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NICK SCHUERMANS
Afdeling Sociale en Economische Geografie
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Celestijnenlaan 200E
B-3001 Heverlee
Belgium
Geography textbooks and the reproduction of a racis t and ethnocentric world view among young people in Fland ers
Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the A.A.G.
Las Vegas, 22-27/03/2008.
Draft only. Please do not cite without permission.
Comments are more than welcome.
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Abstract The final attainment levels of Flemish secondary geography education
stress the importance of respect for other societies and the specific way of life of
other people. As a consequence, contemporary curricula focus more than ever on
topics such as the global north-south divide, migrations and the multicultural city.
Drawing on the analysis of about fifty Flemish geography textbooks, this paper
critically addresses the way in which these topics are presented. The study reveals,
in the first place, that an emphasis on racial differences has been largely replaced by
a focus on cultural differences. The representation of these cultural differences is,
however, very polarized and appeals only to students with Flemish roots. Conflicts
between autochthons and allochthons are, for instance, said to be unavoidable
because of the concentration of foreigners in cities, their different way of life and their
different culture. Because of the strong focus on cultural otherness, the one-sided
explanation of cultural conflicts and the manifest silence on discrimination and
xenophobia, it has to be concluded that the textbooks reproduce the racist and
ethnocentric world view of young people in Flanders.
Keywords : Textbooks, Diversity, Racism, Whiteness, Flanders
Acknowledgements My PhD research on fear of crime in suburban Antwerp and
Cape Town is funded by a PhD grant of the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation
through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen). I would like to thank
Maarten Loopmans, Henk Meert, Bruno Meeus, Etienne Van Hecke and Dirk
Vanderhallen for their comments on earlier versions of this paper published in Dutch
in Agora (2007) and de Aardrijkskunde (2007).
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"The presence of too many foreigners threatens my way of life" (in %)
25.7
38.8
56.8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Vlaanderen
Wallonie
Canada
"I have no trust at all in people of a different ethnicity" (in %)
6.9
22.3
41
0 10 20 30 40 50
Vlaanderen
Wallonie
Canada
1. Introduction and scope
International comparative studies conclude that the Flemish youth is on average
more racist and ethnocentric than their peers in other European countries (Claes et
al., 2006). Survey research demonstrates that young people in the Flemish speaking
north of Belgium are more intolerant of foreigners than their compatriots of the same
age group in the French speaking south of the country or youngsters in Canada. In
Flanders, more than fifty per cent of the 16 and 17 year olds consider the presence of
too many foreigners as a threat to their way of life. As much as 41 per cent of the
Flemish youth has no trust at all in people of a different ethnicity. In Canada or the
French speaking Walloon provinces of Belgium, this amounts to only 7 or 22 per cent
respectively (figure 1, Claes et al., 2006; Heremans, 2006).
Figure 1: Ethnocentrism in Flanders: Affirmative answers to two questions related to
ethnocentrism among 16 to 17 year olds in Flanders, Wallonia and Canada (Claes et
al., 2006; Heremans, 2006)
This distrust is not the result of long-standing relationships between authochthonous
and allochthonous students. Flemisch schools are still strongly segregated along
socio-economic and ethnic lines (Peleman, 1997; Dronkers & Levels, 2007; Jenkins
et al., 2008). As such, it should not come as a surprise that as much as two third of
the young people in Flanders do not have a single friend from another ethnic
background (Claes et al., 2006). Because of this, the information they get from
indirect sources is crucial for their representation of ethnic minorities (Spruyt, 2008).
Recent studies show, however, that the news coverage of Western media dealing
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with ethnic minorities, and with Muslims in particular, is skewed and inaccurate. The
fact that even immigrants with a Belgian passport are still discriminated sparks less
media attention than the gratuitous allegations of extreme right politicians about the
public security in neighbourhoods and cities with concentrations of Muslim believers.
Media researchers conclude that newspapers and other news sources still portray
allochthons, and Muslims in particular, as backward, irrational, fanatical and
dangerous (Shadid, 2005; Essed & Trienekens, 2007).
I think it would be unjust, however, to blame the ethnocentrism of young people in
Flanders on the one-sided media coverage or the propaganda of extreme right
parties alone. It is not only the responsibility of a select number of journalists and
politicians to fight xenophobia and discrimination. Flemish policymakers in the field of
education have clearly understood that young adolescents do not only use
newspapers, television shows or political pamphlets to build up their world view. It
goes without saying, indeed, that they also learn about other countries, cultures and
people at school, in geography lessons in particular. That is why the final attainment
levels of Flemish secondary geography education stress the importance of respect
for other societies and the specific way of life of other people. Contemporary curricula
focus more than ever on topics such as the global north-south divide, migrations and
the multicultural city.
Drawing on the work of Edouard Vincke in Wallonia (1985, 1986) and Ineke Mok in
the Netherlands (1995, 1999), I will critically examine the way in which these topics
have been addressed in Flanders (Belgium). Starting from a qualitative analysis of
about fifty geography textbooks, I will try to answer the question whether historical
and contemporary textbooks reproduce the racist and ethnocentric world view of
young Flemish people or not. In the next part of this paper, I will do this for the racial
classifications of the colonial era (1908-1960). Afterwards, I will discuss the cultural
classifications of the post-colonial era (1960-2009). In the conclusion, I will suggest
three different strategies to address the strong focus on cultural otherness, the one-
sided explanation of cultural conflicts and the manifest silence on discrimination and
xenophobia.
