This chapter is a critical discourse analysis of Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) ...
the ideologies of PTB English textbooks are different from those of OUP ones.
The.
Chapter 4: CDA of Contents Related to Culture, Religion, Nationalism, Us and Them and English This chapter is a critical discourse analysis of Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) English textbooks and Oxford University Press English textbooks. It critically examines their discourse related to culture, religion, nationalism, us and them and English. The theme of ‘gender’ has been discussed in the next chapter. In this way, it finds out the explicit as well as implicit messages embedded in their discourses related to the above-mentioned themes. A critical discourse analysis of the textbook discourses will also help us know if the ideologies of PTB English textbooks are different from those of OUP ones. The analysis has been carried out at the sentence level so that the present research may deal with both the major and minor messages in the discourses successfully.
In this chapter, a chronological order of the themes analyzed is: (a) Representation of cultures (b) Religion (c) Nationalism (d) Us and Them (e) Status of English. It is important to mention that within the macro theme of religion, the present research focusses on three micro themes: (a) Reinforcement of religious practices (b) Exploitation of religion and (c) Glorification of war. While analyzing these themes, I will apply the key terms / concepts briefly explained in chapter three such as metaphors, presuppositions, identity and difference etc. It is also necessary to mention that, for a better and convincing discussion about their contrasting ideologies, sentences regarding each theme have been taken from both the PTB and OUP textbooks. In short, both the textbooks have been analyzed in the following two chapters in terms of cultural and religious themes followed by a discussion of the questionnaire findings in chapter 6.
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4.1) Representation of Cultures This theme deals with the representation of Western and Pakistani cultures in the OUP and PTB English textbooks respectively. The PTB textbooks are a clear reflection of the Pakistani society including various religious, national and cultural events and practices to inculcate the learners with nationalistic, cultural, and religious fervour (see lessons 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 19 in PTB 9 textbook and lessons 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 21 in PTB 10 textbook). They become sixteen out of forty-three lessons (37.20 percent). In the OUP textbooks, the lessons mostly represent the instances of western culture (In book 1, see lessons 2, 3 in unit 1; lesson 4 in unit 5; lessons 2, 3, 5, 6 in unit 6; lesson 3 in unit 8 and lessons 2, 3, 4, 5 in unit 9. In book 2, see lessons 3, 4, 5 in unit 1; lessons 2, 4 in unit 3; lesson 2 in unit 4 and lessons 2, 4 in unit 5.) They become twenty out of sixty-nine lessons (28.98 percent). Moreover, there is no instance of western culture represented in the PTB textbooks whereas the OUP ones include some instances of Pakistani culture (see lesson 3 in unit 2 and lesson 1 in unit 6 in book 1 and lesson 4 in unit 2 and lesson 3 in unit 4 in book 2 (5.79 percent)).
This all indicates the learning of a different culture i.e. Western culture by the eliteschool students in contrast to their counterparts from the state-run and non-elite schools students who are exposed only to the indigenous culture. The representation of western life with its all liberties before the young elite-schools students is likely to train them to regard western life as norm in contrast to social life in Pakistan. The specimens of such a life may clearly be observed in the following lines randomly selected from different lessons in the OUP English textbooks.
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This chapter focuses, from a representational point of view as discussed in chapter 3, on the instances of western world represented in form of practices, values and conceptions of life in textbooks to illustrate the social messages these instances impart to the learners from the elite class.
The stooping figure of my mother…was the last I saw of my country home as I left it to discover the world. (OUP 1, p. 3, l. 1-3)
It was a bright Sunday morning in early June, the right time to be leaving home. My three sisters and a brother had already gone before me; two other brothers had yet to make up their minds. (OUP 1, p. 3, l. 9-12)
The lines reflect the Western culture where leaving home is worth an adventure. However, it is better to look first at some of the implications in these lines before analyzing them from the point of adventure. This is because these social messages seem to accomplish or at least support the adventurous act of leaving home. They are: people in the West have full right to explore the world and decide independently the kind of life they choose; they have fewer restrictions over them but must also take responsibility for their decisions and actions; they care less for everything that may come in their way including the parents; their leaving home seems to be a sort of regular social practice and is regarded as discovering the world. Thus all of these social phenomena combine to offer an adventurous world to an individual in the West when he or she comes of age. Interestingly, none of these notions match with the social practices in Pakistan (see this
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section below and section 4.2 & 4.5 in this chapter) and, therefore, seem to be the sole characteristics of the Western culture.
The act of ‘leaving home’ has been positively equated with knowing about the world. Then, the use of certain words and phrases such as ‘bright Sunday morning’ and ‘early June’ as ‘the right time’ for the adventure adds something to the expected charm and attraction of the adventure. Moreover, the ‘bright Sunday morning’ (as Sunday has its own value and reverence in Christianity) also gives a religious touch to this adventure – leaving home on a Sunday is a good omen. All of these things indeed portray a relatively adventurous and restriction-free world.
In order to learn more about the underlying ideology of the lines, it is useful to compare the act of leaving home in the Pakistani context. The ideological load is inescapable for the simple reason that the explicit as well as the implicit meanings related to the act of leaving home are likely to influence the learners’ ideas of life at home and in society. Let alone leaving parents, leaving home whether for adventure or for free life are nothing short of a social taboo for the majority of the Pakistanis. In effect, living with parents (with a purpose to serve them in their old age) is considered more important than living independently. In this context, the OUP textbooks then introduce a thing far removed from the local culture. However, it should not be assumed from the discussion that life is not, or cannot be, adventurous here. In fact, the things that make it adventurous are different. Similarly, the degree to which it is adventurous is also different. Therefore,
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what is ideological here in the textbooks is to show the Pakistani elite learners only the Western specimens of adventurous life by excluding the indigenous ones.
Along with the instances of an adventurous life, the textbooks are also replete with the instances of a liberal world. Once again, these examples come from the representations of the Western world. For instance,
Once a weak he and my grandmother would go into town for tea and afterwards to the cinema. (OUP 2, p. 50, l. 61-62)
The car started. It was full of young white men. They were drinking. I watched the flask pass from mouth to mouth. (OUP 1, p. 160, l. 52-53)
It was a favourite place for lovers and on summer nights their long whisperings floated among the branches and out over the currents. (OUP 2, p. 49, l. 21-24)
In the lines above, the liberal themes such as going ‘into town for tea and afterwards to the cinema’, ‘they (the young white men) were drinking’, ‘a favourite place for lovers’ and ‘their long whisperings’ on ‘summer nights’ all function to create such a romantic world which is quite alien to an average Pakistani who cannot enjoy these things publicly and openly. Although these activities are norms in the Western societies, they are social taboos in the Pakistani society particularly among populations belonging to middle and lower classes and living in rural areas. Though going for tea and cinema have found their way into the contemporary Pakistani society yet drinking and dating openly have not
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been accepted so far. So, what is not acceptable in Pakistani society has been presented as normative and acceptable practices in the textbooks of the elite school. This exposure to liberal and romantic culture is likely to lead them either to want to follow suit, or to disapprove of the social life in Pakistan, or to question it.
In Pakistan people do go out on dates and have clandestine affairs without bringing it to the knowledge of their families and the wider community. Scholars like Rahman (2002) and Zubair (2003) have observed that although the themes of romantic love abound in Urdu and English Literatures, in reality romantic love and sex are taboos in Pakistani society. Zubair (2006) in a study of young women studying English Literature at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, reported that several of the young women she interviewed had either dated or had boyfriends or felt the desire for romance but curbed it fearing the familial or societal disapproval.
It is also important to mention that the elite-school students use English not only in the schools but also at homes. Therefore, through protracted and simultaneous exposure to the English language and culture they may feel at home in the English language and its associated cultural values and distanced from their own indigenous culture as cultures tend to be embedded in their respective languages. Moreover, no two words in a language are ever exact synonyms, let alone in another language. For instance, the semantic and ideological underpinnings of the English words such as wine, drinking and dating are not negative whereas the Urdu words sharaab, sharaab peena, and wad-e-mulaqat karna carry negative implications. Thus the students of the elite English-medium schools who
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are not quite at home with their indigenous culture embedded in Urdu, are thus exposed to the liberal values of the English culture through ELT textbooks which may result in cherishing these values at the expense of indigenous cultural values.
Along with the Urdu language, less exposure to religion Islam also accounts for their inclination towards the Western culture. The OUP textbooks, as mentioned above, contain only one lesson (only 1.44 percent) related to Christianity. It is about Christmas Eve and deals with it in a vey liberal way as follows:
What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ‘em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? (OUP 1, p. 107, l. 48-52)
Here is a character of Scrooge arguing with his nephew over Christmas Eve. The Uncle’s response to his greetings ‘Merry Christmas’ is not expected in the Pakistani culture even on non-Islamic events, let alone Islamic ones. The response is in fact a sign of his liberal attitude towards one of the most important religious events in Christianity i.e. Christmas Eve. The response can also be taken as representation of a particular culture i.e. the Western culture which, unlike the Pakistani culture, offers much liberty to its people regarding religion.
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More importantly, this liberty allows one to look at life and religion from a pragmatic and/or casual point of view. Scrooge’s question ‘What’s Christmas time to you’ and then his own hasty answer to his question containing certain words such as ‘paying bills without money’ and ‘finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer’ represent a practical approach towards religious festivals, which is certainly not spiritual. He clearly refers to the celebration or arrival of Christmas Eve in a lighter vein likening it to a business where people are only losers. Over all the lines portray such a world where religion plays a minor role in peoples’ lives and where religion is a matter of individual choice.
Ideologically, Pakistan is an Islamic Republic which was founded on the basis of religion, and, where religion Islam is central in shaping the lives and worldviews of a vast majority of people. Even more ideological is the inclusion of a non-Islamic event instead of an Islamic one in the OUP textbooks.
