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Representations of Islam and Arab Societies in

Western Secondary Textbooks
Alexander W. Wiseman, PhD
Lehigh University
Abstract
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the textbooks in Arab and Islamic
nation-states have been carefully critiqued for any content that Westerners view as
promoting hate or violence against non-Muslims. Very little has been said, however,
about the portrayals of Islamic and Arab society in Western textbooks. This report
investigates the perspectives and ideologies concerning representations of Islam and
Arab societies in textbooks worldwide, and specically in Western countries
national education systems. Seventy-two textbooks from 15 Western countries and
Israel were examined to investigate the included and excluded content related to
Islam and Arab societies. This research found that those countries with either an
immediate stake in the Middle East (e.g., Israel) or an immediate past stake in the
region (e.g., the United Kingdom) were the most likely to include coverage of Islam
and Arab societies in secondary textbooks. The major ndings of this research,
however, are that content related to contemporary Islam and Arab societies in
Western secondary-level textbooks is overwhelmingly related to terrorism and terrorists, the Arab/Israeli conict, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The majority
of content related to contemporary Islam and Arab societies represents Muslims
and their communities as: 1) socially, politically, and economically repressed; 2) religiously and ideologically oppressed; and 3) both typically and frequently violent.

Introduction

ince September 11, 2001, there has been a special interest in the representations
of non-Muslim and Western communities in school textbooks used in predominantly Muslim countries (Freedom House, 2006). Islam is the fastest growing and
second largest religion in the world, and Muslims make up about a quarter of the
worlds population and represent communities in every nation in the world (Pew
Research Center, 2009, 2011). As a result, the geopolitical, economic, and military
importance of the Middle East and North African Muslim populations and
particularly the countries of the Arabian Gulf region represent key communities
for global peace development, energy production, and economic stability and growth
worldwide.
Given the global signicance and extreme importance of Islam and Arab societies to the political and economic stability of both the Middle East region and the
world, there have already been several studies that have investigated ArabIsraeli

Digest of Middle East StudiesVolume 23, Number 2Pages 312344

2014 Policy Studies Organization. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fall 2014

educational relationships and the impact of those relations on education and society
worldwide (e.g., Farah, 1980; Yair & Alayan, 2009) and even representations of
Islam and Arab societies in school textbooks (e.g., Nasser & Nasser, 2008). But,
because of the importance and often passionate nature of the relationship between
Western and Arab-Islamic communities, there are sometimes biased reports (e.g.,
Sewall, 2003), which more controversially frame the research on representations of
Islam and Arab societies in school textbooks.
Representations of cultural communities in speech, print, and other media are
often driven by political perspectives and institutionalized ideologies (Wertsch,
2002). This is especially true of school textbooks. Textbooks represent the perspective presented by schools and educators in national education systems worldwide
and thus are an important indicator of ocial government as well as popular and
hidden perspectives of the cultural and political communities they depict, both in
words and images (Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991). Yet, it is not only what textbooks explicitly include that represent the perspectives of governments, schools, and
the people. It is often the elements of a particular history, event, issue, or socioethnic group that is not included in textbooks, which is just as indicative of the represented perspective as what is explicitly stated, shown, or otherwise addressed. In
other words, the comparative analysis of textbook content is important both for
what is included and shown as well as for what is omitted.
Developing a Framework for Research
Systematic, empirical research on school textbook representations of Islam and Arab
communities worldwide are rather limited, but there are few key examples, which
are frequently cited in the research literature. For instance, publications from the
American Textbook Council (ATC) (Sewall, 2003, 2004, 2008) report on reviews of
several widely adopted junior and senior high school history textbooks in the United
States. Although controversial, these reports provide a basis for both identifying the
problems in prior research on this topic and highlighting key constructs for further
investigation.
The ATCs textbook reviews are among the most widely read and disseminated
reports focusing on Islam in U.S. textbooks, and the questions that frame the reports
represent core questions to ask both about the United States as well as other
Western textbook coverage of Islam and Arab societies. For example, these review
reports ask how U.S. history textbooks characterize Islams foundations and creeds
as well as which changes have occurred in U.S. textbook material since 2001
(Sewall, 2003). These are important questions, which address the fundamental
issues of textbook coverage and revisions. Sewalls (2003) ATC report also asks very
pointedly what U.S. textbooks say about terrorism, the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
weapons of mass destruction, and whether global Islam challenges security
worldwide.

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These questions were asked to highlight what Sewall (2004, 2008) suggests is a
missing emphasis on content related to violent Islamic extremism in American textbooks. The conclusions that the ATC draws are framed by the perspective that U.S.
textbooks show largely or overly positive images of Islam a suggestion that contradicts other related literature (Douglass, 2003), as well as the empirical research
ndings reported here. Still, Sewalls conclusions point out several key issues that
need further development. Specically, the ATC reviews authored by Sewall (2003,
2004, 2008) suggest that many political and religious groups try to use the textbook
process to their advantage, but the deciencies in Islam-related lessons are great.
Errors about Islam that occurred in older textbooks have not been corrected but
reiterated (Sewall, 2008, p. 5).
This statement suggests that there is missing information in U.S. textbooks
related to Islam and Arab societies, which needs to be addressed. Evidence suggests this is true (Ali, Salem, Oueslati, McAndrew, & Quirke, 2011), although
not in the way that Sewall suggests, and is a key reason why this research report is
a unique contribution to understanding Islam and Arab society representations in
textbooks worldwide. It is also true that the United States and other Western
textbooks continue to contain incorrect or outdated information about Islam. So,
the need for a review of Western school textbooks related to Islam and Arab societies is warranted.
Sewalls (2003, 2004, 2008) ATC reports have been discussed by others examining the representations of Islam, in particular, in U.S. textbooks (al-Hazza &
Lucking, 2005). Critics of the ATC argue that the ATC reports predominantly
reect the views of the reports primary author, Gilbert T. Sewall, who suggests that
U.S. textbooks are lacking in their presentation and representation of Islam not
because of misinformation, but because they do not adequately show the negative
elements of Islam in the relevant sections of textbooks at the secondary level
(Douglass, 2003). It is worth noting that there are several other highly visible critiques of Sewall and the ATCs reviews, which suggest that Sewall is biased toward
overly negative conceptions of Islam and Arab society (Douglass & Dunn, 2003;
Douglass & Shaikh, 2004).
In short, Sewall and the ATCs review reports present a controversial perspective on Islam and Arab societies in American textbooks, but ask some important
questions in spite of the bias others have documented. Yet, these ATC reports and
the controversy surrounding them provide a framework for research addressing
representations of Islam and Arab society in textbooks worldwide. Given the
importance of global social and political relationships, and a rising awareness that
Western countries and Islamic or Arab societies worldwide are increasingly important to one another, research reported here presents the ndings of an empirical
study focusing on representations of Islam and Arab societies in secondary textbooks in Western countries worldwide, plus Israel. As such, the objectives of this
research are to:

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1. Assess which content related to Islam and Arab societies is presented in

