Uncovering Gender, Language, and Intersected Asymmetries in History Textbooks

Abstract

The study employs multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) and quantitative analysis to investigate the enactment of gender and intersected asymmetries in the Central Asian school curriculum, using the History of Kazakhstan, a compulsory subject taught across grades 5 and 11, as a case study. The analysis is based on the 4Rs framework of redistribution, representation, recognition, and reconciliation. The findings indicate that women, especially non-Kazakh ones, are marginalised; ideal femininity is associated with weakness, but at the same time, stereotypically masculine traits are praised in women; ideal masculinity is associated with violence, and it is also praised in textbooks. Additionally, Russian language textbooks exhibit more gender bias due to gender-discriminatory language, while Kazakh language textbooks often obscure non-Kazakh individuals. Thus, the analysis detects an ethnic bias. The study highlights the need to update textbook content, reducing gender, language, and ethnic disparities in the discourse.