Regionaliseringar av Afrika inom regionalgeografin : Exempel från regionalgeografiska läroböcker

Sammanfattning: Early in the bachelor’s degree program in Geography, the students learn that maps should be seen as a subjective visualization of the world, rather than the actual world itself. Although this is essential forfurther analysis, especially in Geography, cartographers often commit the crime of not arguing for their choice of what is being showed; what colours are being used; what objects represents reality and why they have characterized and regionalized the areas as they have. In the studies of Regional Geography one could expect that there are discussions about this issue, since the aim of the disciplineis to split the world into smaller regions. This is especially important when it comes to studies of Africa, since it historically has been a continent that has endured regionalizations with great consequences for the understanding of its geography, from the age of colonialism to today. Therefore, this thesis examined the regionalization of Africa in textbooks used in Regional Geography, to study how Africa is regionalized today and what the motives are for these regions. The result showed that regionalizations of Africa are often made by ill-based assumptions of the continent’s geography, much like those from the colonial period. But today there is a growing focuson world religion and especially Islam, in the cartographers’ search for regions and their characteristics. Although the proportion of Christians or Muslims in different regions are true, these features often make a weak base for further geographical analysis. This is particularly troublesome when none of the books have discussions of the map as the author’s subjective view of the world. Thus, these textbooks could be used as a tool for political opinion, which should be taken into accountin the education of new geographers.