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Recent Publications
Minderheiten im Schulbuch: Südosteuropa / Minorities in
textbooks: South-East Europe
Internationale Schulbuchforschung / International Textbook
Research, Zeitschrift des Georg-Eckert-Instituts, Heft 2/ 2001, eds.: Heike
Karge and Andreas Helmedach
Internationale Schulbuchforschung / International Textbook
Research is the journal published by the Georg Eckert Institute for
International Textbook Research. The content of this journal’s issue is
dedicated to minorities in the school textbooks of South East Europe.
List of contents of the last journal's issue:
Essays
Koren, Snježana: Minorities in Croatian history and
geography textbooks
Abstract
This article analyses the presentation of minorities in
Croatian history and geography textbooks for elementary schools. It is based
on the most recently issued textbooks for the 6th, 7th and 8th grades,
which cover the period from the early Middle Ages to the present. The focus is
placed on the relations between Croats and Serbian minority in Croatia, but
other minorities (Italians, Germans, Hungarians, Jews) are also included. The
author gives a few remarks about the place of history in the Croatian
educational system and about the approval procedure and publication of history
textbooks. She also takes into account some problems about history teaching
raised from current history curricula.
Janjetović, Zoran: National
minorities and non-Slav neighbours in Serbian textbooks
Abstract
The author of this article analyses the presentation of
national minorities and of the most important events from the history of
relations of the South Slavs with their non-Slav neighbours in Serbian history
textbooks of the 1918-2000 period.
Low-Beer, Ann: Politics, school textbooks and cultural
identity. The struggle in Bosnia and Hercegovina
Abstract
In every society, school textbooks in subjects such as
literature, history, geography, art and music both assume and seek to teach
the political and social norms of that society. Bosnia-Hercegivina is
currently a striking example, since the norms at a local level are not
consonant with the political framework established by the Dayton peace treaty.
There the international authorities have introduced some extraordinary
measures intended to remedy the situation. The textbooks used in the schools
literally bear the marks of a battle over what cultural and political norms
should be assumed.
Murgescu, Mirela-Luminiţa: The
history of minorities in the Romanian school system. Curricula and textbooks in
the late 1990s
Abstract
The author analyses the portrayal of the history of
national minorities in contemporary Romanian school textbooks for political
education, geography, and history. She places special emphasis on the tension
between the demands on the new curricula to present a balanced picture of
Romania’s national diversity, and the refusal of many textbooks authors to
abandon the paradigm of an organically grown, homogeneous Romanian nation. The
concrete analysis, especially in regard to history textbooks, presents various
standpoints of textbook authors, the relatively slow progress of renewal, and
the widely spread resistance toward divergence from the established historical
self-portraits. It also shows how many authors actively undermine the demands
and the spirit of the new curricula. Furthermore, the conceptual lacks of the
new subject “history and traditions of national minorities” are discussed.
Liakova, Marina: Das Bild des Osmanischen Reiches und der
Türken (1396-1878) in ausgewähkteb bukgaruschen Schulbüchern für Geschichte
/ The portrayal of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey (1396-1878) in selected
Bulgarian school textbooks for history
Abstract
In this article, the historical preconditions for the
contemporary attitudes of Bulgarians toward Turks are analysed. Despite the
democratisation tendencies in Bulgaria since 1989, opinion polls are
reflecting a continually negative view of the Turkish in the attitudes of the
Bulgarians. Especially significant in this context is the specific historical
portrayal of the Turkish pertaining to the common past of Bulgarians and
Turks, which is now taking on an official status - the portrayal of the times
of the Ottoman Empire in history school textbooks. The official history of a
nation and how it is presented in school history textbooks is, in one way or
another, an interpretation of the past from a contemporary point of view (this
always includes certain values, especially political ones). The social and
political constellation of the present, to put it in the words of Pierre
Bourdieu - the “symbolic struggles” of the present - influence the chances
for a discourse to become the official discourse of a state. From this
theoretical perspective, the changes in the “official discourse” in school
textbooks pertaining to the history of Bulgaria are explained.
Weber, Claudia: Wandertage, Museen und Kliment-Bäume.
Zur Erinnerungskultur an bulgarischen Schulen / Excursion days, museums, and
“Kliment-Trees”. Memory culture at Bulgarian schools
Abstract
There is a striking lack of fervent nationalist propaganda
in Bulgarian history textbooks of the 19th and early 20th centuries. How, if
not through the study of textbooks, did a child then become nationalist? The
author of this article outlines alternative methods of “identity
management” at Bulgarian schools up to the 1930s, showing that
nation-building went beyond school teaching in the classroom. Three of those
methods - school excursions, school museums and the celebration of national
holidays - seemed to be the focus of identity policies. Especially the
“Cyrill and Method Day” provided the state with an already functioning
form of nation-building, by reinforcing familiar rituals of local
communication and the image of school and education as part of the nation’s
proud. Throughout decades, children experienced themselves as heirs of that
particular cultural tradition triggering their national socialisation.
Fickenscher, Daniel: Das Schulwesen und di Schulbücher für
die mazedonische Minderheit in Albanien / The school system and school textbooks
for the Macedonian minority in Albania
Abstract
There exists a small minority of Slav Macedonians within
the borders of the Republic of Albania. In a few villages near Lake Prespa,
where there is a compact settlement of Macedonians, there are schools teaching
in Macedonian. The state-controlled Albanian publisher for school textbooks
produces numerous textbooks in Macedonian language for use in these schools.
Since the fall of communism in Albania, these books have been developed in
co-operation with, and with the financial support of the Macedonian Ministry
of Education. Besides being guaranteed by law, the rights of the Macedonian
minority at the Albanian shore of Prespa Lake are thus guaranteed both in
theory and in practice within the educational sphere through the supply of
these school textbooks.
Forum
Richter, Steffi: Not only a storm in the waterglas:
Japan's latest conflict over school textbooks
UNESCO International Textbook Research Network
Reviews / Recenzije
Reports / Izvješća
Further information about this issue is available on the
web-site of the Georg Eckert Institute: www.gei.de
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