What Do the Textbooks Say? An Anthropological Study of Highschool American History Curriculum Content

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Baram, Uzi

Keywords

American History, Achievement Gap, K-12 Curriculum Content

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

Public outreach is a growing concern within anthropology, but anthropological research that focuses on what is being taught in K-12 classrooms is nearly non-existent. However, this thesis lies at an intersection of anthropology, education, and public outreach. I begin by providing background information on the current state of educational inequity in the United States before reviewing John Ogbu's cultural ecology model (CEM). When problematized, CEM becomes a useful tool for analyzing the connection between curriculum content and student engagement. To further elucidate this connection, I looked at two recent sociological investigations of curriculum content and student engagement. From this grounding in anthropological theory and sociological literature, I examined The American Republic Since 1877, a high school American history textbook approved for use in the state of Florida, and analyzed its representation of race, class, and gender. I found that the textbook frequently included the history of underrepresented groups such as African Americans, the working class, and women, but that the historical significance of people from subordinate groups was often downplayed. Such depictions of history can affect both students' abilities to understand and identify present-day discrimination as well as their capacity to become full democratic participants. To counteract the negative effects of exclusive histories, I suggest the adoption of multicultural curricula. The conclusion evaluates three separate ways to make curricula both more inclusive and more engaging.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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