Nordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education (Aug 2013)
Transformation of History textbooks from national monument to global agent
Abstract
It is my assumption that our way of understanding globalization in the last two decades has changed the subject matter of history. The focus has shifted from the regional and national to the global perspective. This is evident if we analyze German and Danish textbooks on history. This development and its consequences have only been vaguely reflected in the debates on history didactics. Perhaps we have accepted this development as unavoidable as it is often done in economic discourses? To my opinion it is an important matter to discuss in a context of history didactics: are we selling national history in order to accommodate to the new global standards? Or in a biblical sense: Selling our birthright for a mess of pottage - without reflections on the consequences? Or is focus on global development a didactical consequence of the-state-of-the-art of new modern historical consciousness? The question remains to be answered: have we gained or lost something?
