Representation of human rights and environmental issues in American and Norwegian high school curricula and textbooks -- A comparative study

This thesis analyzes how human rights and environmental issues are framed and presented in American and Norwegian high school curricula and textbooks. Based on a mixed methods content analysis the findings suggest that there are significant differences in how the two countries frame, contextualize and present the issues. The Norwegian texts focus on the UN, multilateral cooperation, and international treaties, and emphasize the universality and inherent value of human rights. The American texts present rights mainly in an American context and human rights as an instrument the U.S. can use to protect their national interest. These results concur with the official policy of the two countries as presented by the U.S. Department of State and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I thus argue that the educational sectors in the two countries contribute to a process of reproducing and reinforcing the agreed consensus in society.