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2. Colonialism and racial classifications
The division of humanity in different races was a self-evident component of most
Flemish geography textbooks from the first half of the twentieth century. The typical
classification at that time rested on anthropometry and physical appearance. Based
on skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, height and skull shape, most authors defined
three main races which were further subdivided into sub-races. Just like biologists
distinguished between white oaks and red oaks, anthropologists searched
meticulously for varieties and types within the white race, the yellow race and the
black race. It was popular, for example, to classify the white Europeans in three main
varieties: the Nordic variety, the Mediterranean variety and the Alpine variety (Halkin,
1937, p; 49). In Belgium, handbooks traditionally made a distinction between two
anthropological types. Obviously, it was the linguistic border between Flanders and
Wallonia that separated the “blonde families” in the Flemish speaking north of the
country and the “brown families” in the French speaking south (Roland, 1896, p; 42;
Halkin, 1927, p; 24). Nevertheless, the classification of humanity in three different
races always got the most attention. Pictures, maps (figure 3) or drawings (figure 2)
illustrated the lengthy descriptions of the three races, as exemplified below:
Figure 2: The classification of humanity in three races (De Procure, +/- 1950, p. 41)
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‘1.) The white race, which we belong to, has a white skin, usually wavy and curly hair
and a strong beard. It has produced a lot of scholars, which we have to thank for their
great inventions: the art of printing, telegraphy, railways, steamers, airplanes. It
inhabits Europe, America, the western part of Asia and North-Africa.
2.) The yellow race includes all people with a yellow skin colour. They have a flat
forehead, slit-eyes and little beard. They are very active and very patient. Their
clothing and their houses differ completely from ours. The yellow race mainly inhabits
Central and East Asia.
3.) The black race, or Negro race, has a black skin, thick lips, frizzy hair, but little
beard. The Negros are generally less active than the other races. Because they live
in warm countries, they wear few clothes. They live in huts. The black race populates
Central and Southern Africa and a part of Oceania and America.’
(De Procure, +/- 1950, p. 41)
Figure 3: The geographical distribution of the races (De Procure, +/- 1950, p. 48)
Reading this quote nowadays, it is striking that it does not only present a triple
classification of the inhabitants of the earth, but also a profile of the different races. It
shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, though, that the authors wrote about the skin
color, the thickness of the lips or the growth of beard (apparently women did not
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count), as these physical characteristics are inherent in an anthropometric
interpretation of the racial doctrine. It is surprising, however, that, even after the
Second World War, psychological characteristics are attributed to the different races.
The textbooks write, for example, that the white race has produced a lot of scholars,
that yellow people are very active and very patient and that black people are
generally less active than the rest of the world population. The accompanying
illustration speaks for itself as well (figure 2). The white man is wearing a suit, the
yellow man a colorless shirt and the black man a straw skirt. The white man has got
the time to admire a bird’s-eye view of his town, while the yellow man is busy trading
and the black man is trying to meet the most elementary human needs: hunting,
picking and eating. The drawing shows, in addition, that white people live in orderly
cities with cathedrals and grand mansions, while the yellow and black people have to
survive in chaotic, overpopulated streets with wooden houses and in tiny clay huts in
the middle of the jungle. The conclusion of the students is rather predictable: the
white race is the most civilized; all other races are relegated to lower rungs on the
ladder of civilization. Up to 1960, this idea was shamelessly propagated by the
textbooks themselves:
‘Nowhere on earth lives a race which equals the intelligence and the ingenuity of the
white’” (Heylen, 1922, p. 231)
‘Of all human races, the white race is the most civilized’ (Roland, 1896, p. 279)
Without doubt, these statements had a political agenda. The classification of
humanity in three different races justified the European colonization of Africa. The
stereotypical description of the Congolese in most Flemish handbooks had to proof,
for example, that the Belgian colonization of Congo was not just desirable, but also
possible (Vincke, 1991, p. 65). If the white race was the most civilized indeed, and
the black race the least, than it was the moral obligation of the members of the white
race to introduce civilization in Africa, wasn’t it? If the Congolese were so
underdeveloped, according to the quote below, that they could not invent or improve
things, than it was the duty of a developed nation like Belgium to link up with them,
right? In the end, the colonization of the black races would be successful anyway,
because they had the precious talent that they could quickly imitate what they had
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seen demonstrated, wouldn’t it? And if the Congolese were born traders indeed, as
the textbook literally said, than it was justified to plunder the country of all its mineral
wealth in return for some cheap clothes, wasn’t it?:
“1. The Negros are underdeveloped. They are caught in old habits. They cannot
invent or improve things. For centuries, there have been skilful smiths, experienced
potters and fine braiders in Congo. The population remains crazy about simple music
and savage dancing, for which uncomplicated playthings like gong, tam-tam and all
sorts of drums made from tree trunks are used. The Negro never had any exercise,
nor has he linked up with more developed nations. He has not used written books.
That is why he has stayed very much behind. His memory is short, except for normal
things. His imagination is strong and jumps into exaggeration easily. His intellect
declines fast with the years.
2. The Negro is a born trader, gifted with the best exchanging and selling skills. He
likes to travel to far-away public markets to sell something or to buy the essential
clothing items.
3. In addition, he has the precious talent they he can quickly imitate what he has
seen demonstrated. He learns all sorts of crafts easily and becomes gradually
amenable to higher civilization.” (Heylen & Sieben, 1939)
It would be a lie to say that nothing has changed since 1960. The holocaust and the
decolonization made the racial classifications undesirable and unnecessary. Because
of the holocaust, terms like the Jewish race or the Nordic variety became simply
unacceptable. Now that most African countries had been decolonized, it was also
less essential to invoke the superiority of the white race to justify the colonial project.
As a consequence, there is not a single handbook maintaining nowadays that black
people cannot invent or improve things, that they are the least civilized and that they
are lazy. In stead of writing about the ‘simple music’ and the ‘uncomplicated
playthings like gong, tam-tam and all sorts of drums’ (cfr. supra), textbooks now
elaborate on the ‘originality of the instrumentation’ of African musicians (Geogenie 3
& 4 ASO, 2002, p. 33). The fascination for the bodily markers of race seems to be
over as well. The attention that a textbook in 1982 called to the skin color, the hair,
the nose, the lips and the skull shape of a group of photographed Bantu children,
meanwhile, seems to be a scandalous relict from a shameful past (figure 4).
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Figure 4: “The Bantu children looking at you from figure 9 with mixed feelings, have
some characteristics in common: the skin colour? The hair? The nose? The lips? The
skull shape?” (Debulpaep, De Roeck & Tilmont, 1982, p. 17)
Nevertheless, all elements of the racial doctrine have not disappeared completely.