On a different note, my discussion now moves on to an analysis of the contents of the PTB textbooks and their representations of a different cultural world, which we hope will illustrate our argument.
As mentioned above, a part of the PTB textbooks has been devoted to religion. At some places full lessons i.e. eight out of forty-three (18.60 percent) which is much higher than 5.79 in the OUP textbooks; and at the other places contents within the lessons are related to Islam. Importantly, the exclusion of these contents is not acceptable at all in the society
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as most of the people particularly belonging to religious seminaries and parties hold demonstrations against it. This inevitably leads us to believe that the Pakistanis as Muslims hold extreme love and devotion for their religion. Apart from these statistics, several other instances present in the book also strengthen our point. For instance, both the textbooks (for 9th and 10th classes) start with the lessons about the Holy Prophet (SAW). It is not something exclusive to these textbooks as it has become almost a tradition as the previous textbooks prove. Similarly, the Islamic teachings in the form of Quran and Hadith are regarded as unparalleled and, therefore, deserve to be regarded as the only way of their life in their culture.
In the PTB textbooks lessons, the emphasis is on religious way of life whereas the focus in OUP lesson is not religious teaching. This dichotomy is further enhanced by the teaching methodologies of the school teachers in Urdu-schools who, like the lessons, emphasize adherence to religious values. In fact, the teachers in these schools themselves are products of similar schooling and mostly come from lower income groups.
The PTB textbooks include various religious events that are common among the Muslims. Not only these events but also the way they are practised help one know the way ideologies are naturalized in Pakistan through textbooks.
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The Muslims (on Shab-e-barat) illuminate their houses and masajid (mosques). (PTB 10, p. 6, l. 12)
The buildings are bazaars are illuminated (on Eid Milad-un-Nabi (the birthday of the Holy Prophet SAW)). (PTB 10, p. 7, l. 34)
The word ‘The Muslims’ indicates that there is not any sort of division among the Muslims towards the celebration of the religious events. Rather the Muslims all over the world take equal part in celebrating these events. Moreover, the words ‘illuminate’ or ‘illuminated’ give insights into the mindset of traditional Muslims in Pakistan. It indicates that the Muslims regard their religious events very sacred and, therefore, celebrate them with full zeal and zest. This religious fervour presents them as enthusiasts. Moreover, they do not suppress and hide their emotions and feelings on such occasions. They rather express them overtly through illumination of houses, buildings and bazaars.
The presence of ‘houses/bazaars and masajid’ in the sentences can be taken as metaphors for world and religion respectively. It means they go side by side in their lives. Or there is a dialectical relationship between them – religion teaches them how to live a life and living a life accordingly is likely to result in a success in this life and the life hereafter. Looking at it from another angle, people think of religion as a source of peace, tranquility, and satisfaction in life; hence, being away from religion signifies being distanced from a peaceful life.
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We can now clearly observe how the Pakistani and the Western cultures teach differently their people the ways to celebrate the religious events. In the former one, the importance of these events is much more than the latter one. We can draw inferences from the relative significance of religion in both cultures. Arguably, the Western people keep their worldly affairs away from their religion as does the character of Scrooge in the lesson ‘Christmas Eve’ in the OUP textbooks. Whereas, in the PTB textbooks, even the celebratory practices of other than religious events show a certain influence of Islam (e.g. the marriage ceremony of Hazrat Fatima in lesson 19 and the sayings of the Quaid regarding the creation of Pakistan in lesson 21 in PTB English 10). In this regard, though society also performs certain practices borrowed from the Hindu culture in real life, the textbooks indirectly disapprove these practices to urge the learners to practise only their own indigenous culture.
‘Oh well’ said the woman, ‘Silk dresses, sets of jewellery, pairs of shoes and sets of bed linen and a fully furnished house with a car’. The lady explained (to Farah) the dowry items that had just been displayed. (PTB 10, p. 82, l. 38-41)
It is from the lesson ‘Two Wedding Ceremonies’ that describes a wedding ceremony and the social practices the people perform to celebrate it. Right from the beginning, the lesson mentions display of ostentation and overspending on such occasions. For instance, besides what we see above there is a lot more in the lesson as follows:
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The entire front of the house was illuminated with coloured lights and tube lights were erected all along the path way. (PTB 10, p. 81, l. 1-3)
Near the house itself, rows of young girls dressed in gold and silver and bright eye catching colours, holding flower petals in baskets, were waiting for the Barat. (PTB 10, p. 81, l. 12-15)
Each woman was loaded with jewellery around her neck, on her head, in her ears, on forearms and fingers. (PTB 10, p. 81, l. 16-18)
To have a certain impact on the learners’ perception, the textbook first describes the event of marriage and the way the people celebrate it. A tinge of satire goes along with it through a character named Farah who ‘started feeling uncomfortable’ and ‘looked around to find a quiet corner’ to indicate disapproval of what is going on:
Farah shut her eyes and rested her head on the back of the chair, ‘Alas! If people here only remember how simply the Holy Prophet (SAW) married his daughter Hazrat Fatima (RA) to Hazrat Ali (RA).
How simple, sacred and holy the ceremony must have looked’, she thought to herself. (PTB 10, p. 82, l. 52-57)
Assumingly, the textbooks consider simplicity, contentedness and frugality as elements of our culture. Obviously, then lavishness and ostentation are not the characteristics of this particular culture rather they are cultural imports from the Hindu culture as a result of
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living together for many centuries in the sub-continent in the past and extensively watching Indian movies or programmes on the cable.
So far, we have seen how the PTB textbooks promote the Pakistani culture and exclude or disapprove the other cultures just like the OUP textbooks that mostly promote the Western culture. The following extract serves as a good example:
They (Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Fatima (RA)) found their only luxury in prayers. (PTB 10, p. 46, l. 16-17)
In contrast to a Western couple going for tea and cinema in the lines above, we see here a couple preferring prayers to everything else as implied by the phrase ‘found their only luxury in prayers’. In other words, the OUP textbooks show a western couple finding pleasure in the activities other than religious whereas the PTB ones show a couple finding pleasure only in a religious activity. I do not imply that couples in the West do not offer prayers and in Pakistan they do not go out for tea and cinema. The point is to see which practices these textbooks ideologically include and exclude for the readers coming from different social classes.
One similar instance given below is of a child who is supposed to act differently from that of a boy mentioned above in the OUP textbooks who left his home for the world.
Who sat and watched my infant head,
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When sleeping on my cradle bed And tears of sweet affection shed? My Mother. And can I ever cease to be Affectionate and kind to thee, Who was so very kind to me, My Mother. (PTB English 10, p. 88, l. 1-4 & 14-17)
The first stanza of the poem ‘My Mother’ may be regarded to a certain degree as a generalized association of the attributes of a mother sitting, watching, lying (with her child) and loving her child. Somewhat same role of woman as a mother can also be observed in the lesson ‘Leaving Home’ in the OUP textbooks. However, the response from the child in the second stanza may arguably be culture specific. In the Pakistani context, the children usually internalize the traits of a typical mother or father from their tender age and are, therefore, supposed to act motherly as well as fatherly when they are grown ups. This good return, however, is also under an obligation of their religion Islam that directs them to be obedient, kind and affectionate to their parents especially mothers. The underlying message for the learners is to be devoted as once their mothers were. This concept differs with the earlier one ( in OUP text) – where a boy feels free and confident in leaving home and mother for an adventure – in its expression of love to the mother which is never represented in the PTB textbooks. Generally (owing to economic constraints) people from lower and middle-classes in Pakistan prefer living with their
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parents; among these classes living in a separate home is a social taboo as it implies forsaking your parents in old age.
Not surprisingly, the Western culture represented in the OUP textbooks with its full liberty, modernity, romanticism and secularism is likely to attract their readers more than their own indigenous one. Similarly, their counterparts from the government and nonelite schools for being not exposed to the Western values in the PTB textbooks are likely to cherish only their own indigenous culture. In the questionnaire (see chapter seven), the research, therefore, shows a stark contrast between the elite-school students’ and the government and non-elite schools students’ responses to the question if western life style attracts you more than the Pakistani one. The 58 percent students from the elite schools favour the Western life style against the 10 and 12 percent students from the government and non-elite schools students respectively.
4.2) Reinforcement of Religious Practices This theme deals with the religious events and practices mentioned in the English textbooks. In order to analyze this aspect from an ideological point of view, it is important to see which religious events are included in the textbooks, who (which religious sect) the events and religious practices represent, which practices are being reinforced, and do inclusion and representation observe equality. The following lines have been taken from the lesson ‘Festivals of Pakistan’ (PTB 10: 6-7).
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Shab-e-barat, a night of blessings is celebrated on 14th Shabaan, 8th month of the Islamic calendar. The Muslims illuminate their houses and masajid (mosques).
The use of ‘The Muslims’ instead of ‘most Muslims’, ‘the Muslims in Pakistan’ or ‘the Pakistani Muslims’ indicates that there is not any sort of division either among the Pakistanis or the Islamic world towards the celebration of Shab-e-barat. Rather all the Muslims take equal part in celebrating this event. It is a matter of concern that the writer’s statement may become a code of conduct for the young learners for they are not given any practice in linguistic deconstruction of the texts at the secondary level. The above-mentioned sentence is likely to be perceived by the young learners as ‘The Muslims should illuminate their houses and masajid.’ Or ‘Islam expects the Muslims to illuminate their houses and masajid’. Thus what may be deduced by the learners as a normative construction of these religious festivities assuming the level of religious teachings to be strictly observed is, in fact, the writer’s own generalization of a particular practice which is not rooted in religion but is a socio-cultural practice. This is how ideology functions in texts. Moreover, whether the act of illuminating the houses and masajid on Shab-e-barat is the practice and representation of a particular segment in the Muslim community is another moot point and will be discussed below in this section. The next sentence reads the core activities of the event.
Devotional prayers are performed throughout the night to seek the blessings of Allah.
