2. How are people from other cultures portrayed?

4. Is there any text/photo related to migration or multiculturalism?
5. Can texts be considered racists?
6. Does this text show any stereotype?

Other cultures we could recognize were Asians, more specifically the Chinese culture. This textbook has a unit called Traditions of the world, which included texts and images about traditions from China such as the Chinese New Year celebration. 

Also, we found just 1 image of an Indian person, which gives room for thought since India is a well-known country and its culture is varied, therefore, if it is not going to be mentioned throughout the textbook, Indian people should be at least included in the images for students to be aware of the people diversity that there are in our planet.

It is worth mentioning that there is a unit called “Respecting Traditions”, which includes drawings and images of Indigenous people and a legend called “The Power of the Sun”. Additionally, there is an article about Colombian kids which is a positive element since Latin America is not always included in textbooks due to the importance that white and north American people have in these types of school material.

Furthermore, in this unit we could find images of typical food, holidays and dances of some countries, some examples are Chile, Japan, United States and Mexico.

Some critical discourse analysts have argued that, due to the social stigma regarding overt expressions of racial prejudice (van Dijk, 1992) and national pride (Condor, 2000), discourses on race or nationalism are most marked by their denial. These denials of racism legitimate the negative representations by attempting to preempt claims that this “negative talk about minority groups or immigrants may be heard as biased, prejudiced or racist” (van Dijk, 1992, p. 115).

Probably most people do not realize the importance of this situation because it is not a problem for us, nevertheless, many migrants are arriving to our country and it is crucial to change this image of "white people only" in textbooks and pedagogical material because every children should feel identified with an image, conversations, audios, videos, stories that are included in the materials they are working with. 

The ACT Discrimination Act 1991 makes race discrimination unlawful in many areas of public life. Public life includes work, education, the provision of goods, services, facilities, housing, access to buildings, shops, parks and transport.

Therefore, after all we have discussed and analyse in textbooks, we are able to say that racial discrimination is embedded in education and there are many racial minorities who are still absent. This situation is usually present due to the white privilege that still exists nowadays, which interfere with the ability that students have to comprehend that race is a social constructed concept and idea, hence, if you show a book to a child full of images  or ideas about white people, that kid is going to have the idea that white and black or indigenous people can not get along or will be full of stereotypes about a place of a culture.

If race is presented to students in this way, they are more likely to comprehend the idea that race is a concept created during particular historical eras to meet the social, political, and economic needs of the dominant group, rather than a biological or genetic reality (Fitzgerald, 2012). 

In addition, they do not include many Asian people in the images nor in articles or texts, they only appear in the same unit we have been talking about that is about traditions of the world and they are portrayed as a typical familiar (mom, dad, children) and there are only 3 images of Asian people together with white people.

Finally, the pictures of food presented in this textbook include the most traditional dishes of the most well-known countries as in the case of China, Mexico, Italia and Japan but other countries less-known are not included. If those countries and cultures that are left aside would be shown in pedagogical materials that could help students to expand their knowledge about the world and integrate other cultures to their lives, such as Maori, albino and  Rapa nui people (there is only 1 image of them and is about a woman dancing), Danish people, and so on.

As a final thought, we are all not so different from each other and even though we have different skin color or are different in a specific way, we are all humans and we all need to be taken into account.

 
IMAGES:

ARTICLES:

UNITS:

Total of images in the text: 73

Finally, we also added a paragraph in the section named why we consider our focus from the research, meaning race and culture, important. This new paragraph integrates ethnic groups and cultures who also are affected by the fact of not being considered or taken into account at the moment of showing a textbook to Chilean students, which could beneficial for them since they would get to know more about different countries that are present in our country yet are not portrayed for every student to feel represented.