Discourses of race and gender and the comparative method in geography school texts 1830 - 1918

School texts on geography are an important but neglected repository of geographical knowledge and representations within the historiography of geography. During the period 1830-1918 geography school texts were influenced by European exploration, church sponsors of education, the mediation of religious and scientific explanation of the natural world, popular images of empire, and state education codes, grants, and inspections. These factors combined in differing degrees over the period studied to reflect hegemonic views of gender, race, and class. The comparative method, popularised as a means of transmitting geographical knowledge in this period, frequently resulted in methodological Eurocentrism, or specifically Anglo-ccntrism, and memory exercises instilled necessarily simplistic messages about geographical and political relations. Pupil-centred approaches, such as the use of adventure stories and family life as ciphers for geographical understanding, often served to masculinise the content of texts. State legislation for grant-related examinations served to homog-enise the content of texts. Introduction Geography school texts in the 19th century and early 20th century form an important component in the geographical discourse of the period, linking the work of academics, learned societies, travellers, educationalists, and publishers with the geographical imagi-nations of children at home and in schools. They are not only a fascinating repository of contemporary geographical knowledge, but also of approaches to teaching, textual and cultural practices, and as such, frequently incorporate values and norms current at the time of writing. Therefore these texts are a part not only of the geographical and educational arena but also of the wider political and social discourses of the time, either reflecting prevailing or emerging establishment values and ideals, which could be described as hegemonic, or alternative or oppositional/counterhegemonic discourses. My own interest in school geography, and texts in particular, as part of the historiogra-phy of geography stems in part from having taught geography in schools at a time when the current UK National Curriculum was being defined and implemented, with attendant debates on content, ideology, and subsequent impact on the shape of school texts. The general absence of discussion of school texts in the historiography of geography is a specific aspect of the broader neglect of the study of educational geography as a significant part of the production, dissemination, and reception of geographical knowledge. This omission is serious, as school texts were an important outlet for the dissemination of geographical ideas. Authors of geographical texts included fellows of the geographical societies, the emerging professional geographers …