Background

This doctoral thesis will analyse representations of Africa from the Second World War to the present day, exploring and comparing descriptions of the self and the other occurring in German and English textbooks in relation to their underlying social debates. It aims to expose continuities and discontinuities and to explain the role they play in the formation of national self-understanding. The field of investigation will therefore be largely defined by debates about colonialism and decolonisation, development policy and migration.

Analytical Levels of the Doctoral Thesis

Curricula and textbook research: the study will begin by analysing standards determined by states (curricula, examination guidelines) which provide the framework for textbook design. It will then explore the way in which publishers put these standards into practice in particular textbooks.  

Debates over educational policy: the results of the curricula and textbook analysis will be examined in the context of discussions about educational content. A number of actors involved in discussions about the presentation of the content of textbooks, and who supply comments about them, will be taken into consideration. These include, on an international level, organisations such as UNESCO or the European Council, who influence decision-makers in England and the two German states by organising conferences and publishing recommendations. All three countries also have at their disposal national actors such as teachers’ associations, academic experts, educationalists, churches as well as special interest groups, all of whom produce official statements which form part of this investigation.

Comparison: the strictly comparative approach will make it possible to reveal both common and disparate aspects of discourse, and to understand their development over an extended period. Although the contents of textbooks depend closely on the conditions and standards occurring in each nation, it is likely that the research will reveal transnational characteristics of images of the self and of the other in both countries.

Duration
2010-2012

Funding
Protestant Students’ Scholarship Programme (Evangelisches Studienwerk e.V. Villigst)

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