More Than a Single Best Narrative: Collective History and the Transformation of Historical Consciousness

Trofanenko, Brenda

doi:10.1111/j.1467-873x.2008.00437.x

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Not only can youth interrogate the style and story of the exhibit and the system of meaning, but they can also respond to how the exhibit structures specific information. Indeed, some youth have the sensibility to question the information presented and to ask what purpose such information serves (Trofanenko 2008).…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

On difficult history displayed: the pedagogical challenges of interminable learning

Trofanenko¹

2011

Museum Management and Curatorship

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To cite this article: Brenda M. Trofanenko (2011) On difficult history displayed: the pedagogical challenges of interminable learning, Museum Management and Curatorship, 26:5, 481-495,The pedagogical purposes of public museums focus largely on the factual knowledge to be gained by attending an exhibit. What is often ignored are the affective and emotional responses prompted by the exhibit. The emotional response to difficult events may prompt youth to leave an exhibit with unintended, or interminable, knowing about the event itself. This article presents the results of a research study that examines a series of intergenerational interactions and conversations specific to war, which bears important educational consequences and implications for the learning of difficult historical events.

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Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

On difficult history displayed: the pedagogical challenges of interminable learning

Trofanenko¹

2011

Museum Management and Curatorship

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“…Recent movements center upon a call for increased complexity and critical thinking, but these emerging initiatives are only the beginning: A more complex, multifaceted understanding of various perspectives could promote a “transformation of historical consciousness” (Trofanenko, , p. 579). Educators, in particular, emphasize that excluding Native perspectives and experiences from history textbooks damages the integrity of our collective history (Carjuzaa, Jetty, Munson, & Veltkamp, ; Starnes, ).…”

Section: Implications: Transforming Agency Within Curriculum and Currmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research demonstrates that the transformation of agency within curriculum and curriculum inquiry requires three components: 1) critical review of resources, 2) resistance to colonizing curricula, and 3) responsive teaching for social justice (Parkes, ; Trofanenko, ). The breadth of textbook research demonstrates a commitment to the first of these components, but our attention to the other two has been unclear.…”

Section: Conclusion: Toward a Decolonizing Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

The Curricular Indian Agent: Discursive Colonization and Indigenous (Dys)Agency in U.S. History Textbooks

Stanton¹

2014

Curriculum Inquiry

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In the 1800s and early 1900s, the United States assigned Indian Agents—non‐Native employees of the federal government—to coordinate intergovernmental efforts, to encourage the assimilation of Native peoples into European‐American society, and to serve as advocates for individual tribes. Although Indian Agents no longer exist in an official capacity in the United States, the potentially contradictory expectations that informed their work continue to influence communities across the country. Instead of decolonizing education, today's curricular agents typically misrepresent the historical and future agency of Native peoples while reinforcing the patronizing, normative, dominant‐culture narrative. This article outlines the critical discourse analysis of five widely adopted U.S. history textbooks, as situated within the broader scope of textbook research and emerging educational movements. Findings show that textbook authors and other curricular agents use strategies of exclusion and passivation to control the historical and curricular agency of Indigenous peoples. Given the influence of educational reform efforts such as those related to the Common Core Standards, now is the critical time to retheorize curriculum design and inquiry as dialogic, dynamic, transformational, and agentive processes. The project's conclusions demonstrate the need to confront the biases of curricular agents in order to guide the decolonization of curriculum materials.

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“…The purpose of history teaching would be to prepare students for the task of using the past responsibly for future purposes and historical consciousness would be the cognitive state of mind that allows students to realize their own particularity in time, as players in a continuous process of historical meaning making. This calls for careful scaffolding (Boix‐Mansilla, 2000; Trofanenko, 2008) and also for the ability of teachers to mediate between different perspectives, guiding students away from either nihilistic relativism (Seixas, 2000; Lowenthal, 2000) or from teaching them new closed narratives (Laville, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching History in the Netherlands: Teachers’ Experiences of a Plurality of Perspectives

Klein

2010

Curriculum Inquiry

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Globalisation and the re-invention of national identities make history teaching seem more challenging than ever before. In the past decade, the teaching of history in the Netherlands has been at the center of public debate. During a period of political turmoil, the history curriculum was subjected to two somewhat competing revisions. One aimed at restoring chronology, the other at making history teaching contribute to a sense of community. This last call for a reformulation of the national historical narrative has met with resistance from those who claim a need for a plurality of perspectives in history education. Within this context an exploratory study with five history teachers was undertaken to gain insight into their goals and beliefs about teaching history. They all have an academic background and teach in multicultural classrooms. Two interview instruments were designed to stimulate the teachers to approach the subject from different angles. I conclude that the history teachers involved share a critical approach to (national) history and an understanding of their students as having multiple identities. The teachers show differences when reflecting on how they create usable pasts with their students for future purposes.

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More Than a Single Best Narrative: Collective History and the Transformation of Historical Consciousness

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

On difficult history displayed: the pedagogical challenges of interminable learning

On difficult history displayed: the pedagogical challenges of interminable learning

The Curricular Indian Agent: Discursive Colonization and Indigenous (Dys)Agency in U.S. History Textbooks

Teaching History in the Netherlands: Teachers’ Experiences of a Plurality of Perspectives

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