The teaching material is still referring to the white race, the yellow race, the black
race and different mixed races, especially in the portrayal of societies outside of
Europe. Racial characteristics still play an important part in the description of Latin
America, for instance (figures 5 and 6):
“The European colonists intermingled with the Indians and the imported Negro slaves
so that Latin America is characterized by a large group of mixed races: Mestizos
(European x Indian), Mulattos (European x African), Zambos (Indian x African)”
(Werelddelen 4, 1997, p. 120
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Figures 5 (left): “Mullatos, mestizos and zambos: cross-breeds” (Melkebeke & De
Meyer, 1978, p. 36)
Figure 6 (right): “The distribution of races and languages in Latin-America”
(Werelddelen 4, 1997, p. 121)
I believe that it is not advisable, however, to discuss such biological aspects of
supposed racial divisions in geography textbooks. The terminology stems from an era
when social scientists were limited to the determination of the skin color and the
measurement of the skull shape (Houzé, 1882). The present use of these
anthropometric classifications thus ignores all scientific progress in the field of
genetics and comes down to the acceptance and reproduction of racist ideas of
nineteenth century anthropologists. As such, I agree with Vincke (1991, p. 70) that
school geography should catch up with the progress made in biochemistry, as it is
being taught in other classes. Textbooks have to demonstrate, indeed, that it is
impossible to classify humanity in a limited number of pure and unchanging races,
sub-races and mixed-races. If we really want to classify people in the twenty-first
century, we should not rest the divisions on anthropometry and physical appearance,
but on genes and genomes. It is clear, however, that the genetic variability between
people cannot be reduced to a limited number of races (Reardon, 2004). Genetically,
there are differences between people, but these have to be seen as differences
between individuals, and not between groups of individuals (figure 7). The conclusion
is thus blatantly obvious according to a thirty year old geography textbook (!):
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“Biochemical research strongly relativizes the meaning of anthropometric
classifications and the importance that can be attached to them from a scientific
perspective” (Debulpaep et al., 1977, p. 25)
Figure 7: “Average number of different nucleotide pairs in the DNA as a consequence
of mutations: a.) between parents and their children; b.) between two random people
of the same sub-race; c.) between two random people of two different sub-races”
(Debulpaep et al., 1977, p. 25)
3. Multiculturalism and cultural classifications
3.1. ‘Our’ culture and ‘the other’ culture
Because of this conclusion and the immigration of guest workers from countries like
Turkey and Morocco, cultural traits such as religion or language came to the fore.
That is why the focus of the geography textbooks partially shifted from supposed
racial differences to cultural differences. For the manuals, the arrival of immigrant
workers did not create a multiracial society, but a multicultural one (according to the
classical racial classifications, Berbers, Arabs and Turks were whites anyway). This
multiculturalism has, however, been silenced in geography lessons for a long time.
Even in the 1980’s, textbooks were published without any reference to immigrants
(Vincke, 1985, p. 105). Contemporary curricula, however, focus more than ever on
topics such as the global north-south divide, migrations and the multicultural city. In
this section, we will critically analyze the new teaching material, starting from two
quotes:
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1.) ‘Recently, we can find cultural elements in our urban landscapes which are a bit
strange to us: inscriptions which we do not understand and buildings whose function
we do not know well. In some neighborhoods, we encounter people with their own
neighborhood life. We can tell this from the people themselves (costumes, language,
social life, religion) and from the shops and services (groceries, bakeries, butcheries
and cafés)’ (Geogenie 1 & 2, 1999, p. 73)
2.) ‘In the streets of mainly urban municipalities, the migrants from Morocco and
Turkey catch our eye. In some city quarters of our big cities these migrants catch our
eye because of their different culture, which rests on Islam, as revealed sometimes in
a different costume and different customs than we have. Their different culture can
count on the respect of the Flemish youth’ (Wereldvisie 1, 1998, p. 65)
It is only too obvious that both quotes focus on the visual otherness of the migrants.
The two textbooks point, for example, to ‘different’ customs and ‘different’ costumes
and use words like ‘strange’ and ‘catch our eye’ to stress this. The shameless
fascination for the bodily otherness of other races (figure 4) seems to be replaced, in
this way, by a determination of characteristics that are visibly connected to the body
too. In both textbooks, the students are encouraged to gather the cultural differences
straight from the body, from the language people speak or the clothes they wear
(figure 8).
Figure 8: “Ethnic neighbourhood in the north east of Paris” (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p.
49)
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This bodily otherness, the student learns, is part of a larger dichotomy between ‘us’
and ‘them’, between ‘our culture’ and ‘their different culture’. Both quotations present
a polarized representation of cultural relations in which ‘they’ and ‘them’ are the direct
opposites of ‘we’ and ‘us’ and in which ‘different customs’ cannot be identified with
‘ours’ (cfr. Mok, 1999, p. 348). In this way, the students must get the impression that
there are two main cultures in Flanders: ‘our’ culture and ‘their’ culture. In the way of
thinking of the textbooks, there is no cross-fertilization between cultures, just as there
was no intermingling between different races in the racial doctrine. In the line of the
textbooks, you are born in one culture and you will die in the same culture. Nobody
lives in between two cultures.
Figure 9: GEO 3 ASO, 2001, p. 6
This polarisation between ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘our’ culture’ and ‘their culture’ is further
deepened by a spatial component in the division of the world in cultural regions
(figure 9). Such a cultural region is defined as a ‘part of a continent in which the way
of life, the development and the culture are more or less the same’ (GEO 3 ASO,
2001, p. 6). ‘Between these cultural regions, the cultural elements are much different’
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(GEO 3 ASO, 2001, p. 6). The textbooks mark out about eight cultural regions:
Anglo-Saxon America, Latin America, Europe, the Islamic World, Black Africa,
Russia, South-East Asia and Oceania. That explains why Turks and Moroccans are
said to ‘catch our eye because of their different culture’, while the migrants from Italy,
Spain or Greece don’t: Morocco and (most of) Turkey are part of another cultural
region, but Italy, Spain and Greece aren’t.
It has to be noted that this approach excludes students because words like ‘we’ and
‘us’ do not apply on all classmates, but only on those students that have been living
in Flanders (or in Europe) all their lives together with their parents and grandparents.
