THE (DE)CONSTRUCTION OF PATRIARCHAL VALUES IN TEXTBOOKS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ITALIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND SERBIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

In this paper, foreign language textbooks are interpreted from a social constructivist perspective, as sociocultural products that contain not only specific subject knowledge, but also social norms, cultural values and ideologies (Curdt-Christiansen 2). From the point of view of critical discourse analysis ideology is a construct based upon assumptions and beliefs that reinforce, reproduce and legitimate asymmetrical power relations between different social groups. In line with this, we employ CDA to examine the presence of patriarchal ideologies in the depiction of the private sphere in a corpus composed of five textbooks of Italian as a Foreign Language and four textbooks of Serbian as a Foreign Language. Since the issue of patriarchal legacy in FL textbooks in previous research is primarily addressed in relation to English FL textbooks, one of the objectives of the present study is to shed a light on Italian FL textbooks that are insufficiently explored, and to compare them to Serbian FL textbooks, that are especially relevant as they were until now never approached from the perspective of gender. All the textbooks are employed in the specific educational context of foreign language teaching and learning in the post-secondary education in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The importance of the critical analysis of FL textbooks is emphasized because foreign language acquisition includes not only the development of communicative competence in the target language, but also represents a complex process of acculturation, during which students learn and incorporate the cultural values and customs of other countries. In this vein, we argue that FL textbooks used in class should not contain outdated gender stereotypes that convey the message that Italy and Serbia are places where patriarchal cultural values and inequalities are commonly accepted as undisputed societal norms; instead, it is argued that textbooks should promote a more emancipatory discourse and support the transformation of traditional gender roles that has occurred in the past decades in both Serbian and Italian society. This standpoint reflects the epistemological concerns of critical theory, oriented towards human emancipation and liberation from oppressive narratives. The practical implications of critical theory are connected to education and rely on its transformative potential. According to Fairclough (1989, 244), education can have a decisive role in determining whether the existing relations of power are to be reproduced or transformed. In reference to this claim, the objective of this study is to examine whether textbooks from the corpus, through the depiction of the private sphere, promote emancipation, collaboration and equal contributions from both women and men, or whether they continue to perpetuate patriarchal ideologies that present women's subordinated position within the private sphere as something natural and taken for granted. In the first part of analysis textual and illustrative sequences containing values and norms related to patriarchy were identified, while in the second part we focused on the examples in which traditional gender hierarchy is subverted. The results revealed that in both Italian and Serbian FL textbooks, cooking is depicted as a female activity; however, the weight of the patriarchal legacy is far more affirmed in Serbian FL textbooks, especially through the exaltation of slava, a well noted Serbian cultural and religious tradition that not only prescribes and reinforces traditional gender roles and identities, but it also idealizes them. In these terms a housewife who cooks food and serves it to others is an ideal woman, loyal to the traditional values of her people. In this particular case, the transgression of traditional gender hierarchy is viewed as a transgression of national and cultural identity, which furthermore illustrates how patriarchal values in Serbian society are closely related to the perception of ethnic identity. Similarly, through one of the examples the idea about traditional upbringing is connoted in a positive manner, more specifically, it is implied that female children ought to know how to cook and do housework. Even though the protagonist of the text has a son too, he is never nominated in this particular context. In the Serbian FL textbooks, housework is also depicted as a female activity, while in the Italian FL textbooks several examples of men helping in the house, doing housework and cooking were also identified. In the Serbian FL textbooks, we identified one example of a male character cooking dinner, however it was presented as an exception in comparison to the ordinary daily routine in one Serbian family. The overall results of the study indicate that patriarchal values are still a very strong component of the gender identities depicted in Serbian FL and Italian FL textbooks. However, unlike in Serbian FL textbooks, where the depiction of the private sphere relies almost exclusively on patriarchal values and traditional gender roles, in Italian FL textbooks, an alternative emancipatory discourse is also being constructed. As such, we conclude that Serbian FL textbooks are ideological instruments that reproduce and legitimize the archaic views of gender roles, while in Italian FL textbooks unequal power relations are at least partially transformed and disputed.