ABSTRACT

A Qualitative Discursive Analysis of Eight Contemporary Geography Books

Teacher Training with an Intercultural Profile 2006

Author: Susanne Ljunglöf

Tutor: Jan-Eric Mattson

The aim of this paper is to describe which discourses concerning the different continents problems, future and development that I can find in the descriptions of the continents in a number of contemporary geography books.

The aim has been divided in four questions:

- Which aspects of the continents problems are expressed in these geography books?

- Which impressions concerning the continents development and future are expressed in these geography books?

- Which conceptions about the population in the different continents are expressed in these geography books?

- Which cultural reference creates these discourses?

The method used for conducting this study is a text analytical method called general discourse analysis.

My conclusions:

- The different continents problems, development and future are described through entirely diverse discourses.

- The reviewed geography books take their origin i a western perspective in their description of the different continents.

- As a reader it is always important to be aware of the ethnocentric perspective that could be expressed