Representing the Middle East and Africa in Social Studies Education : Teacher Discourse and Otherness

Representing Africa and the Middle East in Social Studies Education examines the lived classroom experiences of six social studies teachers and the relevance of their discourse in framing the knowledge students receive about populations in Africa and the Middle East. Through the methodological lens of critical discourse analysis, this work illuminates the importance of teachers’ language in challenging and reinforcing portrayals that cast the diverse populations of Africa and the Middle East in the role of "the other."

Representing the Middle East and Africa in Social Studies Education examines the lived classroom experiences of six social studies teachers and the relevance of their discourse in framing the knowledge students receive about populations in the Middle East and Africa. With a focus on the socialization processes of schooling, this book deconstructs the classroom experience and investigates the ways in which a macro-societal phenomenon—otherness—is reified in micro-societal interactions. Through the methodological lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, this work illuminates the importance of teachers’ language in challenging and reinforcing portrayals that cast the diverse populations of the Middle East and Africa in the role of "the other."