Western secondary textbooks, what the explicit and implicit messages of this
content are, which content is omitted, and what messages these omissions
suggest;
2. Provide an analysis of Western textbook content related to Islam and Arab
societies, including the text, images, and expectations presented and transmitted
to Western educators, students, and communities; and
3. Synthesize how Islam and Arab societies are portrayed in Western secondary
school government educational systems, based on an analysis of world history
textbooks.
While this study of textbooks in Western world history textbooks does not agree
with the specic conclusions of Sewall or the ATC, it does suggest that there are
systematic deciencies in the representations of Islam and Arab societies in American and other countries secondary history textbooks.
Conceptual Framework for Islam and Arab Textbook Content
Understanding the relevance of textbook representations of Islam and Arab
society requires an understanding of the impact that textbooks have on the development and legitimization of collective memory. Wertsch (2002, p. 68) asserts that
nation-states are unique in that they have as one of their chief functions to bind
members together whether that is by emphasizing shared characteristics, expectations, or experiences among members or by contrasting members from those outside
of the nation-state (i.e., the other). Since government-sponsored mass education
has become the norm in nation-states worldwide, beginning in the mid-twentieth
century, the curriculum or ocial knowledge legitimized and disseminated
through formal schooling is one of the key ways that members are incorporated as
citizens or set apart as others.
Wertsch (2002, pp. 6066) argues that textual communities often developed through formal education have a profound eect on the development and
incorporation of citizens as well as the identication and rejection of those outside
of the community. This is done through the development of collective memory via
textual communities, and these can be analyzed through the identication and
application of schematic narrative templates. Collective memory is the process of
remembering a constructed version of history, society, or culture rather than a
memory itself. In other words, by analyzing what textbooks say (and do not say), a
schematic narrative template provides an explanation of how textbooks create an
account of the past to serve interests in the present (Wertsch, 2002, p. 33). The
importance of school textbook content in the development and representation of
societies and cultures worldwide is evident for Islam and Arab societies, especially
in the wake of 9/11.

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There are several themes that run through the literature related to the
representation of Islam and Arab societies in school textbooks and curriculum in the
West. This analysis uses a framework for investigating the development of
collective memory through a global (or at least Western) textual community. To do
so, the themes found in the existing research literature on Islam and Arab society are
explored as a schematic narrative template. Four themes frame most of the prior
empirical research done on this topic, and contribute to the development of a schematic narrative template for this analysis as follows:
1. Characterizations of Islams foundations and creeds in textbooks, curricula, and
nations educational systems worldwide.
2. Portrayals, examples, and emphases in content related to Arab and predominantly Muslim societies in textbooks and educational systems worldwide.
3. Changes in school curriculum and textbook content from pre- to post-9/11.
4. Messages about Islamic and Muslim contributions to global society, security, and
stability.
As the objectives of this report suggest, there are three elements to consider for
each of these themes: 1) content, 2), images, and 3) missing content or images. To
simplify this process, a template is presented in Table 1. Literature that falls within
overlapping areas between the theme categories and the investigatory elements are
listed in all of the relevant categories and element table cells so that representation
in each of these areas is as accurate as possible.
As Table 1 shows, the literature written in English on textbooks and representations of Islam or Arab societies is relatively small, and largely related to textbook
content. There is no research literature looking at the representations in textbook
images, and there is very little related to outlining the missing content and
images.
Characterizations of Islams foundations and creeds is related to the origins of
Islam when presented in a more positive manner, but largely the subject of either
accusations of radicalism and fundamentalist Islam (Freedom House, 2006; Sewall,
2003, 2004, 2008), or defenses of Islam and rejections of more aggressively negative
interpretations (Douglass, 2003; Douglass & Dunn, 2003; Douglass & Shaikh,
2004). The research on textbooks worldwide has focused less often on Islams foundations and creeds and much more often on portrayals of Islam and Arab society
through historical, political, or social studies. In many Western countries educational systems, religious instruction and education is either prohibited by law in
government-sponsored schools or considered irrelevant to social, political, or economic understanding. Islam as a religion, when presented in textbooks, is examined
more often as a phenomenon to study than a religion to critique or promote. Therefore, in Western textbooks, Islam and Arab societies are largely portrayed through

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Table 1: Scholarly Literature Addressing the Areas of Theme and Element in Analyses of Representations of
Islam and Arab Societies in Textbooks Worldwide

(1) Textbook Content

(1) Characterizations
of Islams
foundations and
creeds

(2) Textbook
Images

Bangura, 2004; Breidlid, 2005;

No relevant
Douglass, 2003; Douglass &
literature
Dunn, 2003; Douglass & Shaikh,
available
2004; Estivalezes, 2011; Freedom
House, 2006; Ihtiyar, 2003;
Jonker & Thobani, 2009;
McAndrew et al., 2007; Oueslati
et al., 2011; Sewall, 2003; Sewall,
2004; Sewall, 2008; Triki-Yamani
et al., 2011
(2) Portrayals of
Ali et al., 2011; Brockway, 2007;
Al-Halwaji,
content related to
Estivalezes, 2011; Freedom
2004
Islam and Arab
House, 2006; Ihtiyar, 2003;
society
Jonker, 2011; Jonker & Thobani,
2009; McAndrew et al., 2007;
McAndrew et al., 2011;
Montgomery, 2005; Oueslati
et al., 2011; Perry, 1975; Podeh,
2010; Rasero & Bochaca, 2011;
Romanowski & Alkhateeb, 2011;
Sewall, 2003; Sewall, 2004;
Sewall, 2008; Thobani, 2010;
Triki-Yamani et al., 2011
(3) Changes in school Jackson, 2010; Westheimer, 2007;
No relevant
curricula and
Oueslati et al., 2011
literature
textbook content
available
from pre- to
post-9/11
(4) Messages about
Estivalezes, 2011; Ihtiyar, 2003;
No relevant
Islamic and
Jonker & Thobani, 2009;
literature available
Muslim
McAndrew et al., 2007
contributions to
global society,
security, and
stability

(3) Missing Content and

Images
Ali et al., 2011; Sewall,
2003; Sewall, 2004;
Sewall, 2008

Ali et al., 2011;

McAndrew et al.,
2011; Moore, 2006;
Nasser & Nasser,
2008; Sewall, 2003;
Sewall, 2004; Sewall,
2008

Sewall, 2003; Sewall,

2004; Sewall, 2008

Moore, 2006

events and issues. Yet, much of the literature focuses on largely two portrayals of
content.
The rst portrayal of content is related to the emphasis on the Arab/Israeli
conict throughout the textbooks. The ndings are largely that the Arab/Israeli
conict represents all of the negative stereotypes of Islam and Arab societies
because it demonstrates examples of failures in political diplomacy, intolerance of
religious dierences, a willingness to use violence against innocent individuals as a
result of ideological beliefs, and the potential that the Islamic and Arab culture are

