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powerful groups may also otherwise be more or less dominated in discourse. At virtually
each level of the structures of text and talk, therefore, their freedom of choice may be
restricted by dominant participants” (2001b, p. 304). This makes accessing resistant texts
important so that an analysis which incorporates a variety of perspectives can occur. This can
then be linked with practices of subjugated groups taking on the persona expected by the
‘coloniser’ as a way of being acculturated. Price explains, practices that “…suggest a
determinism in which the subject takes up and acts out the role prescribed for it by a
discourse” (1999, p. 583). Therefore, the resistant text/s selected for each era acts as way to
explicitly demonstrate alternative perspectives made available (albeit usually marginally) to
students.
In considering the inclusion of fringe content within school curriculum documents, the work
of Gramsci again becomes relevant in terms of looking at hegemonic power discourses
operating within these texts through his theory of limited hegemony (Gramsci, 1971; Hall
1988; S. Jones, 2006). Related to his work on government leadership in its original context, it
is applied to this research as a way to explain that the inclusion of fringe content in textbooks
is determined by those who control curriculum content. Where Gramsci’s theory of limited
hegemony fits is when fringe content is included only to silence or coerce certain groups to
believe that their views are taken seriously and incorporated into the school curriculum.
However, as S. Jones points out where limited hegemony is concerned, “…the hegemonic
class fail[s] to genuinely adopt the interests of the popular classes and simply
neutralize[s]…them” (p. 52). In addition Gandlin, drawing directly on the work of Apple sees
the continual activity of maintaining hegemony once established as:
In order to form a bloc, an alliance, the dominant classes constantly build bridges
between the different, and sometimes conflicting, interests. So, the process of
guaranteeing hegemony is not just a matter of conquering (and maintaining)
ideological leadership over the social formation where the bloc operates, but also
keeping the bloc together.
Therefore, hegemony is neither guaranteed from the start nor everlasting once
it is achieved. (2006, p. 195)
Examples of where fringe or resistant content takes place in History curriculum are explored
in the data analysis stages of the research.
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