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Through the “Western” gaze : Chinese history in Ontario High School World History Syllabus and textbooks, 1947-ca. 1980s

Yeow Tong Chia (Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

History of Education Review

ISSN: 0819-8691

Article publication date: 14 October 2013

378

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine the conceptions of Chineseness and the perceptions of China in Ontario's High School History Curriculum from 1945 to the end of the 1980s.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the syllabus and textbooks in the period that were taught in schools in Ontario. Curriculum guidelines and documents published by the Ontario Department (later Ministry) of Education were studied, as well as the Circular 14, which lists the approved textbooks from which the textbooks where chosen for this paper. The impact-response and tradition-modernity approaches to the study and writing of Chinese enabled the unpacking of the western-centric presuppositions in the textbooks.

Findings

From the onset, the Chinese history that was taught and presented was a western-centric one. The paper demonstrates that post Second World War Chinese history that was taught via the Ontario High School History Curriculum and textbooks reflected a view of Chineseness that regards the Chinese and the Chinese civilization was regarded as essentialized, backward and static vis-à-vis the modern West. Implicit in such a conception of Chineseness is that of western superiority over the Chinese civilization.

Originality/value

There have been few studies on how the history of Asia is represented in Canadian school history. Knowing how Chinese history is represented in Ontario High Schools is an interesting case study of how white settler societies viewed and understood China. This study also sheds light on the broader issue of the problematic at play when Asian history is taught and represented in other white settler societies like Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper is partially supported by Beijing Normal University's “985 Project” Seed Funding Program for Collaborative Research. The author would like to thank Associate Professors Tim Allender and Jenny Collins for their advice and encouragement in the preparation of this paper.

Citation

Tong Chia, Y. (2013), "Through the “Western” gaze : Chinese history in Ontario High School World History Syllabus and textbooks, 1947-ca. 1980s", History of Education Review, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 199-211. https://doi.org/10.1108/HER-10-2012-0035

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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