history textbooks SIGNED

Project "history textbooks" data sheet

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 Partnership

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 Project objective

History textbooks are very important sources of the stories of who we are, where we came from, who are our neighbors, friends, enemies. They bring a rather simplified vision of the past and often adopt historical narratives which incorporate stereotypes about us and the Other. Unfavorable outcomes of public promotion of negative mutual stereotypes through history education have been recognized by both academics and education policy stakeholders, and a number of research initiatives on history textbooks have been conducted. The proposed project will bring a novel approach to analysis of the creation of stereotypes about the Other in history textbooks. This will be achieved by applying critical discourse analysis and using theories on social stereotyping that have been developed in the field of social science – both approaches definitely suitable for the history textbook research, but so far neglected by the academic community. Research on mutual stereotypes produced about the Other in history textbooks published in Slovakia and Hungary since 1918 until today - the countries whose contemporary political relationship has been dubbed the worst bilateral relationship between any two EU members - will serve as a case-study in the proposed project. The main outcome of the project will be a monograph published in English, an article published in Slovak and Hungarian languages and a series of public lectures targeting both the academic community as well as the education policy makers.