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at least in part responsible for all of these negative characteristics (Ali et al.,
2011; Brockway, 2007; Ihtiyar, 2003; Rasero & Bochaca, 2011; Thobani,
2010). Interestingly, these negative characteristics are shown for both Arab
and Israeli textbooks (Podeh, 2000, 2010; Romanowski & Alkhateeb, 2011).
As a result, portrayals of content related to Islam and Arab society in the
research literature are largely examinations of the Arab/Israeli conict and ways
that education reects or biases that conict. This represents the largest body of
literature examining Western textbooks for representations of Islam and Arab
society.
The second portrayal of content that occurs in much of the literature is related to
overtly racist or biased representations of Islam and Arab societies in Western educational systems and textbooks (Montgomery, 2005). The negative connotations
about Islam and Arab societies are not unique to post-9/11 textbook content (Perry,
1975). Yet, the research does not limit itself to Western textbooks only. There is a
plethora of research looking at how Islam and Arab society are represented in Israeli
and Palestinian textbooks themselves (Nasser & Nasser, 2008; Podeh, 2000,
2010).
There have been only a handful of works that have documented changes
in school curricula and textbook content from pre- to post-9/11, and those that
have largely focused on shifts in American textbooks and curricula (Jackson, 2010;
Oueslati, McAndrew, & Helly, 2011). So, the analysis is indirect at best.
What research has been done shows that post-9/11 American education is
overtly patriotic, suggesting that there was self-censorship when it came to
talking about or encouraging ideas that would challenge perceived traditional
nationalist beliefs and activities (Westheimer, 2007). This did not necessarily coincide with a revision of textbook content or curricula in the United States. Instead,
the change seems to be more related to emphases in actual textbook or curricular
content.
In summary, prior literature does exist, but is relatively new and underinvestigated relative to the larger body of research on textbook analysis worldwide.
Messages about Islamic and Muslim contributions to global society, security, and
stability are not mentioned or analyzed in the research literature very much, but
when they are, there are often references to ancient Islam, or to the role of the Gulf
countries and oil production (Douglass & Dunn, 2003). Oueslati et al. (2011) conclude that there is a remarkable dierence between ancient and contemporary representations of Islam and Arab societies. The studies that do address Islam and Arab
society are consistently related to textbook content, but ignore textbook images and
missing content or images. As a result, the need for a thorough textbook analysis of
the text and images that represent Islam and Arab societies is long overdue. To
address this need, the following analysis looks at secondary-level world history textbooks from countries around the world mostly from a Western perspective, plus
Israel.

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Methodology
The examination of textbooks was systematically structured (Nicholls, 2003; Pratt,
1972; Schissler, 2009). The data collection took place in 2011 at the Georg Eckert
Institutes textbook library in Braunschweig, Germany, using textbooks from a
sample of the largest and most widely adopted textbook publishers from a wide
range of Western countries worldwide, including Canada, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The countries that were included
in the sample were selected because of the availability and accessibility of world
history textbooks published since 2001 and for the inclusion of references to Islam,
Muslims, and Arabs in the textbooks content. Other textbooks from Australia,
China, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa were
also examined, but were either not recent (i.e., older than 2001 only) or did not reference Islam, Muslims, or Arabs in the available texts (e.g., Irelands textbooks).
This does not suggest that these countries do not reference Islam, Muslims, or
Arabs in any of the textbooks used in schools, but represents instead a limitation of
the librarys collection and the researchers resources.
Textbook discourse analysis is concerned with investigating the relationship
between language or narratives presented in school textbooks and the ways they
are interpreted within cultural and social contexts (Rogers, 2004). Education is a
social process, and as such the content of school textbooks convey more than facts
or curricula; they convey cultural and social assumptions, expectations, and perspectives as well (Nicholls, 2003; Schissler, 2009). The analysis of textbook
content began, therefore, with identifying ways that Islam and Arab societies were
referenced in Western textbooks. The textbooks included in the sample were
restricted to world history textbooks (which excluded civics and sociology or social
studies-oriented textbooks), although some textbooks overlapped subjects to
some degree. Textbooks were selected based on their inclusion of contemporary,
modern, or recent world history as much as possible; however, since many of the
textbooks were more comprehensive, ancient or medieval history was also available
in many of the textbooks. In total, 72 textbooks were reviewed from 16 dierent
countries, with an emphasis on representations of Islam, Muslims, and Arab
societies.
It must be noted that history textbooks worldwide tend to emphasize key events
and turning points, so there is an overwhelming amount of information on wars,
political and cultural conicts, and other crises. This certainly contributes to the
emphasis on crises in the Islamic, Arab societies in Western secondary history textbooks. However, the contextualization of these crises is just as important as the fact
that the crises are included as part of the history textbook content (Pratt, 1972;
Schissler, 2009). For example, there are representations of every war that the United
States has been involved in, but the context and connotation of text related to these

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wars rarely portray the United States as overly violent or ideologically aggressive,
especially for popular wars like World War II.
Data collection in the selected countries textbooks began with a search
for three key root words: Islam, Muslim, and Arab. All variations of the word
Islam were accepted, including Islam, Islamic, Islamist, and Islamism among
others. Likewise, all variations of the word Arab were accepted, including Arab,
Arabic, and Arabian among others. Phrases including these two key word roots were
also included, such as Arab nationalism, Muslim society, or Islamic culture.
Finally, the names of the countries that comprise the Arabian Peninsula or Gulf
States (i.e., Islamic nation-states) were searched throughout each of the texts.
The content, images, and key terms on the pages that referenced some variation
of the terms Islam, Muslim, or Arab were noted. In particular, the content in relevant sections of each textbook that addressed key elements of Islam, Muslims, or
Arabs was specically searched for references to the origins and expansion of Islam
and Arab communities worldwide; key points about the Islamic religion (including
the pillars of Islam, the Koran, and the distinction between Sunni and Shia), and
contemporary contributions of Arabs or Arab societies to global politics, economy,
society, or science were noted.
Textbook Content Results and Findings
The results of this investigation of textbook content worldwide are presented
below in three subsections: content coverage, included content, and missing data.
The coverage section presents an analysis of the percent textbook coverage dedicated to Islam and Arab societies in secondary world history textbooks from 16
countries and 72 textbooks. The content section presents an analysis of how Islam
and Arab societies are represented in textbooks using the frequency of keywords
related to the topic as an indicator. The missing data section focuses on the relative
coverage or missing coverage of keywords related to the core of Islam and Arab
societies, which are considered minimum to presenting and learning a basic understanding of Islam and Arab societies. Taken together, these representations of Islam
and Arab societies in secondary world history textbooks provide a triangulated
dataset. These data and its analysis represent text, images, and perspectives both held
by and provided to youth worldwide, but especially in the West.
Content Coverage
Table 2 shows the percent coverage of Islam and Arab societies in secondary
world history textbooks by country. The countries are sorted by percent coverage
from highest to lowest. Figure 1 below shows the same information in bar graph
format. As Table 2 and Figure 1 show, Israel had the largest percent coverage
of Islam and Arab societies of any of the countries textbooks reviewed. Austria
and Finland have about the average amount of textbook coverage, and of the four

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Table 2: Percent Coverage of Islam and Arab Societies in Secondary World History Textbooks by Country

Country
Israel
United Kingdom
The Netherlands
Germany
Norway
Finland
Austria
Italy
United States
France
Sweden
Poland
Canada
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Total

Total Textbooks
Reviewed

Coverage
Pages

Total Textbook
Pages

%
Coverage

5
9
1
11
2
4
2
5
9
11
3
2
2
1
4
1
72

204
372
17
309
50
44
17
78
282
102
38
12
18
2
25
3
1,573

1,004
2,700
183
3,579
759
749
296
1,833
7,622
3,065
1,375
648
1,026
127
1,653
224
26,843

20.32%
13.78%
9.29%
8.63%
6.59%
5.87%
5.74%
4.26%
3.70%
3.33%
2.76%
1.85%
1.75%
1.57%
1.51%
1.34%
5.86%

Figure 1: Percent coverage of Islam and Arab societies in secondary world history textbooks by country.

