In an ever-changing society, what is considered normal is also changing. Gender issues, ethnical questions and groups of people that have not been considered "norm" in the past are now visible and present phenomena in our everyday lives.

The Swedish curriculum consists of two parts where the first is common values that are to be lived and taught in the classroom. The second part is the subject’s syllabi, with the aims and goals of e.g. the subject of history.

Research shows that the subject of History is one of the school subjects were teachers put the largest amount of trust in the textbook. With no governmental control of the books, there is a big need to examine if the most commonly used history textbook follows the curriculum in not only the subject of history, but also in the values presented. Does it contain specific norms when it comes to people based on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, handicap, religion or transgender identity?

The aim of this study is to through critical discourse analysis, examine the discursive construction of these groups, with focus on the norm, using post-colonial theory, queer theory and a term called "and-history". Our results show that there is a systematic otherisation in all categories throughout the book.