Final Report Summary - IMAFREDU (The impact of the portrayal of the African continent in textbooks on racism against students of African ancestry in German schools)
What was the goal of the project?
The purpose of this project was to examine the portrayal of Africa in German textbooks and how it affects racism against students of African descent in schools. Beyond the analysis, this project also aimed to correct this distorted image in order to facilitate a more critical engagement with the current discourse.
What steps were taken to achieve the goals?
In order to gain a better understanding of this discourse, an analysis of the historical emergence of racist ideology and its subsequent reproduction in text books was undertaken. The analysis involved a thorough deconstruction of images of people of African descent in geography and history textbooks as well as the media. Complementary to this, various types of interviews with students of African descent and their ‘white’ peers and teachers (the terms ‘black’ and ‘white’ and ‘people of colour’ refer here to historically and politically constructed groups, distinguished by their participation in political power and access to resources) were conducted. This served not only to establish the attitudes that persist towards the African continent and people of its descent. It also aimed at understanding how people of African descent are affected by those recurring attitudes. An important piece of the investigation involved the assessment of the mainstream 'development' discourse in Germany and how it perpetuates implicit discriminatory stereotypes against Africa and its descendants.
The dissemination and implementation phase consisted of publications of papers in German and international, peer-reviewed journals, a number of workshops targeted at various types of audiences, as well as engaging with German textbook publishers. At the time this project was conceived one of the goals entailed a comparative study with the UK and Spain. The idea behind this was to establish a European-wide platform in this research topic and to facilitate international networking opportunities. As the project took off, however, this goal was replaced by a more constructive one. It became increasingly apparent that spreading the available resources too thinly, by involving other countries in the research was ineffective. Instead a much more thorough understanding of the status quo in Germany was achieved by focusing on a sustainable dissemination method.
The new objective became to focus on training teachers. Two years in a row; i.e. for the entire duration of this project, a course entitled ‘Critical Racism Studies’ was offered to Masters students of Education at the University of Hamburg. This in addition to the various workshops designed for teachers across Germany, ensured that the findings of this project were effectively communicated and will be implemented in German class-rooms. The resulting solid research-foundation on this topic in Germany has already sparked a significant interest at international conferences. This has facilitated the creation of fruitful networks and therefore provides a viable platform for future international comparative research opportunities.
What were the hypotheses?
The hypothesis was that a subconscious reproduction of racism by teachers takes place due to the legacy of colonial discourses in teaching materials. The resources available to teachers contain images of Africa that are rooted in colonialism. Those images are marked by a simplistic portrayal of Africa and reproduce racism by denying people of African descent characteristics that are commonly attributed to 'Humanity' in 'Western culture'; i.e. African history is generally marginalized, there is barely any or no mention of pre-colonial African societies in history books and people of African descent are portrayed as passive, dependent and excluded from contemporary German society. In fact, Africa is often constructed as the antithesis of the West, whereby the concept of ‘progress’ is based on the premise of the very logic that is indicative of the scientific racism that justified imperialism, colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. The paternalistic approach to Africa is marked by Eurocentric perspectives. For example, it is not uncommon to find the notion that Africa was ‘discovered’ and there are implicit statements that suggest that Africans benefited from colonialism. This is complemented by an uncritical use of racist terminology and lack of authentic African and/or well-researched sources.
The perceptions students have of Africa are influenced by their teaching materials and the media alike and establish subtle relationships between poverty and skin colour. This has an immediate effect on students of African descent, as it inhibits them from identifying themselves with Germany as their home country. German students, who are not of African descent, assign hunger, war, loss and other connotations they make with the continent, to their peers of African descent. Given that the educational materials often reflect societal values and form opinions, teachers are likely to adhere to the same stereotypes and may therefore also undervalue their students of colour. The resulting structural violence prevents the latter from developing constructive resistance and coping strategies.
What measures were taken to do the research?
The importance was placed on not only filling in the gaps in content, but moreover engaging with origins of the exclusion of particular topics.
