VISUAL DISCOURSE IN ROMANIAN GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS DURING SOCIALISM (1948-1989)

Abstract

Studies on Geography textbooks published during socialism followed severalobjectives. While most studies were interested in stereotypes, a few authors dedica te d attention to their contribution to socialist education within the fram e w or k of socialist propaganda. Thereby, visuals played a central role. As a result, this study aims to uncover, in an explorative manner, the ways Geography textbooks dedicated to the national space contributed to a visual discourse in service of socialist propaganda. Content analysis served to explore the visuals included in three te xtbooks dedicated to the Geography of Romania. Published during the late phase of state socialism, the textbooks presented the curricular prescriptions for the past year of primary, lower se condary, and upper secondary education. The results show that less than half of the discontinuous text elements were images. Also, the findings indicate the declining number of images across the educational levels. Despite the clear focus on the national space, the images included in the three textbooks emphasized the material achievements of the socialist progress instead of contributing mainly to nation-building.

Keywords

• representations
• geography
• textbook
• romania
• socialism