. In other words, white students in Madrid need not feel addressed at all

with this very succinct, general and superficial explanation of these terms.

Indeed, racism is not dealt with specifically as a problem of Spanish society, and

as something that the dominant, Spanish majority has nothing to do with. In sum,

we again witness the familiar pattern of succinct, vague, generalized treatment of


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racism and a very marked case of minimizing ‘our’ (white, European, Spanish)

bad things.

Unlike the Catalan textbook, this Castilian textbook also deals with the

cultural diversity of the various regions of the world (Western Europe, North

America, Latin America, North Africa, etc.), although most of this information

deals with the usual geographical facts about states: population, political

organization, resources, industry, and so on. We read much on highly developed

commerce, industry, and so on, but not a word on immigration, minorities, and

the contribution of immigrants to the wealth of Europe. Nor a word on the colonial

history of Europe as another explanation of its riches (although the next sections

on other parts of the world brief mention colonialism, without a further description

of its forms and consequences).

On North America a few lines mention the white protestant population and

the ethnic minorities. No information about the history of slavery, segregation,

and contemporary racism. Of Iberoamerica we only read this about the

population:

The population of Iberoamerica is largely catholic and of mestizo and

Indian race. The population of the white race only forms the majority in

Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. In the rest of the countries, on

the other hand, the indigenous population is predominant, and represents

between 50% and 70% of the total population, as in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico

and Colombia. (p. 113).

Remarkable here is first the use of the word ‘race’ to refer to mestizos

and Indians, a notion that is not even problematized in a textbook on geography

and the social sciences. Secondly, apart from the factual errors and omissions

(no mention is made of Ecuador, Venezuela and the Central American states,and not even of Brazil), there is also no mention of colonial history nor about

current white racism against the indigenous population and against the people of

African descent, which are not mentioned at all.

A special ‘report’ of one page is dedicated to the indigenous people of the

Americas (p. 114). Here it is briefly said that the colonizers “seized” (apoderaron)

the lands and resources of the indigenous population, but their diminishing

numbers are largely attributed to themselves (alcohol, illnesses), and not to the

massacres of the colonizers. For Latin America this description of the diminishingnumbers of indigenous people is even more innocuous:


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The Hispanic and Portuguese colonization also gave rise in

Iberoamerica to an alarming decrease of the number of native Indians.

(p. 114).

Thus, somehow the decrease of the indigenous population is vaguely

related to colonization, but it is not explicitly spelled out how. Again, no word on

colonial history, no word on massacres of indigenous people, no word of the way

they were discriminated, oppressed and marginalized by Spaniard, Portuguese

(as well as Dutch and English) colonizers. As elsewhere, not only ‘our’ racism in

Europe is ignored or mitigated, also ‘our’ colonialism and racism in the Americas

is conveniently ‘forgotten’. In another section, on the economy of Latin America,

poverty is attributed wholly to the unequal distribution of the land, insufficient

mechanization, and scarce technical preparation of the farmers, that is, to their

own ‘backwardness’ – with no role of the North, for instance in the local

economies, nor in the limitation for exports due to protection. Poverty and

indigence are just said to “have spread” in the 1990s, but we do not find

information about how such poverty came about.

Similar remarks are relevant for the treatment of Africa. The population is

described as largely being of the “black race” (p. 122). Colonization is mentioned

in passing, mostly as a cause of the boundaries between states. Of apartheid in

South Africa we read the following:

(…) managed to overcome the apartheid regime and the confrontation

between the black majority and the while minority (p. 121).

This description presupposes that apartheid was merely ‘overcome’ – as

a joint process – and not because of black struggle and resistance (on anotherpage, as part of an assignment a few more lines say some more about apartheid

and on Mandela). Also, apartheid is not defined in terms of domination by the

white population, but as a kind of conflict between two groups. This is one of the

many ways in which white (European) racism is mitigated. On the other hand,

Europeans are said to have introduced “modern” agriculture, whereas other

agriculture is “rudimentary” (p. 124). Again, there are virtually no comments on

the role of the North, Europe or Spain in Africa, and not a single critical remark.

The treatment of Asia and Oceania, is similar.


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The final sections of the book are historical and deal with the Middle

Ages. As is the case for the Catalan textbook, we also here find rather extensive

information about Islam and the “Muslim” occupation of Spain. Generally, these

pages emphasize the many economic, agricultural and cultural contributions of

the “Muslim” occupation of Spain, including details about new crops and new

techniques of irrigation, as well as other inventions. The section is strictly

historical. We do not find any information about contemporary Islam, or Muslim

immigrants in Spain.

Volume 3

The third volume of this textbook largely deals with a repetition and

further elaboration of geographical notions, such as the physical properties of the

earth and of Spain, weather, population, agrarian and industrial spaces, and so

on.