Just like the exclusive we-perspective in the old textbooks (‘the white race, which we
belong to’; cfr. supra), the current teaching methods stigmatize people with an
immigrant background because of their supposed ‘strangeness’ and ‘otherness’. After
all, for quite a lot of students some of these ‘different customs’ might not be that
‘strange’ at all. They might know the function of some of the buildings the textbooks
refer to, they might go to the groceries, bakeries and butcheries that they write about
and they might be able to read some of the inscriptions mentioned in the books. By
saying that these buildings, shops and inscriptions are ‘strange’ and ‘different’ than
‘ours’, the textbooks do not speak to allochthonous students at all. In order to involve
them in the classes, it will thus be necessary to drop the exclusive we-perspective
(Mok, 1995, p. 28).
3.2. ‘Migrant neighbourhoods’ and ‘neighbourhoods o f autochthons’
A second spatial aspect of the same dichotomy can be found at the scale of the city.
For the textbooks, multiculturalism is only an urban phenomenon. It is discussed
under headings such as ‘Brussels, multicultural capital’ (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p. 44)
or ‘ethnic and social differences in large cities’ (GEO 2, 1998, p; 44). The two
citations quoted above placed the ‘cultural elements’ ‘which are a bit strange to us’
also ‘in the streets of mainly urban municipalities’ (Wereldvisie 1, 1998, p. 65) and ‘in
our urban landscapes’ (Geogenie 1 & 2, 1999, p. 73). Within the cities, the textbooks
discuss an ‘ethnic neighbourhood’ (figure 8), a ‘guest workers’ neighbourhood in
Brussels’ (figure 10), ‘living neighbourhoods for migrants’ (figure 11) and ‘working
class neighbourhoods of autochthons’ (Geogenie 1 & 2, 1999, p; 85).
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Figure 10 (left): ‘Guest workers’ neighbourhood in Brussels’ (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p.
52)
Figure 11 (right): ‘Living neighbourhoods for migrants’ (Geogenie 1 & 2, 1999, p. 84)
This approach is not only problematic because it distorts the truth – there is no
neighbourhoods in Brussels or Antwerp where only autochthons or allochthons live
(Kesteloot, 2006) – but also because it confines multiculturalism to (a limited number
of neighbourhoods in) cities. In the textbooks, Brussels and Antwerp are multicultural
cities, indeed, but Belgium as such is not represented as a multicultural country.
Despite the policy to disperse asylum seekers (Blommaert et al., 2003) and despite
the migration of poor Moroccan and Turkish households into inexpensive houses
outside the cities (Kesteloot, 2006; Van Criekingen, 2006), the countryside is still
depicted as a completely monocultural area (cfr. Schuermans & De Maesschalck,
2007). As such, students from rural and suburban municipalities are not encouraged
to contribute to a multicultural and tolerant society. For them multiculturalism is only
relevant in the cities, not in the countryside. The simplified dichotomy between the
white countryside and ‘neighbourhoods of autochthons’ on the one hand, and
multicultural cities and ‘neighbourhoods for migrants’ on the other hand, thus
prevents them from seeing a more nuanced reality. This would show them that they
also have a responsibility in bringing about a better society.
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3.3. From Yugoslavia to Borgerhout: The clash of cu ltures
The textbooks call places where autochthons and allochthons live together notorious
for conflicts. These conflicts are often attributed to cultural differences between two or
more communities. One textbook compared the situation in Belgium with war-ruined
Yugoslavia, ‘where people with a different language, culture and religion live together
in one country’ (GEO 2, 1998, p. 44). ‘If communities with a different language or
culture are living in the same country’, the textbook continues, ‘this can cause
conflicts’ (GEO 2, 1998, p. 44). Not only in Yugoslavia, but also in Brussels, people
with different cultures live together. According to the logic of Samuel Huntington
(1996)’s clash of civilizations, which is followed in the textbooks, this means that
conflicts can be expected in the Belgian capital as well. In this context, the teaching
material stresses, however, that it is crucial to distinguish between two groups of
people: ‘On the one hand, the immigrants from our neighbouring countries. Because
of their language, prosperity and way of life they differ little from most autochthons
and they do not catch the eye. On the other hand, Moroccans and Turks, joined by
some immigrants from Eastern- and Southern-Europe. Because of their different way
of life, language and culture, they come into conflict situations with the Belgians
sometimes’ (GEO 2, 1998, p. 44). Other textbooks confirm the proposition that it is
difficult to live together with Turks and Moroccans because they have a different
culture: ‘Under which circumstances can young people come into conflict with other
neighbourhood dwellers?’. The answer: ‘Especially in places where cultural
differences go hand in hand with less wealth, can tensions between allochthons and
authochthons arise’ (Geogenie 1 & 2, 1999, p. 85-87).
Some textbooks even insinuate that tensions and conflicts do not have their roots in
the cultural differences themselves, but in the presence of foreigners as such: “In
Brussels there are serious problems because of the large number of foreigners (…).
The concentration of Moroccans in Borgerhout brings about tensions with the
autochthonous population in Antwerp too” (Algemene Aardrijkskunde 5, 1994, p.
119). Another textbook sites the news magazine Knack, but comes to the same
conclusion: [During a shoot-out and subsequent protests of young immigrants], ‘the
underlying problems of the neighbourhood reappeared again. More than 60 per cent
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of the residents are immigrants. As much as 38 nationalities can be counted, among
them numerous African refugees’ (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p. 52).
It has to be said that most textbooks consider other explanations as well, such as an
unsuccessful youth policy, the degradation of the built environment and housing
problems: ‘The bad living conditions and the high unemployment in these
neighbourhoods bring about tensions’ (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p. 52). Or: ‘In districts
with a lot of foreigners, conflicts can arise between immigrants and people from the
host country. (…) The key problem is that immigrants belong to the less well-off
section of the population” (standard Aardrijkskunde 3, 1995, p. 36).
Despite these references to living conditions, job insecurity and poverty, the general
message of the textbooks is clear: conflicts between autochthons and allochthons
are unavoidable and can be blamed on the large numbers of foreigners in cities, the
concentrations of Moroccans and Turks in certain neighbourhoods, ‘their’ different
culture, ‘their’ different languages, ‘their’ unemployment and ‘their’ poverty. For that
reason, it is no wonder that as much as 41 per cent of the Flemish youth has no trust
at all in people of a different ethnicity (figure 1, Heremans, 2006). Even for their
geography textbooks, the presence of foreigners is enough to expect conflicts.
