History Education and the Construction of National Identities

How is history represented? As just a record of the past as a part of a present identity or as futuregoals? This book explores how historical contents and narratives are presented in school textbooks and othercultural productions (museums monuments etc) and also how they are understood by students in the contextof increasing globalization. In these contemporary conditions the relation between history learning processesin and out of school and the construction of national identities presents an ever more important topic.It is being studied by looking at the appropriation of historical narratives which are frequently based on theofficial history of a nation state. Most of the chapters in this volume are educational studies about how thelearning of history takes place in school settings of different countries such as Canada France Germany Latin America Spain the Netherlands theUnited Kingdom and the United States. Covering such a broad sample of cultural and national contexts they provide a rich reflection on history as asubject related to patriotism cosmopolitanism both or neither.