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He also states, “there is no point in creating some kind of theoretical opposition between
‘meanings made by the text’ and ‘meanings made by the user of the text’ ” (Reitstaetter et al.,
2005, p. 3). This is an interesting point that refutes the sometimes perceived necessity (as
evidenced in Fairclough’s work) of understanding through analysis the relationship a reader
has to a text. Given the positioning of this project as an investigation of discourses of British
heritages and Indigenous representations in Queensland school History textbooks across
historical eras, participating in an argument of the importance of understanding the reader’s
engagement with the text is not relevant. However, it is important for this project to be aware
of such criticisms, and being concerned about the meaning a reader gives to a text (in this
case, students and teachers to textbooks) demonstrates potential for a future study which
broadens the scope of this project. The criticism (above) made towards a text-centred
approach is not in isolation to other researchers of CDA, and Verschueren writes, “the big
issue for any critical approach to language use is the fact that in this world of communication
almost nothing is ever exactly what it looks like…communication is basically about
‘meaning’, and meaning is an intangible phenomenon” (2001, p. 61).
Finally, in accepting that visual representations feature in increasing quantity, it can also be
accepted that with different modes of communicating, “…it has become impossible to read
texts reliably by paying attention to written language alone…” (Kress et al., 1997, p. 257).
Visual analysis provides the tool for deconstructing images and in this way aligns CDA and
visual analysis.
3.6 Introduction to Historical Methodology
The history methodology presented here, builds on the review of constructions of national
history and identities begun in Appendix A: Contexts which situated the project within its
contemporary historical context; and continued in Chapter 2: Literature Review where a
review of the use of history methodologies in existing literature of studies on textbooks took
place. Here, its methodological use in this project is detailed, contextualised within a broader
bricolage approach. The seemingly perennial question, what is history? is addressed in this
research by first consulting the seminal work of E.H. Carr who views history as belonging
within a temporal knowledge of the construction of the past, writing:
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