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The sentence is ideologically loaded in a way that it narrows the concept of prayer. The prayers have been reduced only to worshipping Almighty Allah for his blessings. Can blessings not be sought through other means and actions and practices, such as good deeds, acts of kindness to fellow human beings, honesty, charity and love for humanity in general? Of course, there are other practices and ways to seek the blessings of Allah but the sentence excludes those and emphasis is laid on prayers on that specific night. Further, the implicit ideology is that ritual prayers are the means for a devout Muslim to seek communion with Allah, particularly on that night. This ideology which emphasizes devotional prayers to the exclusion of other forms of devotion is misleading as it paints a very restrictive and ritualistic concept of Islamic faith and practices. According to one Hadith: to earn an honest living tantamounts to prayers too.
However, in spite of the exclusion of the practices or ways to seek the blessings of Allah, I consider the above-mentioned sentence less ideological than the previous instance. This is because it represents at least the general concepts and practices regarding Shab-e-barat. This mixed presentation of ideological (in the previous instances) and less ideological elements (in the present instance) in the textbooks are worth noticing. This technique is rather an ideological tactic that helps get the contents presentable and thus reduce any resistance from those religious sects of the society who have been denied any representation in the textbooks. It may rightly be regarded as a consciously ideological inclusion for I observe the same style in introducing and representing the next religious event i.e. Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAW) in the same lesson.
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Eid Milad-un-Nabi is celebrated on 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, a birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
The buildings and bazaars are illuminated.
Seminars are conducted to induce the devotees to follow the life of Hazrat Muhammad.
In the first sentence, there comes the name of the religious event. It is followed by its date and month, and brief introduction. Secondly, comes the way to celebrate it. Finally, the basic purpose of celebrating the event of Eid Milad-un-Nabi has been mentioned.
Once again the second sentence is more ideological than the first and the last one, as it does not represent the general practices of all Pakistani religious sects regarding this particular event. Like the previous example, it – the act of illumination – reflects only the dominant representation of the Barelvi sect. As the Barelvis are not in majority as compared to the Deobandis (Rahman 1999: 104), therefore, the inclusion of its certain practices in the lesson meant for all students who vary in their association to different religious sects is quite ideological.
So far we have noticed two things in our analysis: firstly, both Shab-e-barat and Eid Milad-un-Nabi are quite popular and acceptable (by their name and nature) for all the religious sects; secondly, their celebratory practices represent only Barelvi sect. Other main sects such as Deobandis (it is in majority in Pakistan) and Ahl-e-hedith consider such practices bid’ah (any innovated practice in religion) and, therefore, do not support,
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approve and preach them because, according to them, Sahab-ai-Karaam (RA) (the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)) did not observe them. In short, the textbooks are biased in giving a balanced representation to certain religious practices of all sects. It is indeed this ‘unbalancedness’ among certain representations in the PTB textbooks that claims them to be ideological.
These religious ideologies show a fairly strong influence on the readers of the PTB textbooks. The research shows that most of them are quite religious. They have been considered religious in a sense that 100 percent students from the government schools and 96 percent students from the non-elite schools like much to celebrate the religious events in contrast to elite-schools students who are 52 percent. Moreover, they – the government and non-elite schools students – observe most of the religious practices in the ways as described above while celebrating the religious events like Shab-e-Barat and Eid Milad-un-Nabi.
The case of OUP textbooks is quite the opposite. There is only one lesson i.e. Christmas Eve (OUP 1: p. 106-7) but even that seems to be religious only by name for it does not contain any religious practices associated with this event. Instead it has a secular or liberal tone. Consequently, the students are not as much religious as their counterparts from the government and non-elite schools are. There are some sentences in different lessons that mention some words like pray, gods, God, Allah, Christmas, religion, church and heavens but we can see below that the usage of most of these words except Christmas
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and churches neither show any direct link with any religion nor do they reinforce any particular religious practice.
Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children (OUP 1: 63).
‘A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!’ cried a cheerful voice (OUP 1: 107).
As the man fell, Yasin heard him scream, “Allah…” (OUP 2: 37).
These were joined together by numerous bridges and above them rose the steeples of many churches like a vast and elegant ocean liner. (OUP 2: 48-9).
I believe the decision to have a large family was based less on any deep religious conviction than from a profound love of live (OUP 2: 49).
‘Oh, God,’ I said raising my hands to the heavens, ‘my son wants to become some artist or musician… (OUP 2: 58).
he said: ‘I prayed to all the gods in the world for a son (OUP 2: 79).
The absence of the representation of any particular religion and any particular sect’s religious practices in these textbooks makes most of the elite-school students i.e. 52 percent, unlike their counterparts in the government and non-elite schools i.e. 21 and 28 percent respectively, celebrate the religious events in a common way i.e. offering prayers, as mentioned in the questionnaire (see chapter seven). However, this does not mean that OUP textbooks are free from religious ideologies because exclusion of religion is also ideological for the simple reason that they have been especially developed to produce secular minds.
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4.3) Religious Exploitation Owing to a regular inclusion of Islamic contents in the PTB textbooks in the past (as discussed above), Islam is now considered to be an indispensable part of these textbooks both by the state and its people, albeit for different reasons. The people want it for inculcating Islamic values, awareness and knowledge among the students whereas the state realizing the peoples’ attachment to the religion exploits it for its own interests – promoting ideologies of religious difference and intolerance. In a society like Pakistan, ideology in the name of religion can be both influential and harmful as politics for people, let alone learners, who tend to take it for granted. This makes the injecting of implicitly ideological patterns easier for the government. Such exploitation can be noticed well in the lesson ‘Human Rights and Madina Charter’ (PTB 10, 2006, p. 31-2) which is about a treaty entitled Misak-e-Madina between the Muslims and the Jews.
To create a harmony and mutual corporation, a just and fair treaty was signed by the two parties, Jews and Muslims (in Madina – the city of the Holy Prophet (SAW)).
Before analyzing the contents and context of the sentence, it is necessary to keep in mind particularly the factors of time and place. Of course, the place where the sentence originates is Pakistan, a front ally in a war against terrorism, and the time is post 9 / 11 that has brought the centre (the west) and the centres of the peripheries closer for mutual ideological interests.
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Here are certain overt and covert points: the Muslims and the Jews (a) were living together in Madina, (b) signed a treaty for certain mutual interests, (and c) pledged to live together in complete harmony putting aside their social, cultural and religious differences. Thus the sentence if seen in context of the current political scenario implies that the Muslims can live and sign treaty with the Jews even today. A similar message lies in one of the following clauses of the treaty:
Muslims shall join hands with the Jews to fight anyone
The phrase ‘join hands’ metaphorically indicates the forming of friendship. The use of ‘shall’ instead of ‘will’ and the sentence in a directive form reinforce this underlying message. However, though both parties sign the treaty as friends, the level of relationship is asymmetrical in the sentence – the Jews seem to be more powerful and dominant – as it addresses the Muslims to join the Jews. Otherwise the sentence could have been ‘Muslims and Jews shall fight anyone together who rebels or promotes enmity’. Arguably the sentence as a mouthpiece of the state legitimizes its policy of having friendly relations with the Christians and the Jews in various affairs especially in what comes in the following sub-ordinate clause.
…who rebels or promotes enmity.
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The dependent clause introduces two types of enemies: (a) who rebel and (b) who promote enmity. So both the parties shall fight inside the country with the rebellions and outside the country (in the world) with the promoters of enmity.
It will be useful to transform the sub-clause ‘who rebels or promotes enmity’ into a nominal or noun-like entity i.e. terrorists / terrorism, to probe into the ideology of the state. We see both the nations as victims of this evil. However, both have a different concept of the term ‘terrorism’. A majority of the Muslims call fight and suicidal attacks against the non-muslim occupiers (e.g. Americans in Afghanistan and Israelites in Palestine) jihad, while the non-muslims including the Jews call their resistance ‘terrorism’. Hence, as the book does not distinguish between terrorism and jihad, the incumbent government can be thought of regarding suicidal attacks or fighting with the non-muslims and their Muslim supporters as terrorism and wishing to eradicate it by joining the western allies. This point becomes clearly evident in another line at the end of the lesson.
They were to be equal partners in peace and war and enjoyed all human rights.
This line is not a part of the treaty mentioned in the lesson. It is a comment from the writer at the end of the lesson on the participants of the treaty declared as partners instead of friends. Clearly, the language shows distance between them. Moreover, the subordinate clause ‘and enjoyed all human rights’ also points towards the differences
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between them and a confession of them (differences). Of course, these differences are quite natural for both the communities have their own language, culture, religion, and priorities. The message of the lesson thus should be to join the West in fighting with the terrorists irrespective of each other’s social, cultural, religious and racial differences – observance of human rights. In other words, at present there is no harm in joining the Christians and the Jews in the war against terrorism for such alliance was also formed in the Islamic history.
Importantly, the alliance that was formed in the Islamic history was in fact against the foreign aggressors (particularly the Hindus of Mecca regarded as the worst enemies of the Muslims at that time) who were intending to attack Madina to weaken or crush the Muslims gaining power in Madina after a migration from Mecca They were also unhappy with the Jews for building ties with the new comers (Muslims) in Madina. Consequently, the Holy Prophet (SAW) signed a treaty with the Jews to put a joint resistance against the common enemy. Another clause of this treaty reads:
If a common enemy attacks Madina, joint resistance by the Jews and the Muslims shall be put up against the enemy.
An important thing here is the focus shifted from ‘Hindus’ to ‘(Muslim) terrorists by the previous clause i.e. ‘…who rebels or promotes enmity’. Even more important than this is the absence of this clause in the actual treaty (Rasool 1959: 38). Being not too simplistic, the PTB textbooks has concocted this sub clause as one of the conditions of the
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agreement to manipulate the learners’ opinions regarding joining hands with the nonMuslims such as the Jews, Christians and Hindus in the war against terrorism.
