“It's not like [I'm] Chinese and Canadian. I am in between”: Ethnicity and Students' Conceptions of Historical Significance

Towards a culturally responsive and place-conscious theory of history teaching

“…Teachers who know about their students' ethnic, gender, class, or religious identities are in a better position to help them grapple with contested accounts of the past (Peck, 2010). However, teachers need to pay special attention to ethnic identity owing to its strong influence on students' sense of self (Howard, 2004;Webber, 2012Webber, , 2013.…”

Sensitive ‘Heritage’ of Slavery in a Multicultural Classroom: Pupils’ Ideas Regarding Significance

“…Epstein (1998) described the perspectives of African-American pupils as 'marked by racial discrimination or oppression', while European-American pupils' perspectives reflected the idea of democratic rights for all. Other researchers studying the interplay between pupils' historical understanding and their identity have emphasised the dynamic character of identity (Barton & McCully, 2005;Peck, 2010). In a study of the relationship between ethnic identity and attributions of significance to events in Canada's past, Peck (2010) studied pupils' reflections on the interplay between their identity and their conceptions.…”

“…The analysis focused in particular on the many ways in which pupils related to the present in their attribution of significance. Literature on pupils' ideas about historical significance in relation to their perceived ethnic identity was used as a sensitising framework (Cercadillo, 2001;Levstik, 2008;Lévesque, 2008;Peck, 2010). First, we used the types and categories of 'present significance' described by Lévesque (2008) and Cercadillo (2001) -i.e., the significance for the present or the future.…”

“…These questions allowed us to gain more insight into their multiple perspective taking and into their ideas regarding how one's opinions are formed. Last, pupils were asked to describe their ethnic identity and to reflect on its influence on their answers to the questionnaire (see Peck, 2010).…”

History Teaching and Narrative Tools

“…While not necessarily problematic for members of a given society's dominant group, the resulting impact can particularly be challenging for the social integration of students from (historic) minority communities. As cultural context, social class, ethnicity, and racialized identities inform both understandings of history and ideas about politics and civic engagement, outright resistance to pre-given and officialized perspectives risk surfacing (Seixas, 1993;Epstein, 1998Epstein, , 2000Yeager, Foster, & Greer, 2002;Barton, 2001aBarton, , 2001bBarton & Levstik, 1998;Barton & McCully, 2004;Sears, 2011;Peck, 2010Peck, , 2011Flanagan, 2013). Youth from marginalized communities, whose historical understandings do not always necessarily resonate with what they learn in schools, may instead rely on outside sources; ones that they can better grasp and easily use for navigating through their lives (Seixas, 1993;Epstein, 1998Epstein, , 2000Yeager et al, 2002;Barton, 2001aBarton, , 2001bBarton & Levstik, 1998;Peck, 2010Peck, , 2011.…”