Taking Offense: An Exploration of Racist, Misleading, and Problematic Language in Textbooks

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Media
Full Text PDFFull Text PDF
Title
Taking Offense: An Exploration of Racist, Misleading, and Problematic Language in Textbooks
Author
Hevin N Robertson
Faculty Sponsor
Ken Carano
Gavin Keulks
Date
12/31/2018
Abstract
This thesis explores perceptions of racist language used in three secondary education social science textbooks. It will look at a textbook from each of the three main publishing companies in the United States. Included in this research is one very controversial textbook that recently came under fire for racist language. The sections in textbooks and their recent adaptations depicting American enslavement will be studied, as it is a topic that is underrepresented in American textbooks. This project will focus on identifying racist, misleading, and problematic language in textbooks and begin to delve into the potential effects of language utilized in secondary education history classrooms.
Racism is a topic that is difficult to measure or quantify, therefore experts in the field will be deferred to in order to define perceived racism and other major definitions necessary for this thesis. By analyzing and comparing the language used in these textbooks, attention will be drawn to potentially silent or hidden racism. Also, an intent of this thesis is to inform people that racism is not always hateful or obvious in design. The main aim of this thesis is to draw attention to any racist, misleading, or problematic language found, explain why it may be racist, and discuss the potential impact of the language to people who perceive racism in the textbooks.
Type
Text
Honors Thesis
Department
Honors Program
Language
eng
Rights
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Identifier
honors_theses/181