Re-imagining and Re-imaging the Nation through the History Curriculum

Doherty, C. (2008) Re-imagining and Re-imaging the Nation through the History Curriculum. In: Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE 2008) Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 30 Nov - 4 Dec 2008,

Abstract

Nationalism is not a naturally occurring sentiment, but rather needs to be carefully nurtured and sustained in the social imaginary through the production and circulation of unifying narratives that invoke the nation’s imagined community. The school curriculum is crucial in this process, legitimating and disseminating selected narratives while delegitimating and marginalising other accounts and their voices. Certain watershed events in nations’ histories have always posed political problems in history curricula (Cajani & Ross, 2007) – however the pressures and concerns of current times now suggest political solutions in history curricula. This paper briefly examines recent political debates in Australia to argue that the school history curriculum has become a site of increasing interest for the exercise of official forms of nationalism and the production of a nostalgic, celebratory national biography. The public debates around school history curriculum are theorised as nostalgic re-nationalising efforts in response to the march of cultural globalisation and its attendant uncertainties.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Doherty, Prof Catherine
• Authors: Doherty, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education