Intercultural and interdisciplinary history and geography book on Senegal and Switzerland

Background

Between 2001 and 2003, the Culture Division of the Berne Declaration and Baobab Children’s Book Fund organised workshops in Basel (Switzerland) and Dakar (Senegal) about the way Africa is portrayed in Swiss school text books. This provoked harsh criticism about the biased and discriminating representation of African history and society in Swiss as well as Senegalese school books. Africa is portrayed as a poor continent which is illness stricken and plagued by economic crisis. Africans and their society are shown as passive victims without initiative of their own. Racist and sexual clichés are reproduced (topless women, cartoonistic illustrations of Africans wearing traditional clothing, Africa is generally depicted as rural and under-developed). In European history and geography books a eurocentric views predominates whereby the voices of African academics are hardly conveyed. Even in Africa the majority of the teaching material stems from Europe. It also represents a one-sided Eurocentric image of African history and geography. The markets for school material in Africa are dominated by European publishers, which partly produce their products with development funds and thereafter sell the material at high prices.

The one-sided representation of Africa in Swiss schoolbooks reproduces prejudices and clichés about the people and societies of this continent. The teaching and school environment is one area where specific information about apparently foreign societies and cultures can contribute a lot to the prevention of racism. With less clichéd views and a non- discriminating perspective, a school book can contribute to revising antiquated historical images of Africans as well as Europeans. In this way, false information and prejudices about foreign cultures can be reduced.

Project idea

The school book places a focus upon the history and geography of Switzerland and Senegal on a secondary school level / high school level in Senegal as well as Switzerland. It aims at complementing existing teaching materials and fills a gap in the range of Swiss schoolbooks. The material is conceived and produced in an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach by an expert group of teachers from Senegal and Switzerland. In order to avoid a one-sided European viewpoint, the work is carried out through the dialogue between the Senegalese and Swiss partners. The school book material aims at looking at specific topics from history and geography in a dual Swiss and Senegalese perspective: Experts from Senegal and Switzerland conceive the respective parts on their own country. In joint collaboration the topics and the didactic methods are determined. The working procedures are coordinated and organized through an Internet platform www.educanet.ch which can also be integrated later as an intercultural exchange between students from Senegal and Switzerland.

The marketing and production of the school book will be coordinated through the Swiss publishers Klett-Balmer, which are well known for their text books especially on the German market. The material will be published in French and German and will be available both in Senegal and Switzerland. The project is coordinated by the Berne Declaration, project partners are Baobab, Children’s Book Fund and the Senegalese Society of History and Geography Teachers as well as the Society for the Promotion of Interculturalism in Senegal.

Contact addresses:
Association Sénégalaise des Professeurs d'Histoire et de Géographie,
c/o Habib Camara
Cité Sapi villa No. 53, km 16 rue de Rufisque
Dakar, Senegal
e-mail: habcam2002@yahoo.fr

The Berne Declaration
Quellenstrasse 25 / Postfach
8031 Zürich
e-mail: cbuess@evb.ch

http://www.evb.ch