It is quite important to note that with regard to war against terrorism the PTB textbook also tends to confuse the learners in that on the one hand it is biased and promotes intolerance of other religions or even certain sects in Islamic faith (see section 4.2 in this chapter), and yet, on the other, promotes the notion of joining hands with the Jews when it serves the interests of the state and the state policies. Certainly, there is a lot of ambivalence here in the messages being signaled to the PTB learners.
This manipulation or exploitation of Madina Charter in this lesson has worked well as most of the learners from all schools agree with the signing of treaties with the nonMuslims to fight terrorism in the questionnaire (see chapter seven). It is unexpected particularly on the part of the government and non-elite school students whose majority does not favour friendly ties (in the questionnaire) with their enemies or ill-wishers – the Hindus, Jews and Christians – as mostly represented by their textbooks. As far OUP textbooks are concerned, religious exploitation is not found. However, the positive representation of the others brings the elite-school students close to them. They do not possess such feelings for them as their counterparts from the government and non-elite students do.
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4.4) Glorification of War / Jihad The textbooks equate religion Islam with Pakistan by explaining the only purpose of making untiring and incessant struggle for Pakistan was to be able to live according to Islam. Therefore, Pakistan as an Islamic state is so dear to her inhabitants that they can sacrifice even their lives for it as proved below:
That is the only way in which we can achieve our goal: the goal of our struggle, the goal for which millions of Mussulmans (Muslims) have lost their all and laid down their lives for the cause of Islam and Pakistan. (PTB English 10, 2006, p. 97)
Losing lives for the cause of Islam and Pakistan indirectly presents the Hindus as enemies of both Islam and Pakistan for, as the background assumption is, it was not possible for the Muslims (in the presence of the Hindus) to live according to Islam. Thus Pakistan as an Islamic state is unbearable for India which is waiting for any opportunity to dismember Pakistan. The overall purpose of the lines is indeed to present Islam as an identity of the people of Pakistan and, therefore, harming this identity is worth harming the religion Islam.
The metaphorical expression that ‘targeting Pakistan is targeting Islam’ is likely to justify the need of jihad and the presence of a big army in the country. Then the army must be regarded as sacred and nationalistic for its mujahid soldiers are there to defend both Islam and Pakistan. The textbooks also romanticize this aspect by selecting such a personality
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from the Islamic history who has been quite prominent regarding jihad. The following instances have been taken from the lesson ‘Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA)’ (PTB English 9, 2006, pp. 8-9).
Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) was a great warrior of Islam.
Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) admired the valour and bravery of Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) and gave him the title of ‘Saifullah’ (sword of Allah).
He promised to devote his future life in the service of Islam.
The first sentence describes the personality of Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) in relation to religion Islam. Though its structure could also be ‘Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) was a great Arab warrior’ or he ‘was a great Muslim warrior’, it would not have shown him as high in his status as his present description in relation to Islam does. The last line makes it reasonable to argue that it was only his act of jihad (for Islam) that won him the titles of ‘a great warrior’ and ‘the sword of Allah’. Putting it another way, in return, it was Islam that honoured and blessed him. These are indeed the very messages of the texts that function to value jihad and infuse a jihadi spirit into the Muslim learners. It will also be useful to see how the textbooks define jihad to the learners in an implicit way as follows:
At last the Muslims won this battle (of Yermuk) due to the bravery and planning of Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA).
At last the Muslims won this battle (of Yermuk) due to the bravery and planning of Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA).
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The Islamic concept of jihad ‘…has two meanings: firstly, personal struggle against temptation and secondly, war of Muslims against aggressors’ (Noreen, Ahmed-Ullah & Barker, 2004). Unexpectedly, the lines implicitly show only one side of the coin i.e. a war of Muslims against aggressors (In the battle of Yurmuk, the non-Muslims encamped near Yurmook with an intention to invade Madina – the city of the Holy Prophet (SAW) and his companions). Needless to say, the other one has been kept hidden; hence, the meaning implicitly given in the textbook may rightly be regarded as an intentionally controlled meaning of jihad. Next comes the concept of ‘martyrdom’ (shahaadat) in the lesson:
Despite his utmost desire, he was not martyred but died a natural death at the age of sixty-one years. (PTB English 9, 2006, p. 9)
This has become ‘so much a feature of official vocabulary that …all army officers even when they die in accidents are called shaheeds (martyrs)’ (Rahman, 2002b, p. 65). The phrase ‘his utmost desire’ conveys martyrdom (to the readers) as something to be desired for very keenly, something far better than a natural death, and the sole aim of a mujahid for which, as the lesson indicates, jihad is the only means. Arguably, the phrase directly increases the value of jihad (as compared to life at home), mujahid and shaheed and, therefore, is likely to urge the young Pakistani students to religiously desire for martyrdom; cherish, love and honour the shaheeds (the martyred); and consider them holy protectors / heroes of both Islam and Pakistan.
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It is not surprising then, that, unlike elite-school students, mostly their counterparts from the government and non-elite schools strongly agree with the struggle for the occupied Kashmir. The former type though also in good strength support the struggle, the affinity with it is not as strong as of the latter types. However, there is a clear difference in their opinions regarding the adoption of jihad / war as a means to achieve the occupied Kashmir. We find only 28 percent elite-school students supporting war against the percentage of 64 and 60 of the government and non-elite schools students respectively. To a certain extent, it can be the result of those contents included to disapprove war in the OUP textbooks. Unlike the PTB textbooks, the OUP textbooks contain three lessons that disapprove war. It is worth mentioning that two lessons i.e. ‘A Piece of Wood’ by Ray Bradbury and ‘Scenes from a Bomber Raid’ by Len Deighton indirectly and one lesson i.e. ‘Biological Warfare’ by Wendy Barnaby directly disapproves war in the textbooks. The major themes that overlap in these lessons are: killing human beings is brutal, peace is far better than war and war is fought only for vested interests as follows.
(The official asked) ‘What do you want?’ The sergeant shrugged and looked at his hands. ‘To live in peace… That’s what I’d like. (OUP 1: 140)
It will be quite useful to know briefly about the context of the situation represented here first. The sergeant is a man who has spent sixteen years of his life in war. In this long span of time, realizing the disastrous effects of war he silently started working on a kind of machine that could rust all weapons in the world and at last made it. The above-
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mentioned lines have been taken from the beginning of the lesson ‘A Piece of Wood’ where the army official after listening rumours about the sergeant considered him mentally unfit and, therefore, he called for him.
The question ‘What do you want?’ is in fact an offer of options (from the official to the sergeant) – going to some other war area; seeing a doctor for a complete medical check up; and going overseas. In return, the response ‘To live in peace’ does not come from an ordinary immature person but an aged, professionally experienced and mature character represented as sergeant in the OUP textbooks. The effect on the learners’ perception might have been different if an ordinary person would have given that response. It shows that the sergeant has achieved nothing from fifteen-year war and, therefore, peace is far better than war. His short response ‘To live in peace.’ also indicates that there is no chance of peace and comfort in war which further assumes that peace cannot be achieved through war. Moreover, all of these implicit messages are very likely to make the learners think of the basic reason behind war. The answer to this question lies in the lesson ‘Scenes from a Bomber Raid’ which indirectly again strengthens the previous messages.
‘Well, on this business of killing Huns, sir. There is a pilot … (who) told me that he thinks our bombing attacks are “just-old fashioned murder of working-class families”.’
‘This war, he says, is just the continuation of capitalism by other means.’ (OUP 2: 103)
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These lines also represent a worldview of an assumingly intelligent, competent, mature and professionally experienced person – a British pilot – regarding war and, therefore, carry much weight. The text is not in form of information but a critique related to Second World War. It regards war as nothing else but an old way of killing the poor people. The phrase ‘just-old fashioned’ is a bitter criticism on the present so-called worldly modernity, progress, enlightenment, and civilization. In other words, they do not represent any break with the past but the continuation of the barbaric past that was used to wage wars for vested interests whose victims were only the poor. The textbooks thus represent war such a ruthless thing whose victims are the poor and beneficiary is the capitalist system.
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4.5) Nationalism The theme of nationalism deals with the nationalistic lessons and contents (in other seemingly non-nationalistic lessons) included in the English textbooks that function to arouse feelings of nationalism and patriotism in the learners. Just like Islamic lessons, there are more nationalistic lessons in the PTB textbooks than the OUP ones i.e. 4 (1.72 %) and 1 (.69 %) respectively. The PTB’s four lessons are particularly and completely about Pakistan whereas the OUP’s one lesson is though about the Pakistani flag yet the underlying theme is related more to poverty than patriotism. The situation is clear that the OUP textbooks do not put much emphasis on promoting nationalism. Rather, realistically speaking, there are many places where they create a negative image of the country against a positive image of the Western countries. This aspect has been discussed in the section ‘us and them.
The PTB textbooks inculcate the learners with the nationalistic fervour or patriotic passion by carrying information about Pakistan’s history, national events, national heroes, Pakistan’s ill-wishers and so on. We may start with the national events given in the lesson ‘The Festivals of Pakistan’ (PTB 10: 6-7).
The day of the Pakistan resolution (23rd of March 1940) and Independence Day (14th of August 1947) are the most remarkable days in the history of Pakistan.
The nation as a whole celebrates these occasions every year to refresh the greatness of these events.
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They also give us the knowledge and information related to freedom movement of Pakistan and the sacrifices made by the leaders in getting a separate homeland for the Muslims of South Asia.