4. Discussion and conclusion
The second section of this paper demonstrated that teaching material paid a lot of
attention to race in the past. Before the decolonization of Africa, the division of
humanity in different races was a self-evident component of most Flemish geography
textbooks. Most of them did not only present a triple classification of the inhabitants
of the earth, but also a psychological profile of the different races. A teacher stating
today that Africans are lazy and that Flemings and Walloons differ in skull shape, skin
colour and mentality would be sued for racism, however, and justifiably so. After all,
the racial doctrine stems from an era when social scientists were limited to the
determination of colours and the measurement of the skull shape. In the meanwhile,
it is clear, however, that there are genetic differences between people, indeed, but
that these have to be seen as differences between individuals, and not between
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groups of individuals. Because the genetic variability of the world population cannot
be reduced to a limited number of races, it is my contention that the textbooks have
to remove all references to the biological meaning of race and replace it with a
refutation of the racial classifications based on the arguments of genetics and
biochemistry, as taught in other classes.
From the 1960’s, the attention for the racial doctrine dwindled, however. It is true that
references to race have never disappeared completely from the textbooks, but a new
focus on cultural elements like language, clothing and religion has replaced the
anthropometric classifications for the greater part. At first sight, this shift from race to
culture has to be applauded, but on closer inspection the cultural classifications are
as problematic as the racial ones. In the third section of this paper, we showed,
indeed, that the textbooks still impose an essentialist and polarized world view upon
the students (cfr; Kesteloot & Saey, 1981 & Peleman, 1998). In this world view,
Flemings and Moroccans or Turks living in Flanders are so different that they wear
different clothes, speak different languages and live in different neighbourhoods. The
Flemings live in the countryside or in ‘neighbourhoods of autochthons’; the Turks and
Moroccans in ‘migrant neighbourhoods’ in cities. Problems and conflicts in these
neighbourhoods are attributed to the concentration of allochthons, ‘their’ different way
of life, ‘their’ different language and ‘their’ different culture (cfr. supra). As such, the
current textbooks impose a worldview upon students that is not only polarized and
essentialist, but also narrow-minded and ethnocentric.
In the remainder of this section, I hope to show the reader that alternative teaching
material could, however, also challenge the racist and ethnocentric world view of
young people. Textbooks could encourage students, for example, to realize that
many apparently opposite terms, like black and white or autochthon and allochthon,
are actually closely intertwined. Furthermore, they could stimulate students to
understand that concepts like ‘white’, ‘European’ or ‘Islamic’, which seem neutral and
natural at first sight, do not have the same meaning everywhere and carry a history of
inclusion and exclusion. And while the current teaching material never confronts the
young readers with the pernicious consequences of their own stereotypes and
prejudices, I believe it is crucial to touch on themes like xenophobia, racism and
discrimination. By addressing non-essentialism, social constructivism and
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discrimination in a theoretical and practical way, I hope this last section adds to
debates around the non-racist and non-ethnocentric geography education of the
future.
4.1. Non-essentialism
Starting with non-essentialism, it is important to note that we have demonstrated in
the third section of this paper that current textbooks present a bicultural society in
which ‘our’ culture is completely different from ‘their’ culture, in which ‘they’ and
‘them’ are the direct opposites of ‘we’ and ‘us’, in which ‘different customs’ cannot be
identified with ‘ours’ and in which ‘neighbourhoods of autochthons’ border ‘migrant
neighbourhoods’. Just like the racial classifications wrongly suggested that it is
possible to classify humanity in a limited number of pure and unchanging races
(figure 12), the division of the world in cultural regions implies that there is a limited
number of isolated and independent cultures (figure 13). And just like there was no
intermingling between different races in the racial classifications, there is no room for
cross-fertilization between cultures in the new division.
Figure 12: Essentialist categorization of race
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For at least two reasons, such a polarized representation of cultural relations needs
to be refined. First of all, the definition of culture given by the textbooks is too static. It
does not leave any room for endogenous variations or exogenous changes. In the
line of the textbooks, everybody is born in one culture and dies in the same
monolithic culture. To understand the contemporary cultural relations and
hybridizations, it is, however, critical that, at any given moment, cultures are the
result of contact and exchange with other cultures. In practice, it is hard to imagine,
for example, that Muslims living in Belgium would not be influenced by the Flemish,
Belgian or European culture of the original host society, and vice versa. Secondly, it
is problematic that the dichotomous and over-generalized conceptualization of culture
denies the differences within the various cultures or cultural regions. Turks and
Moroccans are lumped together, for example, while the difference between Berbers
and Arabs is not even mentioned. In the same way, the division of the world in
cultural regions does not only overlook, for example, the million people who are not
Muslim in the so-called Islamic World (like the Jews in Israel, the Copts in Egypt or
the Christians in Sudan), but also the millions of Muslims in Indonesia, Bangladesh or
India.
Figure 13: Essentialist categorization of culture
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It is my contention that anti-racist education cannot be based on such an essentialist
division of the world population in a limited number of invariable and fixed monolithic
cultures. In stead, students need to be confronted with a more complex and more
nuanced conceptualization of social differences that leaves room for dynamics,
variations and contradictions. Just like the description of the Congolese in old
geography textbooks could easily degenerate into racist clichés justifying the
colonization of Africa, there is a risk that the generalizations offered today might slip
into platitudes and stereotypes legitimizing racist and ethnocentric attitudes. As such,
we need to get rid of simplified classifications of human diversity based on race or
culture, and adapt a more subtle, non-essentialist view of the world (May, 1999;
Fuller, 2002).
4.2. Social constructivism
One way to accomplish this would be to focus more on the social construction of the
categories used in the textbooks (Larochelle et al., 1998). Race, for example, has a
long, and often painful, history in geography, but its conceptualization has moved
from a biological essence to a socially constructed category (Bonnett, 1996). Jackson
and Penrose (1993, p. 3) noted, for instance, that “many of the categories that we
have come to consider ‘natural’ and hence immutable, can be more accurately (and
more usefully) viewed as the product of processes which are embedded in human
actions and choices”. For geographers, these categories do not only include race, but
also cultural identities at different spatial scales (Natter & Jones, 1997; Sundstrom,
2003).
