This historical overview examines the media treatment of native peoples and includes the following: (1) the roots of modern stereotypes; (2) development and maturation, (3) contemporary responses, (4) music, and (5) other media. (RTS)

Criticizes accounts of Christopher Columbus and the Age of Exploration in 12 high school textbooks of U.S. history, citing their Eurocentrism, presentation of textbook history as absolute truth, lack of unpleasant details, and presentation of Columbus's voyage as origin myth. Lists 14 possible earlier expeditions to America. (SV)

Reviews how the popular stereotypes of American Indians have changed since the colonization of North America. Once seen as noble savages by European settlers, the popular stereotypes changed to become less and less positive as colonization advanced. Urges teachers to vigorously challenge the stereotypes and negative images. (JDH)

Reviews the life of Columbus and European conditions that led to the age of exploration. Discusses how the ethnocentric legend of the "discovery" of America grew as part of the glorious history of Western civilization. Examines the doctrine of discovery as a European agreement legitimizing exploitation of indigenous peoples. (SV)

In the study reported here, 133 subjects (Ss) were selected randomly from one elementary school. Ss were showed photographs of Bushmen performing daily activities and asked to predict whether a Bushman would prefer specific indigenous customs or their American equivalents, and then to justify the prediction. Scores for three types of predictions…

Based on analysis of interviews with young adults (N=73), this article examines the ways that children of Korean and Vietnamese immigrants describe growing up in their families. Findings suggest that narrow and ethnocentric images of the family promulgated throughout mainstream culture compose an ideological template that can shape the desires,…

Myths about Africa are an inevitable outgrowth of a fundamental set of cultural assumptions about race and civilization that have been building in Western culture for at least four hundred years. The old African mythology, which consisted of crude, uncomplimentary stereotypes has been replaced by a new mythology which is much more insidious and…

Examines ethnocentrism, focusing on the presentation of the USSR in English history textbooks. Four sections define ethnocentrism and the framework of analysis used, exemplify the framework, relate differences between the text and changes in the projected classroom context-of-use, and discuss theoretical and methodological problems raised by the…

Wide variation in approaches to teaching about Asia in the schools suggests a need for categorizing those approaches so that a teacher might see his approach in some relationship with others of differing persuasions. The following evolutionary levels of conceptualization are suggested; Asia as (1) a setting for Western history, where Western…

Presents a policy statement from the National Council for the Social Studies for the quincentenary of Columbus's first new world voyage. Recommends that teachers help students comprehend the contemporary relevance of 1492 and provide basic, accurate knowledge about Columbus's voyages, their historical setting, and unfolding effects. Suggests areas…

This study explored hetero- and auto-stereotyping in 23 Pakistani students studying in the United States; 21 French and 20 American college students enrolled at the University of Besancon, France; and 59 American college students who had never lived or studied abroad. All subjects completed a four-page questionnaire in their native language in…

The first essay in this publication reports on an assessment of the way Asian culture is portrayed in nearly 300 textbooks in common use in the United States. The assessment revealed that the texts fail to represent Asia fairly; the most serious problems are the underlying, purely Western yardsticks with which the majority of the texts approach…

Many universities promote cultural awareness by directly teaching sensitivity toward cultural diversity. Because students tend to be somewhat ethnocentric, which is not consonant with the display of culturally tolerant attitudes, multicultural education can help them acquire more tolerant attitudes. The paper describes the influence of a course in…

This doctoral thesis analyzes the effect of the Anthropology Curriculum Project (ACP) materials, "Concept of Culture," on the ethnocentric attitudes of fourth-grade students. Twenty-two fourth-grade public-school classes in Georgia served as the sample population. The hypotheses were that classes using the ACP materials would evidence…

Describes the monolingual nature of the United States in a multilingual world. Proposes a partial solution--a National Foreign Language Center which would utilize current technology to allow quick access to information about any language. (LMO)