Textbooks, Gender, and Conflict in South Asia: Building the Nation

Abstract

This chapter explores the intersection of nation building, curriculum, and its dissemination through textbooks and gender in South Asia. It focuses on the government textbooks in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, two South Asian countries that have faced identity-based conflict and violence. In processes of nation building, women and men's roles become entrenched in traditional gender rolesmen are associated with the protection of the physical boundaries of the state, while women, positioned in traditional roles as mothers and nurturers, are expected to protect the moral and cultural integrity of the state. Curriculum is a part of the reproduction of these gender divisions, which in the cases of Pakistan and Sri Lanka have contributed to violence. This chapter will give an overview of the relationship of gender and nation building, and the way this is integrated into curriculum in South Asian countries. It will then focus on the cases of Pakistan and Sri Lanka to demonstrate the connection between nation building, curriculum, gender, and conflict.

Gender Equality In Civic Education Textbook

“…As for Emerson & Kovintan Levi, from the results of their research, concluded that although there are efforts to encourage changes in gender relations that are more equal in textbooks, there is resistance on the basis of maintaining cultural values (Emerson & Levi, 2020). Gender equality is important to realize, considering that gender equality is related to the fulfillment of social justice and human rights (UNESCO, 2016).…”

Knowledge and Curriculum Landscapes in South Asia

“…In India, textbooks position women as being dumb compared to men and marginalize women's opinions (Bhog 2002;Nawani 2017). Emerson and Levi (2020; this section) meticulously illustrate the ways textbooks in SA largely constitute gendered identities that relegate women to "home" and the domestic sphere with responsibilities for the reproduction and upbringing of the nation. This put them in a subordinate position to men whose role is to protect the physical boundaries of the nation.…”

“…The intersection of religion, modernity, and gender in South Asia can be profound in contexts of conflict. As evidenced by Emerson and Levi's (2020) study of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the association of dominant masculinity with the "protection" of the "motherland," not only put women in a position of dependence and obedience but also make them vulnerable to cultural, structural, and direct violence (Durrani and Halai 2018). In the neocolonial imperial global relations, the association of modern schooling with the West makes girls' schools a particular target by militants in both Pakistan (Durrani and Halai 2018) and Afghanistan (Novelli 2017).…”

“…This mapping of themes is however partial and constrained by the limitation of time and space as well as the topics and countries covered within the section, "Curriculum and Knowledge." The contributions in this section cover: the significance of the history curriculum in the construction of national imaginaries drawing on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh ; the construction of the "ideal" citizen within the civics curriculum in India and Pakistan (Kadiwal and Jain 2020); the construction of gender in textbooks in the conflict-affected contexts of Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Emerson and Levi 2020); curriculum models and pedagogic perspectives in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Sharma 2020); concerns and challenges in assessing student learning in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka (Nawani and Goswami 2020); and mathematics education (Bose 2020).…”

Portrayal of Invaders and Conquerors of Indian Subcontinent: Analysis of History Textbooks Studied in Pakistani Schools

“…The history textbook revision exercises were influenced by religion as it became a key pillar to construct the national political, cultural and historical narrative around it. The Indian history textbooks removed references to Muslim rulers and added more references of Hindu rulers in their history textbook (Dalrymple, 2005;Emerson & Levi, 2020;Habib, Jaiswal, & Aditya, 2003;Rahman, Hamzah, Meerah, & Rahman, 2010;Rosser, 2003;Sen, 2012;Sharma, 2020). These studies also revealed how Bangladesh and India were reinventing their history and reinterpreting different historical events shared by these countries to suit their narrational, political, cultural and religious narratives.…”