The textbooks include two national events: the Pakistan resolution (the resolution passed to achieve Pakistan) and the Independence Day (the day when Pakistan was achieved). They introduce them as ‘the most remarkable days in the history of Pakistan’ to the learners; hence, the celebration of these events by the whole nation every year in the second sentence has been justified by presenting them as V.I.P (very important). In other words, they are celebrated for they deserve to be celebrated. It contains an implicit message for the learners that they are also supposed to keep alive this remarkable tradition when they are grown ups. In the last line, there lay three pieces of information: firstly, Pakistan was achieved through a freedom movement; secondly, sacrifices were made for its achievement and, lastly, it is more than a country – a homeland – for them. Semantically, as home is to house, the concept of ‘homeland’ is sweeter than that of ‘country’. It gives a deep sense of freedom, belonging, security, peace, tranquility, affiliation, etc. Similarly, the phrase ‘a separate homeland’ seems to create the concept of othering i.e. the piece of land we Muslims have gained is ours and the remaining part of land which is of course ‘India’ is theirs. In effect, the information residing in all three lines arouses nationalistic feelings in the learners and, therefore, being inculcated with nationalism and patriotism is a norm and being not inculcated with them is likely to be regarded as deviation from this norm.
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Importantly, the second sentence does not address the people of Pakistan as ‘the Pakistanis’ but ‘the nation as a whole…’ which again highlights the importance of these national events. Moreover, this phrase also seems to perform two ideological functions: firstly, it indicates the oneness and unity of the Pakistanis as a nation towards the celebration of these national events for it could also address them using their provincial identity as Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis and Pathans which it did not. Secondly, it represents these events as uncontroversial unlike some other social events where society is divided on their celebrations (see section 4.1 in this chapter above) and, therefore, the students must feel free and proud to celebrate these events.
The inclusion of the two national events also justifies the inclusion and description of the national hero and founder of Pakistan i.e. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the lesson ‘The Great Leader: Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinah’ (PTB English 10, 2006: 93-7). His description as a giant and creator of Pakistan is undoubtedly a great source of promoting nationalism through the textbooks.
The 20th century has seen a number of great personalities on the international political scene.
None of them is equal to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in intellect and honesty of purpose.
Our great leader had great qualities.
He was a symbol of integrity and honesty.
He was fearless and courageous.
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The lesson introduces the founder of Pakistan as the greatest of all who emerged as leaders in different parts of the world in the twentieth century. The mention of other personalities as ‘great’ but without names is clearly an effort to emphasize the greatness of the Quaid. The second line ‘None of them is equal to Quaid…’ then portrays him as ‘matchless’, which indicates that the other leaders including obviously the Indian ones – Gandhi, Nehru – stand nowhere before him. Therefore, he is the only one who is worth being a role model for the young Pakistani learners. In other words, when ‘our great leader had great qualities’ (line 3), why look at others! Moreover, Quaid-e-Azam means the great leader, and it is considered a profanity to call him by his original name, as if his name is Quaid-e-Azam. As a child and young adult, I could never dare to refer to him as Jinnah; such is the power of these ideological messages!
The lines also mention the qualities he (the Quaid-e-Azam) had. They are intellect, honesty, integrity, fearlessness and courage. The lines also presuppose that the other leaders were not intellectual, honest, fearless and courageous or at least not more than him. Clearly, the overall purpose of the Quaid’s portrait seems to rouse the feelings of love among the (Pakistani) learners for him and the feelings of disapproval and hate for the leaders other than him. Moreover, it may also be argued that the greatness of the Quaid has been intentionally intensely emphasized (because his shortcomings are not pointed out) to highlight the greatness of Pakistan – great leader, great country is the message.
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At another point, the textbooks represent the Quaid as a devout Muslim or an Islamic hero whose sole aim in life was to achieve a separate homeland in the name of Islam so that his Islamic nation could live their lives according to Islam.
Religion is there and it is dear to us.
That is the only way in which we can achieve our goal: the goal of our struggle, the goal for which millions of Mussulmans (Muslims) have lost their all and laid down their lives for the cause of Islam and Pakistan.
The lines put Islam and Pakistan – religion and nationalism – together to show a strong connection between them. The underlying assumption is that the only purpose of making untiring and incessant struggle for Pakistan was to be able to live according to Islam. Therefore, Pakistan as an Islamic state is so dear to the people living in it that they can sacrifice even their lives for it. It is worth mentioning here that the lines / lesson do not show any representation of minorities in Pakistan. Moreover, they do suppress the other political and economic factors that caused the emergence of Pakistan such as the domination of Hindus over the economy and job market in the undivided India.
Losing lives for Islam indirectly present the Hindus as enemies of both Islam and Pakistan for, as the background assumption is, it was not possible for the Muslims (in the presence of the Hindus) to live according to Islam. Thus Pakistan as an Islamic state is unbearable for India who is waiting for any opportunity to dismember Pakistan. The
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overall purpose of the lines is indeed to present Islam as an identity of the people of Pakistan and, therefore, harming this identity is worth harming the religion Islam.
The concept of ‘targeting Pakistan is targeting Islam’ is likely to justify the need of Jihad and the presence of a big army in the country. Then the army must be regarded as sacred and nationalistic for its soldiers / mujahids are there to defend both Islam and Pakistan. The textbooks also romanticize this aspect by selecting such personalities from Islamic history who have been quite prominent regarding Jihad (see lesson Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) in PTB English 9, p. 8)
It will be useful to quote from Rahman (2002b) here to summarize the points raised above. According to him, ‘the state uses the emotive power of religion, patriotism, and romanticized history to create a Pakistani identity which supersedes kinship, regional or ethnic identities’ (p, 519). It can be safely argued that mostly the contents in the PTB textbooks about Islam, history, Jihad, social and cultural events are directly or indirectly related to Pakistan. Contents that can connect the learners with the outer world are rarely found. This aspect again presents Pakistan as the only world for the students from the government and non-elite schools. Therefore, we find that these students are much more nationalistic than the elite-schools students.
Such a focus on Pakistan is not much found in the OUP textbooks. We see that the nationalistic contents and the themes they carry in the PTB textbooks are different from those in the OUP textbooks to a great extent not only in quantity but also in quality as
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mentioned above. The following lines have been taken from a poem entitled ‘Buy My Flag’ (OUP 2: 31-2):
Fourteenth of August. A tribute to the boy who Still sees the glamour of the flag Through hard metal and Eternally turning wheels, Through dust and gas and grime, Through choking fumes, Exhausted.
Green and white, star-studded Flags of independence Fluttering like bunches of Meaningless market wares. Green and white, the colour of Summer grass and jasmine, Trees and icy river-foam, Purity and peace Contorted into someone else’s Dream of grasping a ten rupee note.
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Buy my flag! Buy my flag! So that I can pull myself out of Searing flames of engine heat And hellish, gnawing need, So I can cool my face, Hide from the heavy weight Of the immovable sun, Retreat into some silent, Full-stomached sleep In a country of my own.
This poem consists of three stanzas. In the first stanza, the date ‘Fourteenth of August’ is the day when Pakistan came into existence. However, the poem neither mentions the background or history of this date nor does it tell its importance. Rather the date has been used to provide a certain context in which a boy is out of his home holding flags in his hands.
The underlying theme in the first two lines of the first stanza is quite opposed to the one present in the PTB textbooks. There, the students are strongly urged to remember and celebrate the national days every year – independence celebration is a norm. Here, the boy’s act of holding flags has been regarded as a surprise as the word ‘Still’ conveys to us. Its usage is quite connotative. Had it been removed, we would have a positive image of the boy. The lines represent him as a deviant from the norm – a vast majority of people
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who do not see glamour in it. The rest of the lines raise a number of questions about the boy’s own status: (a) Is the boy a real patriot who being out in a hot weather still celebrates and sees glamour in the flag? (b) Is the boy a poor flag-seller who still expects people will buy his flags? Answers to these questions if found in the next lines (in the third stanza) of the poem can indeed expose to us the major theme of the poem.
In the first four lines of the second stanza, the green flags containing stars represent independence. However, at the same time, considering them like ‘Fluttering like bunches of meaningless market wares’ does not create a positive image either of independence or of the flags held by the boy. Moreover, the whole stanza does not come up with what the green colour and star in the flag really symbolize in the Pakistani context i.e. green colour represents majority, white colour represents minority – Muslims and non-Muslims in Pakistan respectively – and star represents brightness. Contrary to it, the poem comes up with their worldly representations i.e. green and white colours stand for purity and peace respectively. Thus the OUP textbooks do not explain the Pakistani symbols such as flag purely in the Pakistani context. In this way, they seem to connect their readers with the world instead of Pakistan.
The last two lines of the second stanza put forward a philosophical view of ‘purity and peace’ which may have different implications for different persons in different situations. For instance, the full-stomached may perceive independence as a source of purity and peace; however, at the same time, the empty-stomached may regard it as a ‘Dream of
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grasping a ten rupee note.’ Simply, getting rid of hunger is more important for them (the poor) than celebrating independence.
The very first line of the third stanza i.e. ‘Buy my flag! Buy my flag!’ clarifies the social status of the boy – flag seller – and thus poverty becomes a more dominant theme in the poem than patriotism. Some of the phrases such as ‘searing flames’, ‘hellish, gnawing need’, ‘heavy weight’ and ‘immovable sun’ reflect a critical situation of the povertystricken people like this boy in Pakistan. Moreover, this pitiable situation also indirectly creates a negative image of the country the boy is living in. Rather the last line may be regarded as quite ironical – he cannot have a ‘Full-stomached sleep’ even in his own country.
In this poem, the theme of patriotism may rightly be regarded as secondary to poverty in the poem. A number of instances in the poem such as mentioning the date of fourteenth August, regarding flag as the symbol of independence, and finally regarding the colours of the flag as symbols of purity and peace are likely to inculcate the students with the feelings of patriotism.
