This research project investigates how diversity and gender equality have been represented in textbook illustrations in the Canadian province of Québec. It will compare illustrations produced in the 1960s, when the province went through one of its most significant cultural shifts, known as the Quiet Revolution, with those produced in the 2010s. The objective of this investigation is to see how cultural shifts can be perceived in the form of visuals intended for elementary school children and how they work as a window to the understanding of a changing society. Representation, feminism, immigration, tolerance and acceptance are recurrent themes discussed in this project.
Also, this project aims to bring the discussion of the use of illustration for educational purposes to the field of design. A recent surge in research papers that debate the importance of diverse literature and textbooks for children shows an increasing interest in the topic. However, the scholars writing those papers belong to the fields of the social sciences, child psychology and pedagogy, but not to design.
This project advocates for designers’ active participation in building knowledge about diversity in children’s literature and textbook illustration. Considering how designers have an active role in the production of books and how papers analyzing diversity in children’s books may at some point critique the outcome of graphic designers’ and illustrators’ work, research from a design perspective becomes necessary.
Keywords: textbook, graphic design, illustration, education, diversity, multiculturalism