This qualitative content analysis was conducted to determine how Mexico and Mexican people are portrayed in contemporary U.S. elementary social studies textbooks. Three textbooks from each of three major publishers were analyzed. Findings are presented in five sections: images and photographs, holidays, Mexican people and heroes, contested history, and portrayals of Mexican-U.S. relations. The authors identified three major themes across the textbooks including heavy emphasis on holidays and traditional folk costumes, a dearth of notable Mexican figures, and overall superficial coverage of Mexico and its people. Recommendations are provided for elementary textbook revisions that would more suitably foster cross-cultural understanding between U.S. children and their southern neighbors.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Al-HajM. (2005.) National ethos, multicultural education, and the new history textbooks in Israel. Curriculum Inquiry, 35(1), 47-71.
2.
AppleM. (1992). The text and cultural politics. Educational researcher, 21(7), 4-11 & 19.
3.
BanksJ. A. (2004). Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. In BanksJ. A. & BanksC. A. M. (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
4.
BanksJ. A., & BanksC. A. (1992). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (1st ed.). New York: Wiley.
5.
BanksJ. A., & NguyenD. (2008). Diversity and citizenship education: Historical, theoretical, and philosophical issues. In LevstikL.S. & TysonC. (Eds.), Handbook of research in social studies education (pp. 137-151). New York: Routledge.
6.
BartonK.C. & LevstikL. S. (1996). Back when God was around and everything: Elementary children’s understanding of historical time. American Educational Research Journal, 33(2), 419-454.
7.
BaumlM., & FieldS. L. (2012). The Aztec, Frida Kahlo, and Cinco de Mayo: Mexico in children’s literature. The Social Studies, 103(2), 90-95.
8.
BrophyJ. & AllemanJ. (2006). Children’s thinking about cultural universals. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
9.
BrophyJ., & AllemanJ. (2008). Early elementary social studies. In LevstikL.S. & TysonC. (Eds.), Handbook of research in social studies education (pp. 33-49). New York: Routledge.
10.
BurroughsS., GroceE., & WebeckM. (2005). Social studies education in the age of testing and accountability. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 24(3), 13-20.
11.
CorbinJ. & StraussA. (2008). Basics of qualitative research. (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
12.
CruzB. C. (2002). Don Juan and rebels under palm trees: Depictions of Latin Americans in U.S. history textbooks. Critique of Anthropology, 22(3), 323-342.
13.
Derman-SparksL. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children. Washington, D. C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
14.
ElgarA. G. (2004). Science textbooks for lower secondary schools in Brunei: Issues of gender equity. International Journal of Science Education, 26(7), 875-894.
15.
FieldS. L. (2003). Using children’s literature and the Universals of Culture to teach about Mexico. The Social Studies, 94(3), 123-127.
16.
FieldS. L., BaumlM., AllemanJ., & LeCompteK. (2009). Mexico, Our Closest Neighbor: Three Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives. The Social Studies, 100(6), 251-259.
17.
FloresB., CousinP. T., & DiazE. (1991). Transforming deficit myths about learning, language and culture. Language Arts, 68(5), 369-379.
18.
Geography Education Standards Project. (1994). Geography for life: The national geography standards. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society Committee on Research and Exploration.
19.
HeafnerT., LipscombG., & RockT. (2006). To test or not to test?: The role of testing in elementary social studies: A collaborative study conducted by NCPSSE and SCPSSE. Social Studies Research and Practice1(2), 145-164.
20.
JanmaatJ. G. (2006). History and national identity construction: The great famine in Irish and Ukrainian history textbooks. History of Education, 35(3), 345-368.
21.
KrippendorffK. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
22.
KrippendorffK., & BockM. A. (Eds.). (2009). The content analysis reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
23.
LabboL. D., & FieldS. L. (1994). A thousand truths?: The treatment of South Africa in American elementary social studies textbooks. Journal of Social Studies Research, 18(2), 27-33.
24.
LabboL. D., & FieldS. L. (1996). Fantasy, fiction, and folktales: A study of the use of literature in elementary social studies textbooks. Southern Social Studies,21(2), 17-28.
25.
Ladson-BillingsG. (2004). New directions in multicultural education: Complexities, boundaries, and critical race theory. In BanksJ. A. & BanksC. A., Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
26.
LarkinsA. G., HawkinsM. L., & GilmoreA. (1987). Textbook review: Trivial and noninformative content of elementary social studies: A review of primary texts in four series. Theory and Research in Social Education, 15(4) 299-311.
27.
LevstikL. S. (2008). What happens in social studies classrooms? Research on K-12 social studies practice. In LevstikL. S. & TysonC. (Eds.), Handbook of research in social studies education (pp. 50-62). New York: Routledge.
28.
MarriA. R. (2005). Building a framework for classroom-based multicultural democratic education: Learning from three skilled teachers. Teachers College Record, 107, 1036-1059.
29.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2009). Individualism. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/individualism.
30.
MilesM. B., & HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
31.
MollL., AmantiC., NeffD., & GonzalezN. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
32.
MooreT. & ClarkB. (2004.) The impact of “message senders” on what is true: Native Americans in Nebraska history books. Multicultural Perspectives, 6(2), 17-23.
33.
NduraE. (2004). ESL and cultural bias: An analysis of elementary through high school textbooks in the Western United States of America. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 17(2), 143-153.
34.
NietoS. & BodeP. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. (5th edition). New York: Allyn & Bacon Publishers.
35.
NoboaJ. (2006). Leaving Latinos out of history: Teaching U.S. history in Texas. New York: Routledge.
36.
Pew Hispanic Center. (2007). Demographic Profile of Hispanics in Texas, 2007. Washington, D.C. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://pewhispanic.org/states/?stateid=TX.
37.
Pew Hispanic Center. (2009). Mexican immigrants in the United States. Washington, D. C. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/47.pdf.
38.
SalvucciL. K. (1991). Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican Americans in secondary-school United States history textbooks. The History Teacher, 24(2), 203-222.
39.
SuY. (2007). Ideological representations of Taiwan’s history: An analysis of elementary social studies textbooks, 178-1995. Curriculum Inquiry, 37(3), 205-237.
40.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies. (1997). Texas Education Agency. Retrieved July 8, 2009 from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter>113/ch113a.html.
41.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies. (2010). Texas Education Agency. Retrieved October 9, 2009 from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113a.html.
42.
ThorntonS. J. (2008). Continuity and change in social studies curriculum. In L.S. Levstik & C.
43.
Tyson (Eds.), Handbook of research in social studies education (pp. 15-32). New York: Routledge.
44.
VanFossenP. & McGrewC. (April, 2008). Is the sky really falling? An update on the status of social studies in the K-5 curriculum in Indiana. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