At the core of all the different types of research that were carried out in order to obtain the above mentioned goal, lay a framework of analysis I developed for this project. It served to explore and uncover the ‘Colour Line in Germany’ (i.e. to what extent perceptions as well as resources were polarized along shades of skin tones), to define and contextualise racism, and to highlight how that racism plays into how Africa and people of African descent are portrayed. The analytical tool kit comprised the following categories: racial hierarchy, antithesis between the ‘west’ and ‘the rest’, considering Africa ahistorical, and the narrative of modernity, which is embedded in the mainstream ‘development’ discourse. Furthermore, the use of imagery, language and diction were scanned for ‘Afro-pessimistic’ and ‘Afro-romantic’ content.
With the help of this framework, content in German history and geography textbooks and alternative teaching materials (often published by charity organizations) were revisited. This was complemented by numerous interviews with students of colour and their white peers and teachers. I employed different types of techniques to capture the essence of the interviewees’ perceptions. For example, during focus groups with students of African descent photo-elicitation method was applied by inserting images from their textbook into the interview to evoke deeper information, feelings and memories. Free association as well as structured questionnaires served to investigate attitudes towards Africa and people of African descent. One example of that was the gathering of connotations that 117 7th grade students made with the word 'Africa'. Another example was to investigate the associations students made with cartoon characters with different skin tones, ranging from white to black. The confirmation and rejection of statements about ‘Africa’ was also an interesting experiment, as it provided a useful basis for comparison between answers from students of African descent and those of the rest.
Findings
The textbook analysis showed a consistent hierarchisation of people’s living conditions, economies, and levels of knowledge, with countries in the ‘western world’ at the top and ‘African countries’ at the bottom. This construction of dichotomies affects the perception of histories of different societies, regions and peoples. It is remnant of the modernity narrative that evolved from the early colonial missionaries and became an influential precedent for the contemporary 'development' discourse. The presence of pro vs. contra arguments of Colonialism disregards and implicitly justifies the actual devastating consequences and legacy of the mass exploitation.
There was a clear relationship between racist portrayals Africa and racial discrimination of students of African ancestry. Often the type of racism students of African ancestry experienced was implicit in nature. Combined with the fact that teachers and fellow students unintentionally perpetuate the racist connotations they inherited from their learning materials and the media, it becomes very difficult for students of African descent to articulate and cope with the kind of racism they face.
Furthermore, students of colour are influenced by the same type of portrayal of Africa and people of African descent as their peers. Thus they are subjected to the same norms and values which exclude them. This became apparent in the conflicting results of the interviews; when actively engaging and combating negative and false portrayals of Africa, students of African descent's views differed from those of the majority group. However, when giving answers to a structured questionnaire, that doesn't leave room for thought their answers cease to differ from those of their white peers. This dual-attitude is in line with Pierre Bourdieu’s notion that this type of self-alienation and self-negation results from symbolic violence (the legitimisation and universalisation of norms, ideas, beliefs of a dominant group). It is important to note that the helpless and at times aggressive rather than cognitive reaction to the racism students of colour experience can have an impact on their academic careers.
How was the knowledge spread?
In order to develop a foundation which should ultimately lead to the creation of unbiased tutorials on Africa, a set of guidelines for textbook authors, publishing houses and curriculum developers is currently being produced. Studying the origins and theory behind racism alone was not sufficient. Interactive sessions were key to achieving a greater focus on the critical engagement with racism and inspire the habit of questioning commonly portrayed images. Project results have been presented at German and international conferences, and peer reviewed journals, various workshops and the afore mentioned seminars for Education Masters students. Not only has this successfully inspired a discourse on the Critical Race theoretical and diversity oriented engagement with current educational materials. It is also a first step towards creating alternative ways in which issues concerning the African continent or people of African descent can be portrayed.
It is the schools’ responsibility to foster the raring of individuals who carry forward the principles, among others, of democracy, equality and human dignity. Teachers are at the forefront of communicating and disseminating this normative knowledge. Students ought to be educated to become reflective citizens and it is the responsibility of education policies to sensitize them and their teachers to different types of discrimination.