It is my contention that it is necessary to teach secondary school students the
fundamentals of social constructivism. Despite the apparent complexity, I am even
convinced that teachers will not need any extra teaching material to do so. They just
have to force their students to reflect more upon the existing material. If we look at
the way current textbooks present the racial and ethnic composition of the population
in Latin-America and in the United States, it should be obvious, for example, that
these are not natural classifications. In Latin-America, the classification is
characterized by a division in three races and three mixed races (cfr. supra; figures 5
and 6). In the United States, it is a simplified version of the categories from the official
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government statistics, summarizing the ethnic and racial diversity in 5 different
groups: blacks, Indians and Eskimos, Asians and Polynesians, Hispanics and other
whites (figures 14 and 15; Werelddelen 4, 1997, p. 75).
Figure 14 (left): Composition of the population of the USA in ethnic groups or races
(Wereldvisie 4 ASO, 2002, p. 108)
Figure 15 (right): Composition of the population of the USA in ethnic groups or races
(Werelddelen 4, 1997, p. 75)
Thoughtful students should notice two things. First of all, it is strange that the
immigrated whites, blacks and Indians from Latin-America cannot be added to the
whites, blacks and Indians living in the United States already. Whether they are
white, black or Indian according to the Latin-American classification actually does not
seem to matter. Once they have crossed the Rio Grande, they are Hispanics
anyhow. Secondly, it is remarkable that these Hispanics are considered to be whites:
‘The Hispanics are the Spanish speaking immigrants from Latin-America. They are
mainly whites’ (Wereldvisie 4 ASO, 2002, p; 108). According to figure 6, however,
only a small fraction of the Latin American population is white. As such, it becomes
clear that genetic characteristics do not determine someone’s supposed race.
Working through such an example, students learn that human classifications are not
immutable representations of a given reality, but the product of human thought (cfr.
Jackson & Penrose, 1993).
4.3. Raising awareness of discrimination
This example makes clear, in addition, that even though race and ethnicity are said to
be social constructs without a biological meaning, their social significance cannot be
denied. The fact that a small group of self-proclaimed whites can distance itself from
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a much larger group of so-called Mestizos and Indians in Latin-America, points, for
example, to the highly unequal power relations in these societies (De la Torre, 1999;
Vargas, 2004). Likewise, the tension between including and excluding Hispanics in
the privileged position of American whiteness uncovers the discord between
integration into the encompassing American identity on the one hand and a
confirmation of the discriminatory logic of the black-white dualism on the other hand
(Warren and Twine, 1997).
Flemish geography textbooks pay quite a lot of attention to the discrimination of
Hispanics and African Americans in America. According to one textbook, “there is still
racial discrimination [in the United States] and social inequalities remain high”
(Wereldvisie 4 ASO, 2002, p. 110). Similar issues in Flanders are, however, not
discussed (cfr. Carignan et al., 2005, p. 391). As we have seen above, conflicts
between autochthons and allochthons are attributed, for example, to the
concentrations of Moroccans and Turks in certain urban neighbourhoods and ‘their’
different culture (cfr. supra). Nowhere, they are blamed on ‘our’ intolerance, ‘our’
xenophobia or ‘our’ racism, not even partially. Flemish geography textbooks even
claim that ‘their different culture can count on the respect of the Flemish youth’
(Wereldvisie 1, 1998, p. 65).
.
In their discussion of the high ethnic and racial segregation in Flanders, the textbooks
use verbs like ‘end up’, ‘take up’ and ‘attract’ to explain why allochthons are
concentrated in the poorest neighbourhoods of Belgian cities: ‘The guest workers
from Turkey and the Maghreb countries ended up in the central districts and along
the former industrial axis characterized by its dated houses’ (Wereldvisie 2, 1998, p.
52); ‘The comfort they offer does not attract the Belgian population so that these
houses are consistently taken up by foreigners, guest workers in particular’
(Wereldvisie 5-6 ASO, 2004, p. 27); ‘The unoccupied and old houses attract
foreigners and poor people’ (figure 12; Wereldvisie 5-6 ASO, 2004, p. 28).
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Figure 16: ‘Decay and poverty in poor neighbourhoods’ (Wereldvisie 5-6 ASO, 2004,
p. 28
Verbs like end up, take up and attract, however, disguise the inconvenient truth.
Allochthons do not consciously opt for those neighbourhoods with the worst living
conditions. They are forced to move into the cheapest, most disadvantaged
neighbourhoods because of their poverty (Kesteloot & Van der Haegen, 1997). Only
one textbook discusses the housing problems from this perspective. It writes that ‘the
socio-economic status in particular (…) determines the place population groups can
or have to occupy’ (Algemene Aardrijkskunde 6, 2003, p. 119). [Because of the
revitalisation of the city centre, ‘quite a lot of poor families are forced to move to the
poorest neighbourhoods in the city. A lot of allochthonous families are in this
situation’ (Algemene Aardrijkskunde 6, 2003, p. 120). Most other textbooks consider
discrimination in the housing market only to be an issue in other countries, the United
States especially: ‘Because of the arrival of ethnic minorities in Harlem, the white
inhabitants did not want to live in the north-eastern part of Manhattan anymore and
they moved. The minority groups, for their part, are not welcome in other
neighbourhoods. People, for example, refuse to rent their houses in other
neighbourhoods’ (Werelddelen 4, 1997, p. 117).