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countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France) comprising the largest Western block of countries, the United Kingdom had the largest coverage at 13.78%. Next, Germany had 8.63% coverage, but the United States and
France had the lowest at 3.70% and 3.33%, respectively. Switzerland had the least
percent coverage of Islam and Arab societies in their secondary world history textbooks at 1.34%.
It is not surprising that Israel dedicates as much textbook coverage to Islam and
Arab societies as it does, given its unique status and location in the Middle East,
and especially because it is one of the states that comprise the largest topic in world
history textbooks related to the region (i.e., Arab/Israeli conict). However, for
world history textbooks in the United Kingdom to dedicate more than one tenth of
their coverage to Islam and Arab societies is exceptionally high given that the
United Kingdom is not actively involved in the Arab/Israeli conict to the degree
that other countries are (e.g., Israel or the United States). In fact, this is one of the
reasons why the coverage that U.S. world history textbooks dedicate to Islam and
Arab societies is especially low. The United States is often placed in close proximity
to the Arab/Israeli conict for its consistent support of Israel and less frequent
support of Palestinians.
As Figure 1 shows, 10 out of 16 (62.5%) of the countries whose textbooks were
reviewed dedicate about 5% or less coverage to Islam and Arab societies. The reason
why the percent coverage becomes important is because the less coverage of Arab
societies there is, the more representative the few pages that are dedicated to Islam
and Arab societies necessarily become. For example, two Canadian textbooks were
reviewed for this research. Those two Canadian world history textbooks have a total
of 1,026 pages of content, but only 18 pages were dedicated to presenting Islam and
Arab societies. Although Canada as a country is often considered one of the most
tolerant and peaceful nations in the world, it is dicult to say that students in
Canadian schools have an adequate knowledge or understanding of Islam and Arab
societies when only 18 out of 1,026 pages of world history content cover these
topics. The question then becomes one of what exactly is presented about this religion and these communities, and what is ignored or omitted. Discourse analysis
research suggests that both what is included and what is excluded have a profound
impact on the understanding and knowledge that students will have about a topic
(Gee, 2011).
In summary, the coverage of Islam and Arab societies is highest in the country
that is directly involved in the Arab/Israeli conict (i.e., Israel). This suggests that
direct involvement in the Islamic or Arab world is perhaps a key to coverage;
however, this rationale quickly breaks down when analyzing the percent coverage of
Islam and Arab societies in other Western countries textbooks. The United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany all had percent coverage that was signicantly above the international mean, yet none of these countries continues to be
directly involved in the Islamic world or Arab community as much as the United

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States, for example. The relatively high coverage in UK textbooks suggests that there
is a particular interest in and emphasis on one or more relevant factors.
Although the United Kingdom is not as direct a participant or player in the
aairs of the Middle East as it once was, the UKs history as a former colonial
power in the region is highly signicant to the continuing Arab/Israeli conict.
Therefore, the UKs emphasis of this topic in particular (e.g., Arab/Israeli conict) is
not surprising. What is surprising is that the percent coverage in U.S. world history
textbooks is signicantly below the international mean. Given the U.S. ongoing
involvement in the Middle East and the Gulf region in particular, the low percent
coverage dedicated to the region suggests that there is perhaps a concerted eort to
exclude information about Islam and Arab society, or to purposefully ignore the
impact and importance of the U.S. involvement in two wars in Islamic and Arab
regions.
The next section will highlight the ways in which content about Islam and Arab
societies is explicitly presented. Given that most of the countrys textbooks reviewed
are signicantly below the international mean, which was set at 5.86% coverage
largely because of the coverage dedicated by Israel and the United Kingdom, the
content that is presented in the small number of pages aorded to Islam and Arab
societies is particularly relevant. It is relevant because it represents the ocial
knowledge that the government-sponsored educational system in Western countries provides youth (Apple, 1993).
Included Content
The content included in secondary world history textbooks about Islam and
Arab societies does not vary as much as might be expected given the diversity and
richness of the historical, political, economic, and cultural fabric of Islam and the
Arab community that is infused by Islam. In general, for example, there is much
more of a focus on the Middle East, which includes non-Arab countries (e.g.,
Iran) rather than looking at the Arab and Islamic countries specically. In fact, Iran
is often included in historical discussions of the Middle East, especially when there
is an emphasis on Islamic nationalism (e.g., the Iranian Islamic revolution to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran) or nuclear proliferation.
As the examples described and explained below show, the most common themes
and topics related to Islam, Muslims, and Arabs in textbooks worldwide relate to the
following:
1. Arab/Israeli conict
2. Arab nationalism
3. Islamic extremism
4. Islamic terrorism

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These themes accounted for at least 47% of the textbook coverage reviewed for
this report, and the percentage connected to these themes is much more likely to be
in the 75% range. In other words, 50% to 75% of all of the textbook coverage of
Islam and Arab societies is related to conict, nationalism, extremism, or terrorism
all issues and topics that present Islam and Arab societies as violent, irrational,
unstable, and undesirable. There are, of course, more positive references made to the
ancient Islamic contributions to civilization through art, science, and architecture,
but the overwhelming representations of Islam and Arab society are negative.
Figure 2 shows the relative frequency of keywords used in secondary world
history textbooks in the 16 sampled countries, which are associated with Islam and
Arab societies. Many of these keywords are used both to represent positive and
negative text and images of Islam and Arab societies. For example, the term Islam
is the name of a religion; however, there are other forms of the word that use Islam
as the root, but add suxes to create new meanings. One such word is Islamism,
Islamism and other derivatives of the word, such as Islamist, connote religious
fundamentalism and extremism in the name of Islam.
As Figure 2 shows, the term Islamism is four times less likely to be used than
the term Arab, which is evidence that Arab and Islamism are potentially directly
connected in world history textbook content about 25% of the time at the most.
However, the nuances of terminology are lost when using Islam as the root word
because it is the most widely used term in textbooks worldwide, and because it is the

Figure 2: Frequency of keywords used in secondary world history textbooks worldwide.

