Interpretative Frameworks and Keys to Connections in National Narratives: A Contribution to the Sociological Analysis of History Textbooks
Journal cover Yearbook of Pedagogy, volume 47, year 2024, title Yearbook of Pedagogy
PDF (Język Polski)

Keywords

history textbooks
sociological analysis
historical narratives
collective identity
cultural memory
palimpsest metaphor
social construction of reality
interpretative frames

How to Cite

Hildebrandt-Wypych , D. (2024). Interpretative Frameworks and Keys to Connections in National Narratives: A Contribution to the Sociological Analysis of History Textbooks. Rocznik Pedagogiczny, 47, 35–46. https://doi.org/10.14746/rp.2024.47.3

Abstract

This article explores methodological approaches to studying history textbooks by integrating sociological and historical perspectives. Textbooks serve not only as educational tools but also as mechanisms for shaping collective identity. By employing macro-social contextual analysis and examining interpretative frames, the study sheds light on how historical narratives are constructed and reconstructed in response to contemporary and future social needs. Drawing on the metaphor of the palimpsest proposed by M. van der Vlies, the article conceptualizes textbooks as spaces where traces of past narratives persist, shaping successive interpretations. This perspective highlights the ways in which historical narratives are continuously rewritten, negotiated, and reinterpreted, as well as how the dynamic interaction of different memory layers influences meaning-making. By integrating historical and sociological approaches, the study offers a deeper understanding of textbooks as carriers of cultural memory and instruments of social reality construction.

https://doi.org/10.14746/rp.2024.47.3
PDF (Język Polski)

References

Bateson, G. (1954). A theory of play and fantasy. Psychiatric Research Reports, 2, 39–51.

Berger, S. (2007). Writing national histories in Europe: Reflections on the pasts, presents, and futures of a tradition. In K. H. Jarausch & T. Lindenberger (Eds.), Conflicted memories: Europeanizing contemporary histories (pp. 55–68). New York: Berghahn Books. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780857453600-006

Carretero, M., Asensio, M., & Rodríguez-Moneo, M. (Eds.). (2012). History education and the construction of national identities. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Cöllen, B. (2010, 11 kwietnia). Die Welt: "Cyniczny cios historii". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from: https://www.dw.com.

Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Grever, M., & van der Vlies, T. (2017). Why national narratives are perpetuated: A literature review on new insights from history textbook research. London Review of Education, 15(2), 286–301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.15.2.11

Hein, L., & Selden, M. (Eds.). (2000). Censoring history: Citizenship and memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Howlett, M., & Rayner, J. (2006). Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency, and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time. Policy Sciences, 39, 1–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-005-9004-1

Maresz, T. (2017). Podręcznik szkolny narzędziem kształtowania świadomości historycznej młodzieży: Analiza porównawcza polskich, rosyjskich, białoruskich i ukraińskich podręczników do historii z przełomu XX i XXI wieku. In Młodzież w perspektywie edukacyjnej, społecznej, kulturowej (pp. 123–136).

Mahoney, J. (2000). Path dependence in historical sociology. Theory and Society, 29, 507–548. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007113830879

Podeh, E. (2000). History and memory in the Israeli educational system: The portrayal of the Arab–Israeli conflict in history textbooks (1948–2000). History & Memory, 12(1), 65–100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ham.2000.0005

Repoussi, M., & Tutiaux-Guillon, N. (2010). New trends in history textbook research: Issues and methodologies toward a school historiography. Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, 2(1), 154–170. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/jemms.2010.020109

Roszkowski, W. (2016, April 10). Katastrofa smoleńska konsekwencją zbrodni katyńskiej. Polskie Radio 24. Retrieved from https://www.polskieradio24.pl

Rüsen, J. (2008). What does "making sense of history" mean? In J. Rüsen (Ed.), Meaning and representation in history (p. 2). New York–Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Schwartz, B. (1996). Memory as a cultural system: Abraham Lincoln in World War II. American Sociological Review, 61, 908–927. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2096461

Schwartz, B. (2014). Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Memory and history. In T. Thatcher (Ed.), Memory and identity in ancient Judaism and early Christianity: A conversation with Barry Schwartz (pp. 7–37). Atlanta: SBL Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1287n36.5

Van der Vlies, T. (2022). Echoing events: The perpetuation of national narratives in English and Dutch history textbooks, 1920–2010. Göttingen: Brill V&R Unipress. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14220/9783737014502

Wertsch, J. V. (2002). Voices of collective remembering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613715

Wertsch, J. V. (2008). Collective memory and narrative templates. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 75(1), 133–156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sor.2008.0051

Wertsch, J. V. (2017). Foreword – Negotiating the nation: Young people, national narratives, and history education. London Review of Education, 15(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.15.2.02

Zerubavel, E. (2003). Time maps: Collective memory and the social shape of the past. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226924908.001.0001