The Learner and ‘The Other’: -A Postcolonial Analysis of Two Course Books for English in the Swedish Upper Secondary School

This essay investigates the representation of cultures in two course books for English 6 in the Swedish upper secondary school. The purpose of this essay is to investigate which countries and cultures are represented in the course books as well as how they are presented. My study is conducted with a quantitative and qualitative approach, where data on cultures’ representation are first gathered, then analyzed through a post-colonial perspective. The results show that cultures which have English as a native language are overrepresented and that cultures are portrayed differently depending on which part of the world they are from. The course books are therefore solidifying the image of a well-developed western world in contrast to an underdeveloped “other.