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root for Islamism, Islamist, Islamization, and other words that suggest both the religion itself, but also what many Westerners perceive as a violent and growing radicalization of Islam in Arab societies (Ali et al., 2011; Estivalezes, 2011).
The keywords most frequently used in conjunction with textbook content about
Islam and Arab societies were: Islam, Arab, terrorism, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Muslim,
Iran, and Afghanistan. These keywords and their roots were used more than 50
times total in the review of textbooks, which represents a signicantly high
frequency of usage Islam being far and away the most used term with more
than 200 references to it, and Arab a close second at more than 100 references.
Muslim is also frequently used (>60 references), and taken together, these three
terms (Islam, Arab, and Muslim) are the core terms used to link textbook content to
Islam and Arab societies in world history textbooks. These core terms are relatively
value or perspective neutral on their own, yet several of the most used keywords are
not value neutral.
It is instead the terms including terror, the proximity of the terms Israel and
Palestine (e.g., Arab/Israeli conict), Iran (and references to both the Islamic
revolution and nuclear proliferation), and the countries Afghanistan and Iraq
where wars are being waged against terror by Western countries that provide the
key to understanding how Islam and Arab societies are represented in textbooks
worldwide. To take a closer look at which terms are used, and how frequently in
core Western countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and
France), Figures 3, 4, and 5 below compare the percent of total keywords in the
U.S.s world history textbooks to those in the United Kingdom, Germany, and
France. These four countries were chosen not only because of their role in Western
politics and society, but also because they have each contributed to the global discourse related to Islam and Arab societies. These four countries were also the best
represented in terms of the textbook sample taken for this study.
In terms of the percent of keywords representing Islam and Arab societies in U.S.
world history textbooks, there is an emphasis on Gulf Cooperation Council countries compared with textbook representation in other countries. In particular, representations of Saudi Arabia in U.S. textbooks accounted for 69% of the references in
all 72 of the textbooks reviewed for this study. This suggests a signicant emphasis
on Saudi Arabia and its global role related to Islam and Arab societies worldwide
from the American perspective. References to the art and science contributions
of Islam and Arab societies was also high in the U.S. textbooks reviews, accounting
for 67% in both cases. The keywords represented in U.S. textbooks 50% of the time
or more are largely related to specic Arab nations, and the history or political
events tied to those countries. Interestingly, the United States also represents the
predominant voice among all 72 textbooks reviewed regarding mentions of Christians or Christianity in relation to content on Islam and Arab societies.
Keywords used in secondary world history textbooks in the United
States, which were more negative in meaning, include Palestinian Liberation

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Organization (PLO) at 39% of total, jihad at 37%, fundamentalist/ism at 34%,

Osama bin Laden at 30%, Taliban at 27%, 9/11 at 26%, terrorist/ism at 20%,
Al Qaida at 17%, and extremist/ism at 17%. While many of these references are
historical in nature, their inclusion and the overlap of references to them compared with the overlap among more positive references shows that the history of
Islam and Arab societies presented in U.S. world history textbooks is largely negative, although surprisingly more positive that many other Western countries
textbooks.
Figure 3 shows the percent of total keywords related to Islam and Arab societies
in U.S. secondary world history textbooks compared with the United Kingdom. The
U.S. textbooks emphasis on certain keywords has already been discussed above, but
the comparisons to the United Kingdom are strikingly dissimilar. Although the
United States and United Kingdom are often political allies, and are involved both
in political conicts and economic reforms in countries that represent Islam and
Arab societies, their emphasis on content related to Islam and Arab societies is not
aligned. For example, references to specic countries in the Middle East and the
Gulf, in particular, do not align except for references to the U.A.E., whereas specic
references to both extremism and the Wahabi version of Islam are remarkably
dierent.
The United Kingdom contributes one third (33%) of the total content from all
reviewed textbooks related to both Islamic extremism and Wahabi Islam. The links

Figure 3: Percent of total keywords in the United States compared with United Kingdom.

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Figure 4: Percent of total keywords in the United States compared with Germany.

Figure 5: Percent of total keywords in the United States compared with France.

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between extremism and this particular branch of Islam in UK texts compared with
U.S. texts suggests that the ocial perspective of the British educational system is
that the two are linked. Since Wahabi Sunni Islam is a signicant percent of the
Saudi Muslim population, the suggestion is that Saudis are either Islamic extremists
or provide the foundation for individuals to become Islamic extremists based on
their aliation with Wahabi Islam.
This is not to say that UK textbooks ignore the fundamentals of Islam and Arab
societies completely or that they unilaterally present a negative perspective on Islam
and Saudi Arabia in particular. For example, Looking Back: The World of Islam before
1700 (Martell, 2004) is one specialized world history textbook from the United
Kingdom that provides a thorough introduction to the development, spread, and
accomplishments of Islam prior to 1700. Martell (2004) oers good information
about the pillars of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, and scientic and philosophical
contributions of Islam beyond Arab societies and to the world. Yet, there are other
textbooks like GCSE History AQA B Modern World History (Clare, 2009), which
dedicates whole chapters to the Middle East problem in contemporary history.
Clares (2009) textbook includes content about the Arab/Israeli conict, the role of
Yassar Arafat and the PLO is escalating conict, the Arab Liberation Army,
fedayeen (those who sacrice themselves), the Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War, the
Arab League, and what he calls oil wars. Ferriby, McCabe, and Mendum (2009)
textbook, History B: Twentieth Century Depth Studies, presents almost identical information as Clare.
A key quote from Clare (2009, p. 220) represents a specic perspective about Palestinians when it quotes a Palestinian as saying, When we hijack a plane it has
more eect than if we killed a hundred Israelis in battle. For decades world public
opinion has been neither for nor against the Palestinians. It has simply ignored us.
At least the world is talking about us now. The impact of this quote on a Western
youth audience is to emphasize both the desperation of the Arab terrorists, as well
as to suggest a religious fatalism and disrespect for life, which may make sense on
the battleeld or from the Palestinian perspective but will not ring as true with
British youth. It is also signicant that this whole section in the Clare text refers to
the Palestinians as if they represented all of Arab society. When he asks, How close
to victory were the Arabs . . . in the title, Clare does not necessarily distinguish
Arabs from the entire Middle East and North Africa region from Palestinians.
Perhaps this sort of pan-Arab solidarity is a positive development, but when Arabs
are portrayed exclusively as terrorists, then misrepresentations of what Arab society
and Islam are about become possible and more frequent.
What an analysis of the other UK textbooks reviewed suggests is that world
history textbooks for more general use tend to represent Islam and Arab society predominantly through the Arab/Israeli conict with almost no reference to either
the Gulf War or the war in Afghanistan. Yet, when UK textbooks are for a more
advanced level of student, the information about Islam and Arab societies tends to

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be more balanced. For example, in the textbook History of Europe and the Middle
East (Habibi, Jafari, Jones-Nerzic, Keys, & Smith, 2010), the authors point out that
the term Middle East is only from a Western perspective, and presents the strategic importance of the Middle East from a European point of view. Habibi et al.
(2010) look at the World War I involvement of the Ottoman Empire and discuss
the Arab Revolt of 1916, both of which are important to British history. But, when
more contemporary issues are presented, the discussion turns almost exclusively to
the Arab/Israeli conict and the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Saudi Arabia also has a
signicant section dedicated to it in Habibi et al., but after a brief introduction of
the history of the creation of Saudi Arabia, the focus turns to Sharia law and
Ikhwan (i.e., Muslim brotherhood).
Figure 6 shows an activity box from Habibi et al. (2010, p. 242) that asks students to, Assess the importance of the Imam-chief alliance in the unication of the
Arabian Peninsula under the rule of the Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. This is an overt
attempt by the authors to link religion and politics in the development of the
Arabian Peninsula and Saudi Arabia specically. While this link is an important
part of the history of the region, it is sandwiched into a larger chapter of the book
that presents the Islamic and Arab regions of the world as particularly chaotic and
driven by tribal warfare and violence in the twentieth century and forward.

