ABSTRACT
This study examines whether different editions of college introductory American government/politics textbooks have increased coverage of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) over time. Using content analysis, I analyze the percentage of coverage of APAs in the same textbooks’ editions published during 1998−1999, 2005−2006, and 2011−2012. I find that the coverage of APAs has increased gradually, although its magnitude is not very large. Mentions of APAs are found most often on the chapters of civil rights, demography/political culture, public opinion, and elections/voting/participation. Textbooks vary as to how they raised or dropped ranks of coverage compared to the previous period. Some textbooks created a new section to discuss APA history. One textbook used the Korematsu case in one period but discontinued it in a later edition. These analyses show that if textbook authors have a will to do so, they can increase coverage of APAs. Indeed, McClain and Tauber’s introductory textbook (2017) discusses in detail how American politics affect racial and ethnic minority groups. Other authors should make similar efforts and make racial and ethnic groups one of the central themes of textbooks.
