The State of the Depiction : An Intersectional Coursebook Analysis Examining Authorial and Literary Representations of Gender and Sexuality

Sammanfattning

The present study examines authorial and literary representations of gender and sexuality in Swedish upper secondary school English 6 coursebooks from an intersectional perspective.The coursebooks analyzed are Viewpoints 2, Pick & Mix 2, and Blueprint B 3.0. The study focuses on representations of gender and sexuality through authors included in the coursebooks, literary characters, narrators, and focalizers. In addition, the study explores how the representations are positioned and treated within the coursebooks, and what implications they may have on conceptions of gender and sexuality. The method used for analyzing the coursebooks was a qualitative content analysis. To examine representations in English coursebooks, the study applied a theoretical framework grounded in intersectionality and narratology. The intersectional entities which have already been mentioned, gender and sexuality, were analyzed in correlation to their respective system of power, patriarchy and heteronormativity. Previous research has shown that there exists a gender imbalance in coursebooks, predominantly consisting of men being overrepresented. Studies have also found that representations of gender variations and non-heterosexual sexualities are lacking in coursebooks. The study’s results reveal that all three coursebooks lack equal representation and fail to provide qualitative representation of gender and sexuality in both authorial and literary perspectives. Two of the investigated coursebooks were found to be male-dominated, whereas the third coursebook showed the opposite, in other words, women beingoverrepresented. The study concludes that coursebook publishers need to adopt a more inclusive approach when creating coursebooks and to develop greater awareness of existing power structures that could shape the representations they create.