Figure 6: UK textbook activity connecting religion and politics in Saudi Arabias development (Habibi et al., 2010,
p. 242).

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A nal example from a British textbook, 20th Century World History (Cannon,
2009), shows that when viewed from a Western or particularly a British perspective, Islam and Arab societies are perceived as more constructive in ancient
times and destructive in contemporary times. In particular, Cannon (2009) presents
the colonial history of the Middle East and the Gulf, with special emphasis on the
role of Britain in the region. T. E. Lawrence (aka, Lawrence of Arabia) is covered
extensively, but the focus of the section is on ways that Arabs forced the British out
of the region beginning with the bombing of the King David Hotel. The textbook
continues to document the creation of the Israeli state, the Arab League, the Arab/
Israeli conict, intifada, and the Palestinian diaspora. More contemporary content
on Islam and Arab society in Cannon emphasizes terrorism and hijacking related to
both the Arab/Israeli conict, but also attacks by Islamic extremists worldwide.
Figure 7 shows an example of how a UK textbook represents British sentiment
toward Arab terrorism directed at Western targets. While the text related to this
political cartoon and the caption of the image itself suggests that this is not the perspective of the author or of the textbook, presenting images like this without a balancing positive or counteracting image and associated text often leads youth to
assume the perspective of the image rather than recognize the bias it presents
(McAndrew, Triki-Yamani, & Pingel, 2011). This image and the accompanying text
along with other UK textbook representations of Islam and Arab society suggest
that ancient Islam and Arab societies may have been more positive and contributory
to global security, civilization, and economic productivity than contemporary Islam
and Arab societies are. Consistently, the more contemporary representations were

Figure 7: UK textbook example of how the British press represented Arab nationalist terrorism on Western
targets (Cannon, 2009, p. 121).

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biased by the British legacy of colonialism in the region, and a subtle attempt
to represent the UKs involvement in the Middle East and Gulf regions as a key to
stability in the region, although with a troubling outcome.
Like the United Kingdom, Germanys representations of Islam and Arab societies in secondary world history textbooks diers from the U.S. perspective in that
it accounts for all of the reviewed coverage of Pakistan and its role in recent terror
events and wars involving Islam and Arab societies. But, it also specically emphasizes the role of Hezbollah in the Arab/Israeli conict, and examinations of
Islamic extremists and extremism. As Figure 4 shows, German textbooks are
responsible for one third (33%) of the references to Islamic extremism in all 72 of
the textbooks reviewed. They also account for half (50%) of the references to
Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based Shia Muslim militant group. Although there are
important distinctions between Hezbollah and other Islamic extremist groups
worldwide, with Hezbollah representing a specic population of Islam, the ways
that German textbooks present Hezbollah is not as a faction or splinter group,
but as a militant Islamic group representing Islam and Arab societies more
broadly.
The German textbooks representation of Hezbollah as a more broadly representative Islamic group than they are is part of the diculty and misinformation that
Western textbooks often present to readers. In general, it is dicult and rare for
Western textbooks, including those in Germany, to adequately present the complexity and signicantly dierent groups that comprise the Islamic and Arab world. For
example, Sunni and Shia Muslims are often confused with one another or not
acknowledged as distinct groups at all, especially when the important distinction
between Iran and the Sunni Arab countries is relevant to understanding both the
history of the region and its relationship to Western countries and communities.
One German textbook, Menschen Zeiten Rume 3: Arbeitsbuch Fur Gesellshaftslehre
(2008) discusses dierent forms of extremism, which include right-wing extremism
(Rechtsextremismus), left-wing extremism (Linksextremismus), and Islamic extremism
(Islamismus). Figure 8 shows the denitions that are provided for each form of
extremism, and how Islamism is presented alongside the other forms. Twentyfour percent of the references to Islamism represented in all 72 textbooks come from
German textbooks references.
Figure 4 shows that German textbooks make little or no references to the countries that make up the Islamic and Arab world (particularly the Gulf ) compared
with the United States and other countries. This may be due to the fact that
Germany does not have a signicant history with the Middle East other than
through connections to the Ottoman Empire. In other words, Germany does not
have a colonial history in the region, nor does it have signicant political or economic ties to areas where Islam or Arab societies are predominant. Instead, most of
Germanys relationships to Islam and Arab societies are from contemporary experiences with terrorism or observations of terror activities against other Western

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Figure 8: Germany textbook description of Islamism as a form of extremism (Menschen Zeiten Rume 3:
Arbeitsbuch Fur Gesellshaftslehre, 2008, p. 151; Die Islamische Welt und Europa, 2003, p. 212).

countries. Germany also has dealt with a signicant Muslim Turkish immigrant
population since the mid-twentieth century, which preoccupies much of their attention to Islam from ocial sources such as government-sponsored education or
economic well-being or welfare programs. The German history and connection to
Islam and Arab societies is therefore more removed than their European neighbors,
such as France.
The French connection to Islam and Arab societies, like the United Kingdom, is
framed by its colonial past in North Africa mostly. Algeria, in particular, is a former
colony of France, and won its independence through a particularly brutal and signicant war. Yet, the stereotypical emphasis that many Westerners expect France to
have on art, architecture, and the contributions of Islam to civilization are also represented in French textbooks to a degree not presented in other countries textbooks. Figure 5 below shows that French representations of Islam and Arab societies
in world history textbooks is much more broadly distributed across all of the keywords identied throughout the 72 textbooks reviewed than German representations. It is also signicant that French references to architecture (100%), civilization
(80%), art (33%), and science (33%) are high or signicantly higher than the frequency of similar representations in other countries textbooks.