It is problematic that the textbooks silence discrimination and xenophobia in
Flanders, while projecting it on other countries. Just like the confinement of
multiculturalism to cities prevents rural and suburban students from seeing that they
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also have a task in the creation of a truly tolerant society (cfr. supra), writing that
some Flemish do not want to rent their houses to foreigners would make classes less
racist and ethnocentric. If so-called allochthons are supposed to be integrated in the
Flemish society, we cannot accept, indeed, that autochthons do not know about the
repercussions of their own stigmatizing and stereotyping. Integration will not be
achieved, for example, if allochthons do their best to get a job, while autochthons do
not want to employ them. This means that an element of self-examination is required
to understand both sides of the discrimination medal (Sleeter, 1996, p. 147 in Cicetti-
Turro, 2007). It is true that getting an awareness of racism and ethnocentrism is
extremely difficult from the privileged position of whiteness that most teachers and
students hold, but I am convinced that it is necessary to be confronted with one’s own
stereotypes in order to appreciate that the making of a multicultural society requires
an effort from autochthonous Belgians too (cfr. Howard & Denning, 2000)
Recapitulating, it has to be concluded that the current Flemish geography textbooks
reproduce the racist and ethnocentric world view of young people in Flanders.
Because of the strong focus on cultural otherness, the one-sided explanation of
cultural conflicts and the manifest silence on discrimination and xenophobia, the
textbooks do not only talk the students into a negative image of cities, but also into
an implicit approval of their own racist stereotypes. For this reason, I would like to
end this paper by calling on academics to explicitly engage in primary and secondary
geography education. For too long, university level geographers have withdrawn from
active involvement in the teaching of geography in primary and secondary schools
(Bonnett, 2003). It is not only allochthonous and autochthonous youngsters that have
to create a tolerant society, however. This paper has clearly demonstrated that
academics can develop educational strategies to combat racism and xenophobia too.
5. References
5.1. Academic publications
Bonnett A (2003) Geography as the world discipline: connecting popular and
academic geographical imaginations, Area, 35, p. 55-63
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Bonnett, A., Nayak, A. (2003) Cultural geographies of racialization: the territory of
race. in Anderson, K., Domosh, M., Pile, S., Thrift, N. (eds.), Handbook of Cultural
Geography, Sage, Londen, pp. 300-312.
Blommaert, J., Dewilde, A., Stuyck, K., Peleman, K., Meert H. (2003), Space,
experience and authority: Exploring attitudes towards refugee centers in Belgium,
Journal of Language and Politics, 2, 2, p. 311-331
Carignan, N., Pourdavood, R.G., King, L.C., Feza, N. (2005), Social representations
of diversity: multi/intercultural education in a South African urban school, Intercultural
Education, 16, 4, p. 381-393
Cicetti-Turro, D. (2007) Straight Talk: Talking Across Race in Schools, Multicultural
Perspectives, 9, 1, p. 45–49
Claes, E., Dejaeghere, Y., Fiers, S., , Hooghe, M., Quintelier, E. (2006),
Jeugdonderzoek 2006: Een eerste portret van de opvattingen van de zestienjarige
respondenten, Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Leuven,
http://statbel.fgov.be/studies/ac631_nl.pdf, 28p.
De la Torre, C. (1999), Everyday forms of racism in contemporary Ecuador: the
experience of middle-class Indians, Ethnic and racial studies, 22/1, pp. 92-112
De Meyer, I., Pauly, J., Van de Poele, L. (2004), Leren voor de problemen van
morgen. De eerste resultaten van PISA2003,
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/publicaties/eDocs/pdf/208.pdf , 52 p.
Dronkers, J., Levels, M., 2007, Do school segregation and school resources explain
region-of-origin differences in the mathematics achievement of immigrant students?,
Educational Research and Evaluation, 13, 5, 435-462
Elchardus, M., Siongers, J. (2007) Ethnocentrism, taste and symbolic boundaries,
Poetics, 35, 4/5, p. 215-238.
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Essed, P., Trienekens, S. (2007), 'Who wants to feel white?' Race, Dutch culture and
contested identities, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31, 1, 52-72
Fuller, K. (2002), Eradicating Essentialism from Cultural Competency Education,
Journal of Medical Education, 77, 3, 198-201
Heremans, T. (2006) Vlaamse jeugd is racistisch en intolerant, De Standaard, 30
september 2006
Houzé, E. (1882), Etude d’anthropologie. Ethnologie de la Belgique. Les indices
céphaliques des Flamands et Wallons, Brussel: Gustave Mayolez.
Howard, T. C., & Denning D. (2000). Talking race in teacher education: The need for
racial dialogue in teacher education programs, Action in Teacher Education, 21, 4, p.
127–137.
Huntington, S.P. (1996), The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,
New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jackson, P., Penrose, J. (eds.) (1993), Constructions of race, place and nation,
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 216 p.
Jenkins, S.P., Micklewright, J., Schnepf, S.J. (2008), Social segregation in secondary
schools: how does England compare with other countries? Oxford Review of
Education, 34, 1, 21-37
Kesteloot, C. (2006), De geografische spreiding van de buitenlandse immigratie:
grondslagen, dynamiek en maatschappelijke gevolgen, in Khader, B., Martiniello, M.,
Rea, A., Timmerman, C. (red.), Immigratie en integratie anders bekeken, Brussel:
Bruylant, p. 69-100
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Kesteloot, C., Van der Haegen, H. (1997). Foreigners in Brussels 1981-1991: Spatial
continuity and social change. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 88,
2, p. 105-119
Kesteloot, C., Saey, P. (1981), De geografie is geen neutrale wetenschap. Of de
maatschappelijke rol van de geografie in onderwijs en onderzoek, De Aardrijkskunde,
1981/4, pp. 439-457
Larochelle, M., Bednarz, N., Garrison, J. (eds.) (1998), Constructivism and education,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Levels, M., Dronkers, J. (2008), Educational performance of native and immigrant
children from various countries of origin, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31, 8, p. 1401-
1425
May, S. (1999), Critical multiculturalism and cultural difference: avoiding essentialism.
In May, S. (ed.) Critical multiculturalism. Rethinking multicultural and antiracist
education, London: Falmer Press, p. 12-45
Mok, I. (1995), In aardrijkskundeboeken zijn Nederlanders nog steeds blank. Twaalf
aandachtspunten voor interculturele methoden, Geografie-Educatief, 1995/1, pp.28-
31
Mok, I. (1999), In de ban van het ras. Aardrijkskunde tussen wetenschap en
samenleving 1876-1992, ASCA Press, Amsterdam, 422 p.
Natter, W. & Jones, J.P. (1997) Identity, space and other uncertainties. In Benko, G.
& Strohmayer, U. (eds.), Space and social theory: Interpreting modernity and
postmodernity, Oxford: Blackwell, p. 141–61.
