臺灣高中歷史教科書裡的克里斯托弗‧哥倫布──一個批判性的分析

Christopher Columbus in Senior High School History Textbooks in Taiwan: A Critical Analysis

在教育的範疇裡，教科書的採用建立了一個威權式的方法傳遞官方認可的知識。本研究以學校知識社會學和批判理論為基礎，探究7本高中歷史教科書對於歷史人物克里斯托弗．哥倫布的描繪。理論架構與資料分析採用批判論述分析法（critical discourse analysis），並將研究資料分別進行語言分析、互文性分析及權力關係的分析。研究發現，臺灣教科書在評論哥倫布時，傾向以歐洲中心論的歷史傳統為主軸，進而忽略了美洲原住民的觀點以及哥倫布一行人抵達美洲後帶給當地的毀滅性影響。因在有限的篇幅裡要完整且詳細的介紹歷史有其困難度，筆者建議納入多元觀點、佐以稍微複雜的描繪方式，提供並訓練學子們多方思考的機會與能力。

In education, the adoption of textbooks establishes an authoritative means to transmit and deliver official knowledge. Guided by the tenets of sociology of school knowledge and critical theories (e.g., Althusser's ideology and Williams' selective tradition), this study focused on the investigation of representations of the historical figure Christopher Columbus in seven senior high school history textbooks in Taiwan. The research involved an analysis of how the explorer is introduced and whether the textual depictions can cross the border of power relations to provide another story that differs from the mainstream story presented in the United States. Critical discourse analysis was adopted as a theoretical framework as well as an analytic strategy to undertake a three-layered analysis involving linguistic analysis, intertextual analysis, and an analysis of power relations. The research concluded that the Eurocentric historical tradition of assessing Columbus is still favored. The voices of the Native people are muted, and the devastating effects initiated by the explorer and his crewmen through their voyages to the Americas are ignored. Although presenting an extensive detailed version of history is not possible in textbooks, the incorporation of a more complicated illustration with multiple points of view is feasible and essential.