Abstract
The year 1989 is believed to be one of the crucial landmarks in the development of Czech society in the 20th century. The fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia brought with it major transformations of almost all important aspects of Czech society at that time.
The paper discusses the impact of these changes on education during the period of the so called post-totalitarian transformation of society. Using the example of Northwest Bohemia, changes in the intentional as well unintentional modes of representation of regional specifics and identity in geography textbooks are analyzed and discussed.
Particular attention is given to the comparison of means used for the formation of a certain regional image before and after 1989. In the study of the content of the textbooks used primarily in elementary education, methods of discursive (in the case of text) and content (in the case of pictures) analysis are applied.
Formation of regional identity and images is a continual process which is influenced by the whole array of inner and outer factors. The identity of Northwest Bohemia has transformed significantly following the changes in political regime of the state after 1989 as well as did the social and discursive practice of presentation of information and knowledge.
In the textbooks from the Communist period emphasis was put on the adoration of manual labour, industrial production, socialist ideas, and progress. The underrepresentation of regional differences and resulting presentation of regions as more or less equal is also visible.
On the opposite, textbooks published after 1989 mention also problems of regional development, environmental degradation caused by industrial activities in particular. Themes of quality of environment, nature conservation, benefits of free market are even more highlighted.
Thus a new set of norms or a new way of seeing is being presented to the users of the textbooks that reflects contemporary societal practice and cultural values.