I would like to conclude my discussion by saying that both the PTB and OUP textbooks are different from each other to a certain degree regarding the dissemination of nationalism and patriotism. The former ones contain more nationalistic contents than the latter ones. Similarly, the choice of certain words such as ‘the most remarkable days’ and ‘greatness’ for the national days, ‘great’ for the Quaid and ‘separate homeland’ for
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Pakistan show a great emphasis on the inculcation of nationalism and patriotism into the readers of the PTB textbooks. Quite importantly, the dominant theme in all of the nationalistic contents in the PTB textbooks is nationalism and patriotism. On the other hand, nationalism or patriotism is not a dominant theme in the nationalistic contents in the OUP textbooks. That is why, the results in the questionnaire (see chapter seven) show that the students from the government and non-elite schools are much more nationalistic or patriotic than their counterparts from the elite schools.
The competing discourses of the two textbooks may lead to systematic and planned bifurcation in the worldviews of the learners. The PTB learners are raised on a staple diet of Islamic, nationalist discourses with a high premium placed on martyrdom; hence they tend to be oblivious like ostriches to the real issues confronting Pakistan. Whereas the discourses in OUP textbooks representations are not only secular, they often tend to view Pakistan from an outsider’s perspective too, since most of the lessons are written by foreign writers.
4.6) Us and Them The presence and reinforcement of particular identities in the textbooks function not only to distinguish but also distance one from the others either on religious or geographical, social or cultural, ethnic or racial basis; hence, it is a social creation of distinctions, distances and alienations such as ‘this is mine’, ‘that is yours or theirs’, ‘I am this’ and ‘you or they are that’. The textbooks under analysis do not emphasize much upon differences lying between the social and ethnic groups in Pakistan. Rather they intend to
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suppress the differences and reinforce the similarities to create only one identity i.e. Islamic identity, against the other i.e. Hindu identity. It is attained by repeating a few basic messages in the textbooks as follows. The lesson is ‘The Great Leader: Quaid-eAzam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’ (PTB English 10, 2006, pp. 93-97).
In all these things our outlook is not only fundamentally different but it is opposed to the Hindus.
‘Outlook’ has been defined as ‘general attitude towards life and the world’ (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995, p. 1005-6). Not surprisingly, the Muslims and the Hindus look at life and the world differently like all other social communities of the world. However what catches our immediate attention are the use of ‘fundamentally’ and ‘opposed’ in the sentence; hence, what becomes now is ‘(the Hindus are) fundamentally different and opposed (to us)’. It indicates not only the intensity of distance and difference but also the element of enmity between (only) these two nations – other nations are excluded from this realm of relationship.
There is nothing in life that links us together.
The message has been intensified more through the metaphorical use of ‘link us’. It presents both the Muslims and the Hindus as inanimate objects, as they cannot move themselves to join each other. It again emphasizes upon the high degree of difference, distance and coldness between them. Moreover, ‘nothing in life’ implies that nothing is
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common (between us) to bring us close which, as indicates the word ‘life’, further implies ‘even not the relation of being human beings’. The next sentences come up with the elaboration of these differences:
Our names, our clothes, our food, our festivals, our rituals, they are all different.
The book mentions our things that differ with the Hindu culture; not theirs that differ with us. The inclusion of our things indicates emphasis and exclusion of their things indicates de-emphasis. Moreover, it does not mention the way/s they differ with the other culture. The things included are material (clothes and food) and abstract (names, festivals and rituals). So the Muslims are different from their counterparts physically as well as spiritually – in appearances and ideas – obviously then the practices they perform within the festivals and rituals are to be different automatically.
Our economic life, our educational ideas, our treatment of women, our attitude to animals, our humanitarian considerations are all very different.
The lines here widen the gulf between the Muslims and the Hindus. All the differences mentioned above are of abstract type. It suggests a different worldview. In other words, they think, learn, act, and behave very differently in keeping with their two extremely different worldviews. And then, to crown it all, the regular occurrence of the possessive pronoun ‘our’ intensifies the whole theme of the extract. Firstly, it overtly declares us
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(Muslims / Pakistanis) from head to toe a different nation but covertly it constructs us as the norm: a human species who are far better than the Hindus. And secondly, it implies that our things are ours, their things are theirs – nothing can be connected and shared (Zubair and Yaqoob, 2008, p. 175).
Along with the Hindus, we also find the negative description of the British though not as explicit as of the Hindus in the same lesson.
The motto of the Quaid, “Unity, Faith, Discipline” enabled the Muslims to achieve their goal against the combined and staunch opposition of the British Rule and the Hindu Majority.
To free the Muslims from the British and Hindu rule, he worked hard day and night, despite his failing health.
Unlike the previous instances, the lines do not focus upon the differences between us, the Muslims and the British. However, they do represent them as the others or outgroup like the Hindus on the basis of their opposition along with the Hindus to the struggle of the Muslims of the sub-continent ‘to achieve their goal’ i.e. Pakistan. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that the lines regard them not as much different from us as the Hindus are, however, consider them equal to the Hindus in enmity against us – both are our enemies. Further, the phrase ‘staunch opposition’ presents them as our staunch (worst) enemies. One more difference as indicated by the phrase ‘the British Rule and the Hindu Majority’ between the two enemies lies at the level of power – one has the power of rule
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(government) and the other one has the power of being in majority. Then what unites them or their powers against the Muslims is their common intention (i.e. do not free the Muslims). The textbooks thus present both of them (the enemies) as captors and us (the Muslims) as captives and, therefore, it was incumbent upon the leaders especially the Quaid to realize the gravity of the situation and make all-out efforts to free the Muslims. Moreover, freedom from the British and Hindu rule has been equated with the achievement of Pakistan. This means that the biggest hindrance in the way to achieving Pakistan were the British and the Hindus.
This in-group and out-group representation has shown profound effects on the learners’ worldview. The majority of the students particular from the government and non-elite schools students regard the Hindus and the Christians as their enemies in the questionnaire. The case in the elite schools is different. Most of their students do not regard them as their enemies. The reason for it is quite obvious i.e. the OUP textbooks do not portray the Hindus and the Christians as the enemies of the Muslims. However, this does not mean that these books are free from any positive in-group and negative outgroup representation. In fact, the difference between both the textbooks lies in the way they deal with the themes related to us-and-them representation. Unlike the PTB textbooks, the OUP textbooks do not represent the others as enemies; however, they do create a negative image of others through a negative description of the things related to them, for instance, culture, education, places and so on. It is worth mentioning that the Pakistanis and the Blacks have been predominantly dealt with as others; and, the present
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research therefore reasonably focuses only on these two races’ negative representation in these textbooks.
The following instances have been taken from the lesson ‘Black Boy’ (OUP 1: 159-60):
The shop was always crowded with black men and women pawing over cheap suits and dresses. And they paid whatever price the white man asked.
The boss, his son and the clerk treated the Negroes with open contempt, pushing, kicking or slapping them.
We find in these lines two races of people quite opposed to each other. The difference has been developed in many aspects: physical, financial and facial. The so-called black people have been portrayed physically helpless and weak in the third and second line where three white men (the boss, his son and their clerk) treated them ‘with open contempt, pushing and kicking or slapping them’ and the black people had to pay ‘whatever price the white men asked’. Secondly, the first line that shows the black people ‘pawing over cheap suits and dresses’ presents them as financially weak. The same can also be inferred from ‘The shop was always crowded with black men and women…’ that they cannot afford to go to other shops to buy expensive clothes. Finally, naming or calling someone ‘black’ after his or her colour implies s/he is not one of us; hence, negative out-group representation. To crown this all, the use of the word ‘pawing’ for the black men and women presents them as animals.
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Contrary to this all, the same sentences implicitly portray the white men strong, rich and powerful. For instance, the white men are rich for they own the shop; they are strong for they push, kick and slap the black men; and they are beautiful for they have white complexion. The lesson also contains some hidden racial differences for which the readers will have to read between the lines. I mean we should also see what images ‘black’ and ‘white’ as colours convey. Black stands for ‘ugliness’, ‘darkness’, ‘evil’, ‘mourning’,
‘death’,
‘impurity’,
‘illegality’,
‘sadness/grief’,
‘gloom’,
‘hatred’,
‘untidiness’, ‘anger’; whereas the white colour stands for ‘innocence’, ‘peace’, ‘light’, ‘cleanliness’, ‘beauty’, ‘simplicity’, ‘purity’, ‘chastity’, ‘legality’ etc. We see that the word ‘black’ not only points towards the colour but also to many other socially constructed concepts attached with it. They all combine to create an extremely negative image of the Afro-Caribbean people in a stark contrast to what is created by the word ‘white’ for the white people. In other words, it is the creation of distance – us and them – through discourse between the two races.
Apart from distinguishing the two races in terms of their skin-colours, there are also some other ideological social constructions that denote negative representation of the other in the textbook.
Wanna drink, boy? ‘Yes, sir’. ‘Nigger…’Ain’t you learned to say sir to a white man yet?’ ‘Aw, leave the bastard alone.
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‘Well, walk, you black sonofa – ’
The words ‘Nigger’ and ‘black’ have been used to address a boy from a particular race in a way as they are his identities opposed to ours. Where the words ‘boy’, ‘bastard’ and ‘sonofa’ degrade or attach negative attributions with his identity, they also indicate the white men’s derogatory attitude towards an Afro-Caribbean boy. Verkuyten (2005) observes that ‘Discrimination in society is something people talk about, and it is the way in which it is talked about that performs a variety of social functions, with different social consequences’ (p. 67).
The purpose of the construction of such our-and-their identities through discourses seems not only to distinguish one race from the other but also creates the difference of status and position on the basis of attributions attached to them in a society. Moreover, these identities offer certain limitations as well as liberties to different races regarding social functions. For instance, the identities such as ‘Negro’ and ‘Nigger’ are not likely to give much freedom and authority to the Afro-Caribbean race to call themselves ‘White’ or pay back the White’s inhuman treatment in the same coin as described above. Thus discourse imparts different degrees of power to different races by constructing their social identities on the basis of us and them. These identities are (abstract) boundaries for they simultaneously declare certain social functions as taboos to one race and non-taboos to the other.
