This study aims to study how five Swedish upper secondary school social studies schoolbooks adapted to the Lgy 11 curriculum, depicts conflicts. The schoolbooks are published between the years 2015 and 2021 and belong to the largest learning materials companies in Sweden. Namely Z-classic (2015), Forum 123 (2017), Reflex 123 (2017), Libers samhällskunskap 123 (2018) and Arena 123 (2021). This study partly seeks to analyze how these schoolbooks present conflict-actors in conflicts, and how it can be linked to Orientalism. In addition, also which conflicts are at the center of attention and how it can be understood based on Western news evaluation. The result based on Orientalism shows that the schoolbooks in many cases set perspectives against each other and actors from both the Western world and the Orient become equal. On the other hand, the schoolbooks sometimes tend to make misleading and discriminatory descriptions, especially when it comes to actors in the Orient. In some cases, the Western civilization also appears to be more progressive and refined compared to other civilizations. Regarding Western news evaluation, in many conflict contexts it becomes clear that conflicts in which Western countries are involved become more central. However, three of the schoolbooks convey an awareness that there are external factors that influence the evaluation of conflicts, such as the influence of American news channels, like CNN’s and AP’s influence over which events in the world are considered important.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-227063 |
Date | January 2024 |
Creators | Eriksson Wennerkull, Gustav |
Publisher | Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | Swedish |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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