Shades of Bias: Colorism in Pakistan’s Textbooks

Abstract

The current paper includes a critical analysis of the Pakistani textbooks on skin colour representation and the way in which colorism shapes student perception of race, class, and identity. The ideology of colorism, grounded in the colonialist ideology, still affects the social perception of the world, as the light-skinned individuals are identified with privilege and the dark-skinned individuals are related to inferiority. The study utilizes content analysis and survey data to examine the depiction of skin tone in Urdu, Social Studies and English textbooks in Grade 1-10. The findings also show that there is a high correlation of skin tone to character roles, dark-skinned characters played negative roles whereas light-skinned characters played positive character roles. These associations are significant as indicated by Chi-Square and ANOVA tests. The results of the surveys on 300 students and 50 teachers indicate a great level of awareness about the impact of these representations on self-perception and social identity of students. The article highlights the necessity of educational reforms in the area to promote diversity and inclusiveness.