Education and identity: textbooks as epistemological battleground in Jamaica

As an undergraduate anthropology lecturer committed to a decolonial pedagogical approach, I have noticed that my students think little about issues related to race and identity. I am therefore interested in how race, culture, and identity are engaged academically in the pre-university years. Understanding education as hegemonic and selective, and textbooks as a critical agent for communicating the ideals of that hegemon, I investigate whether white supremacist epistemology is transmitted through Jamaican and Caribbean secondary school textbooks. An assessment of 20 texts reveals that some reflect the battle between colonial and decolonial discourses and epistemologies that mirrors Jamaican society writ large. Recommendations include using more culturally sensitive, decolonial pedagogical practices and textbooks to stimulate racialized self-confidence and pave the way for an emancipated Jamaica.