The useful past in negotiation: Adolescents' use of history in negotiation of inter-group conflict

Abstract

Much of the concern with young people's historical knowledge centres on factual attainment or disciplinary skills. However, relatively little attention is paid to the relevance that young people attribute to history and how they use the past, and various social representations of history, to relate to the present. Research in this realm tends to emphasize the impact of collective memory narratives on individuals, rather than individuals' agency in using them. In this article, I will examine the ways 155 Jewish and Arab Israeli adolescents related the past to the present as they discussed the Jewish–Arab conflict and its resolution. Discussants made diverse references to the past: from family history, via biblical allusions and collective memories, to formal, schooling-based historical documents. Individuals used these references to the past to negotiate the present and future of inter-group relations. Furthermore, they made strategic use of references to others' narratives. Thus historical knowledge and collective narratives, which are usually perceived as constraining and structuring learners' perceptions, can be seen as repositories of resources and affordances.

Controversially uncontroversial? Swedish pre-service history teachers’ relations to their national pasts

“…Still, recent research has shown that history students (and others) tend to rely on what could be perceived as rather traditional renderings of the past, in particular when it comes to the national past (e.g., Angier, 2017;Goldberg, 2017;Vinterek et al, 2017). Canadian researcher Stéphane Lévesque argues that national histories and narratives are particularly salient to how we construct identities and make sense of ourselves and the world around us.…”

“…This view is accentuated by Israeli researcher Tsafrir Goldberg who studied how Palestinian and Israeli adolescents mobilised history in discussions among each other. Even though the informants were provided with textbook accounts and source material of their national past, they chose to rely on personal and more traditional historical accounts since they resonated with their personal beliefs and opinions of their national pasts (Goldberg, 2017). These results seem to suggest that national history goes well beyond being a topic that is suitable for an objective disinterested exercise in history, but rather relates strongly to deeply seated aspects of identity and citizenhood.…”

“…As already noted above, research on national history and history education tends to focus on countries or societies where there is a tension or a conflict regarding the national past. Studies in Australia (Macintyre & Clark, 2004), Canada (Létourneau & Chapman, 2017;Lévesque, 2017), South Africa (Angier, 2017;Wassermann & Bentrovato, 2018), Spain (Serrano & Lopéz Facal, 2016), Finland (Löfström, 2012), Israel (Goldberg, 2017;Porat, 2004), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Ahonen, 2014), providing some excellent examples, all show how history plays an important but also problematic role in framing and solving these controversies. In order to solve the national controversies in these societies, the general consensus among this research seems to be a move towards a national history education that enables students to meet multiple perspectives on the past and to destabilise and deconstruct their own favoured national narratives.…”

“…Carretero, Rodríguez-Moneo, & Asensio, 2012). It has furthermore been shown in research how national history not only relates to how citizens in nations regard their national context, but also to deeply rooted existential aspects of identity construction (Goldberg, 2017;Lévesque, 2017;Porat, 2004). In conflict-laden societies where national history is explicitly controversial, research has shown the need to focus on cognitive aspects of history education in order to defuse the conflicts that surround national history (cf.…”

Historical consciousness of time and its societal uses

“…In situations with diverse-opposed historical claims, for example, in modern Israel where Jews and Arabs, each with their own version of 'their history' try to substantiate claims of exclusive ownership of the land-which is partly the result of diverse history curricula which have been offered to them in their respective schools (Goldberg, 2017)-a more open approach to history avoiding the 'we-group' and in search of a more distantiated common ground, could perhaps create new opportunities for dialogue. Creating historical distance as a conscious choice, unnatural and counter-intuitive as it is, could, therefore, be beneficial to the development of a stronger democratic and cosmopolitan identity.…”