Race in Human Rights: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the textbook Zeitgeist

Abstract

Racism in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement was understood to be a consequence of individual prejudices and it was believed that racial stratification would stop when people stopped thinking about race. But the beginning of the Critical Race Theory in the 1970s the above argument was rejected and it was argued that race consciousness is necessary to overcome Racism. This study examines the integration of racial content in the common course paper of English for the undergraduate students in the three-year B.A. English Degree Course (2017) at Calicut University, by attempting a Critical Discourse Analysis of the module ‘Human Rights’ from the textbook , ‘Zeitgeist’. As a course taught to undergraduate students, this paper examines three discursive devices used in the textbook that serve as a means for shaping or (re)producing ideological values (1) the ways authors create ‘versions of reality’ based on their choice of words and how they combine words together (2) the ways authors construct certain kinds of relationships between themselves and their readers;(3) the ways authors of textbooks draw upon and reinforce the larger systems of belief and knowledge that govern what counts as right or wrong, good or bad, and normal or abnormal in a particular society, The article thus identifies the challenges and limitations of the textbook in addressing past and present racial inequities of the world— particularly its attempt to equip students with the knowledge to engage in meaningful dialogues and critical writing about racial issues that are entrenched in the majoritarian and parochial India of today.