Abstract
AbstractThe discourse of equity and egalitarianism has a long pedigree in Norway. However, this discourse has recently come under severe strain as evidenced by the growing segregation of schools along ethnic lines in the capital Oslo. This paper considers the portrayal of non-westerners in four English textbooks used in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in upper secondary schools (vg1 & vg 2; 11th & 12th grade) in Norway. Eight short stories are critically explored employing a postcolonial theoretical framework. The findings reveal a consistent pattern in which representations of characters from non-western backgrounds (Asian, Native American, Black and Hispanic, in particular) tap into topoi of Orientalism and the “racialized Other”. The salience of contrapuntal pedagogy as a counterpoint in addressing the challenges thrown up by Orientalism in EFL textbooks is considered.
Highlights
The discourse of equity and egalitarianism has a long pedigree in Norway
Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Societies” (TALMUS) is further committed to developing theory, epistemology and methodology in relation to teaching, learning, education and development in multicultural societies. https://www.cristin.no/as/ WebObjects/cristin.woa/wa/presentasjonVis?pres= 414140&type=GRUPPE
This study was inspired by minority-background students’ responses to the portrayal of nonwesterners in the short stories covered in English in one Norwegian high school in Oslo, Norway.In total, 40 short stories featured in the four textbooks
Summary
At the university I read some appalling novels about Africa (including Joyce Cary’s much praised Mister Johnson) and decided that the story we had to tell could not be told for us by anyone else no matter how gifted or well-intentioned. (Achebe, 2016). This is why Blackout (one of the short texts analysed), for instance, set in James’ Caribbean, must be read as an encounter constrained by a specific, historically contingent racial discourse which, once de-constructed and re-configured through the prism of postcolonial and contrapuntal pedagogies, holds transformative promise. James precociously applied such a contrapuntal approach long before the dawning of postcolonial studies. James concludes: It is the duty of all revolutionaries wherever possible to point out the gross historical falsifications of this picture, and to do all in their power to counteract the pernicious influence that it is likely to have on the minds of the people, who, knowing no better, may be tempted to accept this as history. (James, 1939)
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