Abstract:
Based on the assumption that textbooks serve as a mirror of the social and political order, the purpose
of this article is to provide insight into the role of textbooks in the maintenance and legitimization of
ethnic power relations. This qualitative study investigates visual representations in Dutch mother tongue
language textbooks. A Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) supported by a thematic analysis evaluate
the visual material of one popular Dutch textbook series in terms of cultural stereotyping of the “other”.
The conceptual framework comprises an explication of the concepts and theories on attitude, culture and
visual studies. Influential issues on Dutch textbook representation are described in the literature study.
The findings show that the rethoric confirming the “other”ness of the “other” in Dutch textbooks, has
not changed much since the research of Teun van Dijk in 1987. The visual material in the Dutch data
is polarised by the model example of the dominant white group on the one hand and the problematic,
poor and primitive of the non-Western world on the other hand. The findings are presented as themes
from the thematic analysis.