Parker, W. H. (1960). The idea of Europe: from antiquity to European Union.
Geographical Journal, 126,p. 278-297
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Peleman, K. (1997), Concentratiescholen of buurtscholen? De situatie in Antwerpen
kernstad, Planologisch Nieuws, 1997/4, pp. 307-316
Peleman, K. (1998), Is er plaats voor de feministische geografie in het onderwijs?, De
Aardrijkskunde, 1998/4, pp. 37-46
Reardon, J. (2004), Decoding race and human difference in a genomic age,
Differences, 15, 3, p. 38-65
Schnepf, S.V. (2007), Immigrants’ educational disadvantage:an examination across
ten countries and three surveys, Journal of Population Economics, 20, p. 527-545
Schuermans, N. (2007a), Leggen handboeken aardrijkskunde een racistisch en
etnocentrisch wereldbeeld op?, De Aardrijkskunde, 31, 1, 3-18
Schuermans, N. (2007b), Handboeken aardrijkskunde en anti-stedelijkheid, Agora,
23, 1, p. 22-24
Schuermans, N., De Maesschalck, F. (2007), Extreem-rechts, etnocentrisme en
onveiligheidsgevoelens op het Vlaamse platteland, Ruimte en Planning, 27, 2, p. 10-
27
Schuermans, N., De Maesschalck, F. (2008), Fear of crime, fear of the other and fear
of the city: A geography of fear, ethnocentrism and extreme-right voting among
middle class whites in rural and suburban Flanders, paper read at the annual meeting
of the Association of American Geographers in Boston, MA, 15-19/04/2008
Shadid, W. (2005) Berichtgeving over moslims en de islam in de westerse media:
Beeldvorming, oorzaken en alternatieve strategieën, Tijdschrift voor
Communicatiewetenschap, 33, 4, p. 330-346
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Sleeter, C. (1996). Multicultural Education as Social Activism. Albany, : State University of New York Press.
Spruyt, B. (2008) Ongelijkheid en segregatie in het onderwijslandschap: effecten op
etnocentrisme, Tijdschrift voor sociologie, 29, 1, p. 60-89
Sundstrom, R.R. (2003) Race and place: social space in the production of human
kinds, Philosophy and geography, 6, p. 83-95
Van Criekingen M. (2006), What is happening to Brussels’ inner-city neighborhoods?
Selective migration from areas undergoing gentrification, Brussels Studies 1,
http://www.brusselsstudies.be/PDF/EN_27_BS1_english.pdf
Vargas, J.H.C. (2004), Hyperconsciousness of Race and Its Negation: The Dialectic
of White Supremacy in Brazil, Identities, 2004/4, pp. 443-470
Vincke, E. (1985), Géographes et hommes d’ailleurs. Analyse critique de manuels
scolaires, Centre Bruxellois de Recherche et de Documentation pédagogique,
Brussel, 136 p.
Vincke, E. (1986), L’homme exotique dans les manuels belges de géographie édites
en français, Afrika Focus, 1986/3-4, pp. 221-249
Warren, J.W., Twine, F.W. (1997), White Americans, the new minority? Non-blacks
and the ever-expanding boundaries of whiteness, Journal of black studies, 28/2, pp.
200-218
5.2. Geography textbooks 1906-1985
Debulpaep, C., De Roeck, M., De Jaeger, R., Tilmont, J. (1977), Taken-
aardrijkskunde 5, Sociale geografie, Wesmael-Charlier, Namen
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Debulpaep, C., De Roeck, M., Tilmont, J. (1982), Taken-aardrijkskunde 2, De wereld
waarin je leeft, Ad. Wesmael-Charlier, Namen
De Procure (± 1950), Atlas Leerboek Aardrijkskunde, Door kaart en beeld voor de
tweede graad, De Procure, Brussel, Namen
Halkin, J. (1927), Leerboek van aardrijkskunde, Derde deel: Aardrijkskunde van
België, Grondbeginselen van Cosmographie, Ad. Wesmael-Charlier, Namen
Halkin, J. (1937), Leerboek van aardrijkskunde, Ad. Wesmael-Charlier, Namen
Heylen, L. (1922), Aardrijkskunde van Europa, Joz. Van In & C°, Lier
Heylen, L. (1935), Algemeene Aardrijkskunde, Joz. Van In & C°, Lier
Heylen, L. & Sieben, A. (1939), Belgisch Congo, Joz. Van In & C°, Lier
Melkebeke, W., De Meyer, L. (1978), ’n Kijk op de werelddelen 3, Standaard
Uitgeverij, Antwerpen, Amsterdam
Roland, J. (1896), Tweede leercursus natuurkundige en staatkundige aardrijkskunde,
Ad. Wesmael-Charlier, Namen
Schuiling, R. (1906), Onze aarde geschetst naar haar natuurlijke landschappen, II
Europa, Thieme & C°, Zutphen
Troch, A. (1955), Aanvankelijke aardrijkskunde, Joz. Van In & C°, Lier
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5.3. Geography textbooks 1985-2009
Algemene Aardrijkskunde 5, 1994, Pelckmans, Kapellen
Algemene Aardrijkskunde 6, 2003, Pelckmans, Kapellen
GEO 2, 1998, Wolters Plantyn, Deurne
GEO 3 ASO, 2001, Wolters Plantyn, Deurne
Geogenie 1&2, 1999, Standaard Uitgeverij, Antwerpen
Geogenie 3&4 ASO, 2002, De Boeck, Antwerpen
Geogenie 5&6 ASO, 2004, De Boeck, Antwerpen
Standaard Aardrijkskunde 3, 1995, Standaard Uitgeverij N.V., Antwerpen
Visie op leefruimten in de Sowjetunie en Amerika, 1986, Pelckmans, Kapellen
Werelddelen 4, 1997, Pelckmans, Kapellen
Wereldvisie 1, 1998, Pelckmans, Kapellen
Wereldvisie 2, 1998, Pelckmans, Kapellen
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Wereldvisie 4 ASO, 2002, Pelckmans, Kapellen
Wereldvisie 5-6 ASO, 2004, Pelckmans, Kapellen