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The emphasis on contributions of Islam and Arab societies to art, science, and
other elements of what is often characterized as civilization suggests that
French textbooks appreciate these contributions much more than does any other
education systems ocial knowledge. These references in French textbooks are
exclusively related to ancient Islam and Arab societies, but not more contemporary
communities. The signicance of this is that, while representations of these
contributions suggests to French students that there are contributions that Islam
and Arab societies have and can make to world civilization, the contributions
and positive elements of Muslim communities is all in the distant past. To
contrast with these more positive conceptions of Islam and Arab societies, most
of the content in French textbooks overall is related to conict, tension, and
terrorism.
Figure 9 shows references to the scientic contributions of Muslims to world
civilization as represented in a French textbook. Science is seen as a universal
content area that provides opportunities for communication and contributions
beyond those that are bounded by culture, religion, or society. The image shows agricultural engineering, philosophical innovation, and astronomical progress from the
perspective of the Western world beneting from advances within the Muslim
world. But, these kinds of references in France suggest that the key is to balance the
philosophical with the technical with the celestial. In this way, the enlightenment of
man beyond believing only in God is demonstrated. This would be especially meaningful to the French as the country which gave the world Voltaire, but is even more
meaningful when applied to the second largest and fastest growing religious community in the world.
Yet, as is consistently shown in each of the focus Western countries (the United
Stated, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France), the distinction between
ancient and contemporary Islam is unavoidable. The contrast is quite evident.
Often in the same textbooks that extol the virtues of ancient Islam and Arab
society are entire sections of textual content that characterize Islam as extremist
and Arab society as uneducated, and therefore prone to violence. These stereotypes
are not always laid out in such a direct fashion, but the implied comparisons are
unavoidable.
In turning attention toward more conict-oriented textual content, French textbooks emphasize North African former colonies quite a bit as is to be expected.
But, they also emphasize the concepts of holy war (jihad) as well as unique qualities
of Islam and Arab societies such as the Koran, the distinction between Sunni and
Shia, and the importance of Wahabi Islam even though there were no specic references to Saudi Arabia in the French textbooks reviewed. In other words, the
French textbook representations of Islam and Arab societies are conicted between
ancient positive and contemporary more negative representations. An example of
this is Figure 10 below. In this image, the overlap between nationalism, religion, and
oil/petroleum is mapped onto the Arabian Gulf region.

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Figure 9: French textbook references to scientic contributions of Muslims to world civilization (Histoire, 2e,
Sous La Direction De Guillaume Le Quintrec, 2005, p. 80).

What is often striking about these purposeful juxtapositions of content is that

the readers (secondary students) are typically expected to draw their own conclusions based on the information provided in these tables. In fact, there may be no
causal link among oil, nationalism, and religion, but the implied connection is quite
clear in Figure 10 and many other textbook sections and images.
While the representations of Islam and Arab societies in textbooks from the
United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France do not tell the whole
story of all 16 countries whose textbooks were reviewed for this study, they do
present a snapshot of the ways that representations are structured. As mentioned

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Figure 10: French textbook representation of the zone of conict formed by the overlap of nationalism, religion
and petroleum (Histoire/Geschichte, LEurope et le Monde Depuis 1945, 2006, p. 83).

consistently above, there are clear distinctions between representations of ancient

versus contemporary Islam and Arab societies. The ancient representations are consistently more positive and suggest that contributions to the wider global society and
world civilization are rmly rooted in ancient Islam. Yet, the more contemporary

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representations of Islam and Arab societies consistently represent communities of

extremism, violence, and shifting allegiances.
These representations suggest one version of Western perspectives on Islam
and Arab societies, but the key point is that these are predominantly Western
perspectives. They rarely if ever include the voices of the Muslim or Arab communities that they portray (Saleem & Thomas, 2011). This is part of the reason why
there is a gap in the information presented. There are several components of textbook representations that are missing information.
Missing Information
Finally, one of the objectives of this study was to develop a comprehensive,
objective analysis of how the public educational systems in the countries in question portray Islam and Arab communities worldwide. A key component of this
analysis is to note any gaps in the data. In other words, what information about
Islam and Arab communities is missing in world history textbooks worldwide,
which would be necessary in order to present a complete and representative perspective on Muslims and Arab communities? In order to determine what is
missing, it rst must be determined what is needed or reasonable to include about
Islam and Arab societies. Given the prevalence and signicance of Islam to both
global aairs and local understanding, it is reasonable to include information
about Islam as a religion, cultural and social phenomenon, and framework for
peace and productivity worldwide. This is also representative of the information
available for other Western religions and societies typically included in world
history textbooks in secondary schools around the world (Jonker & Thobani,
2009).
If Islam is going to be comprehensively discussed, it is reasonable to expect that
the fundamentals of the religion and the Arab societies that nurture it are presented and understood. The fundamentals of Islam include its historical origins
and expansion, basic tenets of the Koran and the life of the Prophet Mohamed,
and the Five Pillars of Islam, which guide the lives of millions of Muslims worldwide. Similarly, the fundamentals of Arab societies worldwide include the ethnic
and cultural foundations of family, society, and Arab expansion. This may include
historical examinations of the unication of Saudi Arabia, for example, but also
should include a wider representation of the unique dierences between and
among Arab communities in the Middle East and North Africa, specically.
Throughout all of the textbooks from all of the countries that were reviewed for
this study, the Five Pillars of Islam were only referenced six unique times. The
Koran was only mentioned 16 unique times. The Prophet Muhammad is mentioned
13 unique times. And, the historical origins and expansion of Islam are mentioned
only about ve times. Even rarer are discussions of the origins of the division of the
Muslim world between Sunni and Shiite. While the nuances of this division are difcult to explain concisely, the importance of this division not only in terms of both

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Islam and Arab societies, but also in terms of its impact on international political,
social, and economic relations is potentially large.
This is information that students worldwide need to understand in order to be
able to make connections between the social and cultural lives of millions of people
worldwide and the religious, political, and economic situations that are relevant to
their contributions. The Arab/Israeli conict may be the most visible or recognized
component of Islam and Arab society worldwide, but it unfortunately dominates the
discussion beyond any other representations of the worldwide community of
Muslims.
Conclusion
This study investigated schematic templates for developing narratives about
Islam and Arab societies in Western world history textbooks. These narratives
adopted several dierent themes, which are: 1) characterizations of Islams
foundations and creeds; 2) portrayals of content related to Islam and Arab society;
3) changes in school curricula and textbook content from pre- to post-9/11; and
4) messages about Islamic and Muslim contributions to global society, security,
and stability. The ATCs initial questions and conclusions although controversial provide a foundation for addressing the objectives of this research and
the questions asked here, especially regarding what empirical research
literature there is on representations of Islam and Arab societies in secondary textbooks worldwide. Data related to each theme were systematically collected and
analyzed using textbook discourse analysis in three areas: textbook content,
images, and missing content or images. As such, the study presented here had
three objectives.
The rst objective was to assess which content related to Islam and Arab societies is presented in secondary textbooks, what the explicit and implicit messages of
this content are, which content is omitted and what messages these omissions
suggest. The fact that religious tenets of Islam are largely missing from textbook
content suggests that there is little recognition of the value of Islam among Western
countries and educational systems, or an ignorance that understanding the religion
is key to understanding the complexity of culture and political context in Islam and
Arab societies.
Most of the previous literature addresses the failures of textbooks worldwide, and
in the United States specically, to address the characterizations of Islams foundations and creeds, although there was little literature on the subject. But, our research
went much further and found that those countries with either an immediate stake in
the Middle East (e.g., Israel) or an immediate past stake in the region (e.g., the
United Kingdom) were the most likely to include coverage of Islam and Arab societies in secondary textbooks. However, countries like the United States that have
key stakes in the Middle East and Gulf region currently related to both

