Affiliation:
1. State University of New York at Canton
Abstract
This essay examines essentialist representation of Hispanic peoples and cultures in three textbooks, Spanish for Secondary Schools (1961), Mi Historia Universal (1978), and Civilización y Cultura (1993). Those textbooks tend to portray Hispanics as one-dimensional characters that are defined by their essences rather than by their historical and sociological context. The stereotypes found in the textbooks tend to naturalize privilege, perpetuate economic inequalities, and conceal the exploitative aims of imperialism. These stereotypes are less prevalent now thanks in part to the contributions of postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said.