Rethinking Research Processes and Praxis in the Social Studies: The Cultural Politics of Methodology in Text Evaluation Research

Abstract

Traditionally, social studies researchers have worked in isolation from marginalized cultural groups in developing approaches for assessing cultural representation in textbooks. This study attempted to address this issue by developing a culturally driven textbook assessment instrument in cooperation with educators from a culturally marginalized group in Canada — First Nations people. The instrument reflects the close attention given to the manner in which social studies research processes can be reconstructed to accord with the needs of culturally marginalized groups. It also illuminates the concerns of one cultural group in Canada (First Nations people) with regard to their representation in public schooling, including the criteria they identify as central to the assessment of racial inequity in textbooks. The findings of this research speak to the need for social studies researchers to commit themselves to critical reflection in their research practice, reconsider the epistemological premises upon which textbook assessments are based, and rethink their roles both as ‘expositors’ of knowledge and as applied researchers in social studies education. We argue that critical engagement with such issues will result in more reflective social studies research and the making of text evaluation projects that have concerns about equity and justice at their center.