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The categories of backgrounding and foregrounding can help us compare the two races in terms of representation. Generally, negative out-group representation declares the others as inferior in the foreground and declares us superior in the background in the lines mentioned above. The textbooks give the same ideologically unbalanced representation to other races as well, for instance, the Pakistanis or Pakistan and the Indians or India (see lesson 3 in unit 1 in OUP 1 and lesson 5 in unit 2 in OUP 2 respectively). Historically, Britain colonized the sub-continent from 1857 to 1947 and during that time the British government not only demeaned the culture of the Muslims and the Hindus but also excluded it to a certain extent from the textbooks. The British textbooks presented its culture as ‘the superior’ and the other cultures as ‘the inferior’. Even after the independence on 14th August 1947, the residue of this ideology has not been examined critically enough in the study of education. To date, this ideology is so deeply embedded in Pakistani conceptions that it is considered to be natural in everyday life.
In the following instances, we may clearly observe how the textbooks implicitly construct a dominant ideology about Pakistan through their representations.
The universities here are good, but there is nothing like a foreign education. All my friends have sent their children abroad and they come back during their holidays, full educated, wearing such nice-nice clothes. It is such a pleasure to see them acting all cultured. (OUP 2: 56)
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As mentioned in the lesson, here is a Pakistani mother comparing Pakistan and England in the field of education. Though the Pakistani universities have been apparently acknowledged in these lines, they stand nowhere before the English ones in comparison – the latter one dominates the former one completely in providing quality and standard education to people as implied by the noun-phrase ‘nothing like a foreign education’. Similarly, regarding the output of education, foreign education outdoes the indigenous (Pakistani) one in imparting civilized manners to people regarding clothing and behaviour. In short, the universities in Pakistan lacks in two things: partially in providing quality education and completely in imparting cultured manners.
We must not neglect some of the presuppositions here: the Pakistani universities can in no way compete with the foreign ones; people do not wish to educate their children in Pakistan; education in Pakistan has no standard; and the educated Pakistanis are not wellread and cultured. The word ‘cultured’ has been used quite connotatively and, therefore, needs our attention. Firstly, it seems to be used for the ideas, beliefs, or customs of a particular society i.e. English. Secondly, it also seems to be used for (English) art, music, literature etc. As a matter of fact, more than the latter one – knowledge, it is the former one – practices – that have been appreciated in the lines. Thus the English culture, or let me call it English life style, has been shown dominating the indigenous one.
‘In fact, most of the students who are rich enough to go abroad and study don’t even return. They get fancy jobs and say to themselves, ‘‘Oh, how can we return to Pakistan, that hell-hole, where we can’t go to cafes and the
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cinema, where there are no bookshops and the streets aren’t paved.’’ (OUP 2: 60)
In the previous lines, most of the words refer to England to create a positive image of her in the foreground and a negative one of Pakistan in the background. Conversely, in the present lines, mostly the words refer to Pakistan to create a strongly negative image of her in the foreground and a strongly positive image of England in the background. A number of points simultaneously create a positive and a negative image of England and Pakistan respectively. For instance, people wish to go abroad and do not want to return to Pakistan; they are able to get better jobs in England than they can have in Pakistan; and as compared to Pakistan, they have more everyday-life facilities in England; hence, the people have been shown so fed up with Pakistan that those who can afford going abroad do avail this opportunity – everyone is waiting for a chance.
Moreover, ‘hell-hole’ has been used as a metaphor for Pakistan – Pakistan is a hole of hell. In contrast to it, it must be assumed that England or West is a heaven-hole. To be exact, Pakistan has been presented as a hell and England or West as a heaven. Thus the image created is that Pakistan is a damned and unbearable place where people do not wish to live in and even those who do, are living a miserable life. Though the lines apparently mention a few demerits of Pakistan (that we have discussed above) yet the ideological use of the metaphor ‘hell-hole’ (for Pakistan) leaves the other unmentioned or unlimited possibilities of negative images associated with hell-hole, to the imagination of the readers to visualize at will.
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What we perceive from the above-mentioned lines is the image of a developing, dependent and dominated Pakistan. It will not be wrong to point out that the previous instances reflect a social dominance whereas the present lines reflect an economic dominance of England or the West over Pakistan. Social dominance has been conveyed in two ways: firstly, the Pakistanis practise the English culture and, secondly, England offer more social liberty to her citizens than Pakistan. I have raised the latter point because the words ‘…where we can’t go to cafes and the cinema…’ imply that the people in Pakistan are not allowed to go to such entertainment centres or going to cafes and cinemas is somewhat like a social taboo. Finally, the economic dominance of England has been implied by the implication that England is economically strong enough to provide such basic facilities of life to its citizens which Pakistan cannot.
The dominance of England or the West over Pakistan has not been conveyed only in the social and economic fields, it has also been done through the description of certain characters and places in the textbooks. The English men have been shown more skilled, brave, educated than the Pakistanis. Similarly, the Pakistani places have not been described positively. They have been depicted as dirty, filthy, chaotic etc. We may observe this aspect in the following examples.
The stooping figure of my mother…was the last I saw of my country home as I left it to discover the world. (OUP 1: 3)
…despite handicaps women like Angelica Kauffmann in the eighteenth century, Mary Cassatt, Marie Laurencin, Georgia O’ Keefe, Laura Knight
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and Ethel Walker in the nineteenth and twentieth, besides many hundreds less well-known who have shown their works in exhibitions in every capital of the world, have demonstrated their abilities as artists. (OUP 2: 94)
Few people have entered the centre of a thunderstorm unprotected, and lived to tell of it. One of them was a US pilot, William H. Rankin, a decorated veteran of two wars. (OUP 1: 60)
Captain MacWhirr could catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as ebony, the tops of the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of the covered winches, the foot of a mast. (OUP 1: 66)
British Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent had a scare on Friday when his gold medal and briefcase went missing at the Heathrow Airport. (OUP 1: 73)
The English characters may clearly be seen occupying different high positions or professions of social life and the abilities required for them. They have been presented as ‘artists’, ‘pilot’, ‘captain’, ‘Olympic rower’ and many more (in the textbooks). Though not all the English characters occupy high social positions in the textbooks as some characters do occupy low positions as well yet their percentage of occupying such (high) positions is quite higher than the other Pakistani or Indian characters that do not possess even a single such position .Similarly, the former ones are lower in number than the latter ones in occupying low positions in the textbooks.
It may be argued that the Pakistani learners are likely to take these ideological representations for granted. They are expected to automatically think of the English men
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as more brave, skilled, intelligent, hardworking and professional than themselves. To be exact, we are completely dominated and they are completely dominant. This is what we call the hidden and discursive ideologies of the textbooks. We may now look at how the Pakistanis and the Indians have been represented in the textbooks.
What action had the police taken when the bakery in Sakinaka, where he (Yasin (a Muslim)) had worked, had been set on fire? (OUP 2: 34-5)
The watchman (an Indian) stood on the tank bund and took a final survey. (OUP 2: 76)
Her (mother’s) grandparents, like my father’s, had been conscripted for the British colonial sugar armies in 1985…My mother…had been kept waiting in a queue for ‘Illiterates’. (OUP 1: 7)
Two miles short of Pir Pindo the cart-driver (Imam Din) prods us awake with his whip. (OUP 1: 74)
His (a Pakistani weaver’s) fingers blunt with wool labour at the ancient contraption to the scurry of a rat. (OUP 1: 95)
There were master craftsmen in Lahore who specialized in making different varieties of kites. I can still recall the names of famous kite masters: Pahlwan, Rato and Khushia. (OUP 1: 132)
Unlike the English persons, the Pakistani and the Indian ones occupy here such social positions or professions as are low in dominance and value. For instance, they have been
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shown as baker, watchman, soldiers in the British army, illiterate, cart-driver, weaver and kite-makers. Moreover, in the previous instances, all the persons except the first one have been mentioned with their names but here half of the Pakistani and Indian persons i.e. three out of six, have not been named. It seems that they have not been considered important enough to be named, and their personal identity is of lesser significance than their professional identity in the social hierarchy. We can also say that the textbooks have consciously avoided giving them a personalized identity to create a weak image of the low-paid professions. This interpretation is further strengthened by the fact that both the textbooks do not contain even a single name of any famous personality of Pakistan and India.
It is important to note that certain professions require certain abilities. Therefore, it is natural to think that persons representing high professions are likely to have higher abilities than those having low professions. Similarly, the former ones are likely to outdo the latter ones in performance. The textbooks show the Pakistanis and the Indians representing petty professions to construct a poor image of them and their abilities – they are less intelligent, competent and skilled than the English persons – the English men thus dominate them in positions, professions and abilities.
In the next instances, we may see that dominance is also constructed through a positive and negative description of places / cities.
A social canvas in some dusty book,
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The hidden secrets of a nation in pain. We are driving through the streets of Karachi. (OUP 1: 26)
Filthy with dust, exhausted, we roll into Wagah, a village halfway to Amritsar. (OUP 1: 74)
There had been riots in the city for the last four days…Bombay was overflowing with hot news and hot blood… (OUP 2: 33)
The lines describe Karachi (a city of Pakistan), Wagah (a village of India) and Bombay (a city of India) in a certain way. Certain adjectives and nouns such as ‘dusty book’, ‘hidden secrets’ and ‘pain’ (in the first sentence), ‘filthy’ and ‘dust’ (in the second sentence) and ‘riots’ and ‘hot blood’ (in the third sentence) have been used to describe the places in a way that implicitly construct a negative image of the two countries. In the last instance, we can observe that the textbooks refer to a violent situation of a city (Bombay) to show the country (India) in a complete turmoil. Thus as these cities represent Pakistan and India, the images constructed about them also refer to their respective countries.
In contrast to it, the description of the Western places is quite positive.
