Judging Grade 10 History textbooks by their covers

Abstract

We have always been told not to judge a book by its cover. However, the cover serves as the porthole into the book’s soul. An attractive book cover creates an appetite and one would want to delve into the book. A cover may not reveal the entire contents of the book but it is through the cover that decisions are made to continue reading a book, purchase a book or simply be turned off due to a dull and boring outer appearance. The centrality of history textbook covers shapes an educational response of teachers and learners alike. It creates meaning for the browser, buyer or reader. The idea of a history textbook cover wrapped in colour, image, typography and minutiae directed my interest towards the interpretations that arise from these elements. Hence, this study was conducted to judge selected Grade 10 History textbook covers. The purpose of this dissertation was to gain an understanding of the conclusions one can draw in a connotative and denotative manner from judging Grade 10 History textbook covers. This qualitative study was informed by the interpretivist paradigm and sought to understand the hidden ideologies and multi-complex meanings that may arise when a historical educational judgement is passed. A purposive sample of five Department of Basic Education (DBE) approved Grade 10 History textbooks were chosen to explore the phenomenon – judgement. Denotation and connotation as branches of iconography served as the key analysing methods and provided an all-encompassing judgement of the covers. Through the application of critical discourse analysis (CDA), nine historically significant discourses manifested and revealed unequal traces of gender, race and class on the covers of the selected history textbooks. These disparities are not entirely what is stipulated in the South African Constitution and CAPS-History curriculum. My study showed how the historical and visual elements seen on the covers have political, social, cultural, commercial and educational forces. These forces direct the historical story to be displayed and further influence the historical intellectual judgement of Grade 10 learners and teachers in the classroom.