Recently, I was in discussions with a major publisher in the Middle East. Our university was looking into the possibility of taking on a set of new texts to teach our students English skills.
We were shown a 'so-called' context friendly version of the books. To our amazement, even names had been changed. What could be offensive about using the name John. It had been changed to a local 'Muslim' name. This was silly!
Overall, the changes seemed somewhat artificial. Yes, some relatively revealing photographs had been replaced by more modest offerings, but one got the sense that there is a long way still to go. The publishers, mostly from the USA and Britain do seem to be interested in obliging local demands, but in reality, the sophistication of those involved in the process is still lacking.
The subjects or 'world knowledge' that is covered in these texts is also questionable. Is there such a thing as the same 'world knowledge for everyone?
We got into discussions about having photographs of hijab clad women in the texts. To our surprise, the executive we were dealing with said that if such photographs were to be introduced, many 'international universities' in the Gulf region would 'no way' go for these books. These universities are major buyers and order books in the thousands. They dominate the market. By default, they are in a position to dictate the culture and content to be taught.
It seems that the universities are more than just educators. We had stumbled upon accidentally, the power that foreign universities have and how they impact on the desire of local institutes to develop proper context specific books.
Understandably, the publishers are worried about the bottom line too (profit).
The question one has to ask therefore, is what can be done? How do we counteract this hegemony that exists within the Gulf area?
1 comment:
Well written article.
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