Months of restless unease, leading to this inevitable moment, had been spent wandering about the hills, mournfully whistling, and watching the high open fields stepping away eastwards under gigantic clouds…And now I was on my journey…Naturally, I was going to London…(OUP 1: 3)
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Happy childhood summers were spent at grandmother’s ivy-covered house in the hills near the city of Cork in South-west Ireland. (OUP 2: 48)
Unlike the Pakistani and the Indian places, here London and the city of Cork in Southwest Ireland have been regarded as worth living. It may clearly be assumed from the somewhat poetic description of one’s impatient longing for the journey to England. The tranquility, peace, natural serenity, and calmness present in the second line are not found in the previous instances. What we found there is a dirty, filthy, and violent picture of the two countries that claimed them to be not worth living.
I may conclude my discussion by saying that the ‘O’ Level textbooks contain certain ideological representations. These representations implicitly reinforce and maintain the dominance of the West over Pakistan and India by constructing an image of superiority and inferiority respectively. The Western places, people, their professional abilities and skills have been represented in such ways as seem to be superior to or dominating the other (Pakistani and Indian) ones. Their presence in the books being taught in the Pakistani schools is indeed to make the learners cherish the Western things – the superior ones – and distance themselves from their indigenous ones – the inferior ones. The influence of this ideology on the elite-class learners’ perception can be observed well in the statistical results where majority of them have shown a preference for living in the Western countries (see chapter seven).
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4.7) Status of English The OUP and PTB English textbooks describe English as the most important language though in their own styles. The former ones openly regard English as a matter of survival whereas the latter ones implicitly consider it important for success. Ideologically, more than a means of communication it has been introduced as a means of power, superiority, modernity and success through different arguments. For example, in the following extracts from the lesson ‘The Signature’ (OUP 1: 7-10), English has been introduced as a way of life.
My mother did not think that the old language would help her children survive in the new ways of the modern world.
The sentence raises a number of points that indirectly speak volumes about the value of English in the world. Though the name of the language i.e. English has not been mentioned in these lines yet the context and the noun phrase ‘the old language’ being used against the background of another language – the new language – implicitly informs about its presence. The value of English has been conveyed to the readers through a touchy, caring and loving attitude of a mother. Moreover, the word ‘mother’ also indicates the age and experience of a woman. In other words, a woman who is mother is appreciably expected to make a right choice about her children’s future due to her vast experiences of life.
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It would be better to look at some presuppositions and assumptions before exploring the underlying ideology of the sentence. The whole sentence presupposes that his (the writer’s) mother thought that the new language would help her children survive in the new ways of the modern world. Then ‘…the old language would (not) help her children survive in the new ways of the modern world’ presupposes that the old language could help her children survive in the old ways of the old world. Similarly, we can also observe three existential assumptions in the sentence: firstly, there is a new language in the world; secondly, there is a modern world; and finally, there is life and existence. Hence, the under lying message is to feel the presence of a new language in the world for life and existence (survival).
Keeping all of these assumptions and presuppositions, we can argue that the English language has been approved because it brings survival for the fittest –the ones who discard old languages and opt for English. Thus making a choice about a language is a matter of life and death. This is what the line seems to convey. Relating English to survival indicates that the old language being unable to cope with the modern trends leads to death. Similarly, as ‘the new ways’ have set in ‘the modern world’, the old language and the old ways (values, traditions, ideas etc) must be regarded as ‘gone are the days’ – the new generation must discard them. Compared to it, English has been presented as the only (successful) language of the modern world. In short, the underlying ideology of the lesson or line is to say ‘good bye’ to old language, old world and ways and say ‘welcome’ to the new world. In this regard, English is the only way that can lead to the new world.
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Introducing English as new and modern should also be seen as an effort to seek hegemony and universalize its status – globalization. This situation is likely to spread not only the language but also its worldview in the whole world – globalization is not limited to language only. It is coming in every field whether education or profession, religion or business. Therefore, the societies in the whole world are likely to accept the influence of the globalization coming through language in almost every field of life. This is of course an ideological work of English and it will continue until or unless the indigenous languages fail to understand that ‘…there is a relative autonomy for institutions, communities, and subjects to work out alternative meanings, statuses, and uses for the discourses intended to dominate them’ (Canagarajah 1999: 208).
What we have discussed so far especially about the approval and disapproval of the new and the old language respectively is quite evident in the next line.
She knew that she had to choose the road to modernization and in us had given up the old ways for everything English, which was the way of life.
As we have discussed earlier, here again, English has been presented as the only road to ‘modernization’. The word ‘road’ is, in fact, a metaphor for English. An analysis of this metaphor can bring more insights into the assumed value of English. Though ‘road’ may have different deeper meanings and connotations in different societies yet generally all of us choose road in our journey for various reasons. For instance, the journey on road is fast and secure for usually we do not face any hurdles and barriers on it. We go fast on road because we usually wish to reach our destination in no time – road saves time.
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Similarly, we choose road for security in our journey not only for us but also for our vehicles – road provides security. Then, road is also a symbol of progress, development and prosperity. It is a symbol of strength, smoothness and symmetry as well. In short, the purpose of comparing English to road in the textbook is to make the learners realize its benefits as well as importance. Arguably, the implicit message over here is that progress, survival, and power without English is out of question.
The mother is then shown making a right decision – choosing English for her children. In order to get maximum benefits from it she did not let the old language and its values become a part of their minds. It means she regards them as quite opposed to English or at least as barriers and hurdles in the way to English. Moreover, she has become ready to part from the old language and values for she finds only English as a way of life and a code of life. Moreover, the new and modern world exists along with different challenges and demands and all of these are totally different from the old world. In this regard, only a modern language like English can help us meet these modern challenges and demands.
The use of some of the noun phrases such as ‘the old language’ and ‘the old ways’ is quite connotative and ambiguous. It is because the lesson does not mention them by name. One may think of Latin that precedes English. However, the others may argue that as the lines present English to have emerged in the world as a new, modern and superior language; therefore, all other languages and cultures that come in its way are old and inferior. In simple words, English and its culture are superior to all other languages and cultures of the world.
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It is important to note that the OUP textbooks put much emphasis not only upon the learning of English but also upon the culture embedded in it. It means both the phenomena are equally important and, therefore, focusing on either one is not likely to bring the desired results. They need both the language and its culture in order to cope with the modern world. Being not simplistic, it also means that the textbooks intend to bring not partial but a complete change in the learners’ behaviour as well as cognition. Obviously, the output of these textbooks will be such products in the elite schools who are Western in nature and behaviour to a great extent and this is what the present research brings out. This reminds of Macaulay’s minute on education (1835): the teaching of English in India under the British Raj! Truly, the policies have not changed at all. During the Raj, the British used English to further their imperialistic ambition, similarly in today’s Pakistan the legacy continues through the anglicized elite. Macaulay wanted to produce a class of Indians who were Indian by birth and race but English in tastes to govern the masses, and to ensure the smooth functioning of the British administration through a bureaucracy trained in English.
On the other hand, the PTB textbooks emphasize only the learning of English as a language. They are nothing to do with the English culture as discussed in the section of ‘Representation of Cultures’. Though, unlike the OUP textbooks, we do not find enough material (both in quality and quantity) related to importance of English in these textbooks, the following instances and the status of English as a compulsory and official language of the country should be enough to assume the importance of English in Pakistan. These lines have been taken from the lesson ‘Letter Writing’ (PTB 10: 73).
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I feel very happy to inform you (father) that my performance in the paper of English was very good.
This line has been taken from a letter written by a daughter to her father telling him about her performance in the paper of English. Writing someone about your performance in English is itself evidence that English is a very important subject for you; most probably, as much important as science subjects. Similarly, the parents keeping its importance in mind expect their children to do equally well in the paper of English – English should not be neglected. It may be reasonably argued that English has been considered more important than any other subject in the letter for the writer writes only about English. Moreover, the use of adverbs before adjectives with positive attributions in ‘feel(ing) very happy’ and ‘very good (performance)’ does the same function. They convey high satisfaction to the ones waiting anxiously to know about the English paper. The next lines explain her performance.
I attempted all the questions and was able to finish writing the paper in time. It is really a reward of the blessings of God, your prayers and my hard work that I am hopeful of getting good marks.
She was able to perform well in the paper because she ‘attempted all the questions’, ‘finish(ed) writing…in time’ received ‘prayers’ and did “hard work’. The purpose of this performance and, similarly, the parents’ expectation from her is only one i.e. ‘good marks’. It should be important to see what benefits ‘good marks’ can bring in for one
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after the secondary examination in the Pakistani context: (a) they improve division / grade (b) they help in securing admission in a good institute for further education (c) they reflect that one is good at English. Now we are in a position to say that the government and non-elite schools students in Pakistan learn English only for pragmatic purposes. They have no aspirations for adopting its culture. This is because high division, high degree, and proficiency in English help in finding good jobs. Thus the over all purpose of making efforts to secure good marks in English is to be able to get a good job in the future.
Interestingly, learning of English for survival in the world takes on different meanings for different social classes. Mostly the lower and middle classes learn English to find jobs – job is survival – whereas the elite class learns it to occupy the powerful positions and be familiar with the Western culture to cope with the modern world being controlled by the centre (West) – power is survival. Importantly, it is thus clear that both the PTB and OUP textbooks present English as a thing must for survival. Importantly, apart from these textbooks ideologies, English is portrayed as the language of science, technology, trade and, above all, as a language of the world in Pakistan. It has become a dream of every Pakistani to learn it and to attain a near-native or at least an adequate command of the language. That is why the government and non-elite schools students in spite of being likely to remain ever on the losing end because they cannot be as much proficient in English as their counterparts from the elite schools are due to different reasons, cannot help supporting it. The research shows (see questionnaire results in chapter seven) that mostly all the three types of schools’ students do not agree with the abolition of English
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in the country. The students in the government, non-elite and elite schools with the percentage of 74, 88 and 82 respectively favour English language teaching in the country.
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