The representation of the Islam in the manuals: for a review of the curriculum in intercultural direction

Abstract

The significant presence of students from muslim-majority countries leads
to questions about how to recognize their specificity. With the increasing
aware of the need to define a cross-cultural teaching that starts from the
curriculum, it should be acknowledged that the first and essential step to
make regards the deconstruction of the knowledge that is being transmitted
at school. The manuals, in fact, despite the aura of veracity and objectivity
of which they are characterized, convey a stereotypical and retrograded
image of the Islam. Such representation can create a sort of a “symbolic
marginalization” towards muslim students, in sharp contrast with what the
school aims for, that is inclusion.