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Abstract
This study examines six US social studies teachers’ beliefs and curricular decisions that impact their teaching about Asia. Using interview data, the study seeks to understand the forces that influence what, how, and when teachers teach about Asia in their secondary classes, if and how they position Asians as ‘others’, and what bearing that has on how these teachers represent Asia in the curriculum. As the study investigates these topics in light of the wider social perceptions of Asia in US society, it uses cultural studies as a major theoretical framework. Major findings show that there is a significant gap between teachers’ personal goals for instruction and students’ perceptions about Asia, the latter of which are often influenced by mass media and popular culture. The study provides a new perspective on understanding the nature and social function of the school curriculum as producer of the collective perception of other peoples and cultures.
Notes
1. While General Motors’s sales have decreased in the domestic market, its sales in China have been soaring, and it has become a leading seller of passenger cars. It was estimated that General Electric’s total sales in China neared $5 billion in 2005 (‘GE predicts’ Citation2003).
2. Perhaps the best example of these early efforts is seen in the work of the Stanford University Program on International and Cross‐cultural Education (SPICE) which has produced materials on Japan and China. However, the Asia Society, UCLA Asia Institute, and Columbia University’s Asia for Educators also provide useful electronic resources and guides for teaching Asia in K–12 classrooms.
3. See ‘Study: Geography Greek to young Americans’ (2006) CNN.COM. Available online at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/, accessed 16 September 2009.
4. This does not mean that this study ignores potential misrepresentations or incorrect information about Asia among teachers and students. Rather, it means that the primary purpose of this study is not to show how Asia is misrepresented in US school curriculum, but to investigate what kinds of socio‐cultural frameworks cause those misconceptions.
5. Among the various subject areas in social studies, we decided to focus on those that are more likely to address modern Asia and its relationship to the US. Since we were interested in how teachers construct economic, cultural, social, and global issues in Asia in a contemporary context, we excluded history teachers, who tend to address Asia primarily in a historical context. We focused on secondary teachers, because secondary social studies is the major location for Asia in curriculum in Michigan (Michigan Department of Education Citation1996).
6. See Joint Committee on Geographic Education (Citation1984).
7. Of the six teachers, four teach in middle schools, two in high schools. One is male, five female. Two of them teach in urban schools and the rest in suburban schools. Five are White; one was born to a Columbian [mother] and a White father. Some of them mentioned their personal exposure to diverse cultures and its influence on their curriculum, others did not. We expected that these diversities among the teachers would help us acquire a deeper understanding of how teachers construct Asia in their curriculum.
8. See the interview protocol in the Appendix.
9. In addition to conducting the interviews, the first author also observed these teachers teaching lessons on Asia. However, classroom observations are not a major data source for the analysis; they were conducted primarily to build rapport with the teachers and to help situate the researchers in the school context.
10. All the names in this study are pseudonyms.
11. Japan, as part of a teacher exchange group.
12. As a geographic term widely used in US school curriculum, the Eastern Hemisphere includes Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, whereas the Western Hemisphere typically includes the Americas.
13. For example, citizens of Australia, a settler society, used to regard their nation as European. However, since the 1990s, the Australian government has worked toward establishing it as part of Asia, mainly for economic reasons, which has caused some Australians to wonder whether their nation belongs to Asia or Europe (FitzGerald Citation1997).
14. In sports, for example, Middle Eastern countries are grouped with other Asian countries—they compete with other Asian countries such as China and Korea in preliminary games for, e.g. the World Cup or the Olympics.
15. As a transcontinental nation between Europe and Asia, Turkey is another nation whose geographic location has been controversial. In European geographic taxonomy, ‘Asia’ originally referred to what is now northwest Turkey. However, according to Lewis and Wigen (Citation1997: 69), many Turkish intellectuals have asserted that their civilization’s real roots lie in the West, arguing that they are the true heir of the Roman Empire as well as of the Greek civilization. Some Islamic groups, however, have strongly opposed any closer linkages with Europe because of religious issues. Recently, Turkey’s efforts to become a member of the European Union have created another debate both in Europe and Turkey, since it would be the first Islam nation identified as a European nation.
16. This animated film was released in 2004 (Parker Citation2004). The film is about a ‘Team’ whose base is located in Mount Rushmore and fights against terrorists to stop them from doing evil deeds. Kim Jong‐Il is parodied as a dangerous political leader in the film.