As in the previous volume there is some information about migration, but

this is very general and does not apply specifically to Spain and Europe. In an

attempt at a typology, one of the categories proposed is to categorize migration

by its (il)legality (p. 63). Also in this volume the information about racism is

limited to one single sentence: “(…) the last years has seen the emergence of

xenophobia and racism”. (p. 76). No further information about where, by whom,

against whom, and so on. Only brief information is given about where people

come from and where they are going. In the chapter on the Spanish population

there is some more information about immigration: Spain used to be a land of

emigration but now has become a land of immigration, a fact illustrated with

some statistics about where most immigrants come from, where they settle in

Spain and in which jobs they find work. A picture shows, quite stereotypically,

two immigrants collecting garbage. No mention is made of the thousands ofstudents, especially from Latin America, who come to Spain to do their PhD, and

without whom many PhD programs in Spain would cease to exist because of

lacking students. The only other social information that is given about the

immigrants is that they “frequently have difficulties to integrate themselves” and

that many of them do not have papers and hence staying in the country

“illegally”.

No further explanation is given about the lack of integration, and why the

description is given a reflexive form (“integrate themselves”) as if integration isonly a one-way process. We do not even find one single remark on this special


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page on racism, prejudice and discrimination. Also it is always remarkable that

the illegal residence of immigrants appears to be such an important information

among the few things that are being said about immigrants, and that we never

find any remark about the many business people who employ these same people

illegally. In other words, the emphasis on their bad things, and mitigating or

ignoring our bad things seems to be regular feature about all passages about

immigrants in these textbooks. When the textbook finally deals with the

population of Europe it briefly mentions the “importance of migrations” in a

subtitle, but the text itself does not explain why immigration was and is to

important for Europe.

In a passage on “minorities in the world” we find a few lines about

minorities in Europe:

Also the north-African immigrants who come to Europe and the Latin

Americans who arrive in the United States have integration problems,

because in both cases they encounter great difficulties being accepted by

the countries to which they emigrate. In all cases the main problem is

integration and the acceptance of differences in the framework of respect

between groups. (p. 96).

Apart from the rather simplistic and redundant formulation, also this

passage shows that the authors have really very little to say about immigrants,

other than repeating stereotypes about lacking integration, and a very mitigated

version – in passive voice – of what might be interpreted as discrimination: “they

encounter difficulties being accepted”. The students have to learn more about

the crops, natural resources, animals or types of landscapes in various parts of

the world, then about one of the major phenomena of our time, immigration, or

about one of the major problems of Europe: racism. Since all textbooks arevirtually the same, it should be concluded that the main problem resides in the

curriculum and the limited conception of geography.

Conclusions

Concluding out analysis of a Catalan and a Castilian textbook we may

conclude that there are of course no explicitly racist passages. However, we do

find a confirmation of many of the usual problems of representing other people,


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other countries, and in particular of dealing with migration, its causes and

consequences. These problems may be summarized as follows:

· The textbooks show the stereotypical polarization between Us and

Them, between Us in the North, in Europe or in Spain, on the one hand,

and Them in the South or in the Third World, on the other hand. Very little

variation or diversity is observed among Us or Them. For instance, in the

South there are no rich people, and in the North there are no poor people.

· Immigration is represented as motivated and caused only by the needs

of immigrants, not by the needs or benefits of the receiving countries.

· The information about the immigrants is scarce, and largely limited to

some simple statistics about how many there are, where they come from,

and where they settle.

· Their work is stereotypically described as what Spanish people do not

want to do. There is no diversity of information about motivation of

immigration or type of work the immigrants do.

· Even if little information is given about immigrants, one of the standard

items is virtually always that many of them are illegal. No information is

given about “illegal” employers who give work to immigrants without

papers.

· Also, it is emphasized that immigrants have problems to “integrate

themselves”. Little information is given about the causes of lacking

integration, and such causes hardly have to do with the receiving

population.

· Racism, prejudice and discrimination are sometimes mentioned, but in

general, abstract terms, and not as a major problem of Us in Spain or

Europe, and of which we are the active agents. It is never described what

the consequences are in the everyday lives of immigrants. No details aregiven about the kinds of daily discrimination.

· More generally, negative aspects of Us in the North are ignored, toned

down or described in very vague and general terms. This is also true for

the (lacking) account about colonization and its consequences, as well as

contemporary globalization.

These are not incidental problems, but structural problems that

characterize virtually all passages, and since the textbooks are so standardized,we may venture the conclusion that what we have found in our analysis may be


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generalized for all textbooks currently used in Spain. This may also mean that

the general curriculum does not insist on including the kind of information that is

now obviously lacking.

The consequence for the learning process of adolescents in Spain is

serious: They are not prepared for active and adequate participation in an

increasingly multicultural society. They lack knowledge and insight into one of the

most important social issues of our time, immigration and racism, and have not

been prepared for daily interaction with fellow citizens from other countries and

cultures. Ignorant about what racism means they will not be able to recognize it

when they see it, nor be able to take into account the serious difficulties

immigrants may experience who are victims of everyday racism. In sum, on the

basis of our analysis we must conclude that current textbooks and curricula in

Spain need serious revision if they want to contribute to the necessary

knowledge and abilities of the citizens in a multicultural society.


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Documents

Van Dijk Paper on Racism and Textbooks