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political and economic stakes have surprisingly little content dedicated to Islam and
Arab societies in their textbooks.
The second objective was to analyze which textbook content, including
the text, images, and expectations presented and transmitted to educators,
students, and communities worldwide, is presented in Western textbooks. The
results of the study reported here suggest that the majority of content related to
Islam and Arab societies represents Muslims and their communities as socially,
politically, and economically repressed as well as religiously and ideologically oppressed. While there are variations to some degree in the portrayals of
content in textbooks worldwide, the depiction of the Islamic extremist and global
Arab terrorist is the one constantly returned to in both textual content and
images.
The nal objective was to synthesize how Islam and Arab societies are portrayed in the secondary school government educational systems worldwide, based
on an analysis of world history textbooks. Of particular concern is the fact that
much of the information about Islam and Arab societies either focuses on ancient
history (e.g., the European Crusades of medieval times) or is limited to an
extensive look at the Arab/Israeli conict and Islamic extremism as it relates to
international terrorism. This approach omits much of the available information on
Islamic culture, Arab civilization, and the many contributions that Islamic and
Arab communities, nations, and individuals make to global and regional politics,
economies, societies, cultures, and the arts. If looking more widely than the United
States, and including previous reviews of textbooks worldwide, Oueslati et al.
(2011, p. 6) nd that:
. . . a large study of European, African, and American textbooks
(al-Halwaji, 2004) points to a paradox between a positive depiction of the
contributions of Islamic civilization to the advancement of humanity but a
negative description of Islam as an archaic and violent religion which
denies women equal rights, promotes slavery and terrorism, and is responsible for the underdevelopment of Muslim populations.
The evidence presented here suggests that there is a dichotomy between ancient
or removed representations of Islam and Arab societies as productive and contributory from other contemporary representations of Islam and Arab societies as
conict-ridden, violent, and extreme. The dichotomy between ancient Islam and
contemporary Muslim Arab societies is one of extremes. The ancient and longgone Islamic communities are represented as being healthy and contributory communities to science, art, and general civilization worldwide. This is in stark
contrast with the image of uneducated, uncouth Arab extremists, which is the
typical representation of contemporary Islam and Arab societies in Western world
history textbooks.

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Content included in secondary textbooks is overwhelmingly related to

terrorism and terrorists, the Arab/Israeli conict, and the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq. With these topics dominating the textbook content related to Islam
and Arab societies, it is not surprising that there are stereotypical images of
Muslim communities being violent, aggressive, and ideologically intolerant.
These messages are reinforced by the absence of much content addressing the
complexities of Islam (e.g., development, expansion, and divisions) and the ethnic
diversity of Arab societies throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Gulf
regions. In other words, the collective memory narrated in Western world history
textbooks establishes a version of Islam and Arab societies that is riddled
with violence and conict, rather than with the development of civilization and
knowledge.
Bibliography of Textbooks Analyzed
Ahlskog, H., & Sandholm, S. (2008). Var Historia, 4. Helsinki, Finland: Soderstroms.
America: Pathways to the present. (2000). Needham, MA: Prentice Hall.
American government. (2003). Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Atlas Weltgeschichte. (2009). Stuttgart, Germany: Ernst Klett.
Banham, D., & Lu, I. (2009). SHP history, year 9. London, UK: Hodder Education.
Being citizens in Israel, a Jewish and democratic state: Civics textbook for the higher secondary level in
general and religious schools. (1999). Jerusalem, Israel: Maa Lot.
Brodkin, A., Carrington, E., Hill, A., Kerridge, R., Lacey, G., & Marriott, B. (2009). OCR GCSE
history B modern world. Essex, UK: Heinemann.
Civics in practice: Principles of government and economics. (2009). Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston.
Clayton, S., Collier, M., Day, S., & Rees, R. (2011). History in progress: 1901 to present day, book 3.
Essex, UK: Heinemann.
Die Islamische Welt und Europa. (2003). Berlin, Germany: Cornelsen Verlag.
Durchblick, 3. (2010). Braunschweig, Germany: Westermann.
Exploring history, for bilingual classes, 2. (2009). Braunschweig, Germany: Westermann.
Exploring nationalism. (2009). Whitby, Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
Forum: Kulttuurien Kohtaaminen. (2008). Helsinki, Finland: Otava.
Generation to generation: Lessons in history for state religious school. (1998). Jerusalem, Israel: Maa
Lot.
Geography of the Middle East: Changes on the event of the 21st century. (2001). Tel Aviv, Israel: Am
Oved.
Geschichte und Geschehen Fur Berufsbildende Hohere Schulen, 2. (2009). Vienna, Austria: OBV.
Histoire, 1re Es/L/S. (2007). Paris, France: Hachette Education.
Histoire, 2de, Sous La Direction De Guillaume Bourel Et Marielle Chevallier. (2006). Paris, France:
Hatier.

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Histoire, 2de. (2006). Paris, France: Hachette Education.
Histoire, 2e, Sous La Direction De Guillaume Le Quintrec. (2005). Paris, France: Nathan.
Histoire, Les Fondements Du Monde Contemporain. (2005). Paris, France: Sejer/Bordas.
Histoire, Term L/Es, Sous La Direction De Guillaume Le Quintrec. (2004). Paris, France: Nathan.
Histoire, Term L/Es/S, Sous La Direction De Guillaume Le Quintrec. (2008). Paris, France:
Nathan.
Histoire, Terminales L, Es, S. (2004). Paris, France: Bertrand-Lacoste.
Histoire, Tle L/Es/S, Sous La Direction De Guillaume Bourel Et Marielle Chevallier. (2008). Paris,
France: Hatier.
Histoire: Le Monde De 1945 a Nos Jours. (2008). Paris, France: Sejer/Bordas.
Histoire/Geschichte, Leurope Et Le Monde Depuis 1945. (2006). Paris, France: Nathan.
Histoire/Geschichte: Europa und Die Welt Seit 1945. (2006). Stuttgart, Germany: Ernst Klett.
Historia 3, Historia Najnowsza. (2010). Hutnicza, Poland: Operan.
Historia Del Mon Contemporani. (2002). Barcelona, Spain: Barcanova.
Historia Del Mundo Contemporaneo. (2005). Madrid, Spain: Algaida.
Historia Del Mundo Contemporaneo. (2008). Barcelona, Spain: Edebe.
Historia, Czesc 3, Podrecznik Dla Liceum I Technikum. (2010). Warsaw, Poland: WSIP.
Historia: Modalitat Humanitats, I Ciencies Socials. (2003). Barcelona, Spain: Barcanova.
Historie 10, Samfunnsfag for Ungdomstrinnet. (2009). Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.
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