Why national narratives are perpetuated: A literature review on new insights from history textbook research

Nationalnarrativeshaveoftenservedtomobilizethemassesforwarbyprovidingmythsanddistortedinterpretationsofthepast,whileconverselywarsweremajorsourcesforproducingnationalnarratives.Becausenationalhistoryisverylikelytoremainacentraltopicinhistoryeducation,albeitinwaysthatdifferfromhowthetopicwasusedfiftyyearsago,itisimportanttogainagreaterunderstandingoftheunderlyingstructuresandmechanismsofthesenarrativesinhistorytextbooks.Afteroutliningthehistoricalinterconnectednessoftheemergingnationstatesandhistoryteaching,thisreviewarticleexplainsthecomplexityofthehistorytextbookasaneducationalresource.Next,weidentifysomecurrentproblemsandchallengesinhistorytextbookresearch.Wecontinuebydiscussingpromisingresearchtrendsrelatedmainlytonationalnarratives,suchastheanalysisofimages,theuseofdigitaltools,andstudiesoftheautonomyoftextbooknarrativesandofhistorytextbooksinrelationtoothermedia.Anotherrecentreorientationistextbookresearchthatusesa holistic approach .Bythis wemeanstudiesthatexaminethehistorytextbookasawhole:composition,periodization,visualintertextualityandchaptersthatdonotatfirstglanceappeartofocusonnationalhistory.Thesestudiesoffernewinsightsandexplanationsfortheperpetuationofnationalnarrativesinhistorytextbooks.

However, as Barton (2011) and Foster (2011) have rightly claimed, we must be careful not to assimilate different pedagogical contexts and curricular arrangements, ending up with misunderstandings about the various national contexts of history education practices. In the Netherlands, for instance, the central government does not screen history textbooks. Since the1980sand1990s,severalDutchhistorytextbookserieshaveintroducedhistoricalthinking skillsinresponsetodebatesbetweenexpertsinhistoryeducationandrevisionsofthehistory curricula. Consequently, these textbooks are not 'collective memory projects' conveying a specific national ideology. This situation differs from that in other countries, such as France, Germany, the USA and Japan, where (national) governments control the history curricula and the textbooks (Symcox and Wilschut, 2009;Selden and Nozaki, 2009;Van Boxtel and Grever,2011;VanBerkel,2017 (Sakki,2014:45).
Becausehistorytextbooksarecarriersofdifferentsocialandpoliticalagendas,andfunction differently in different national and international contexts with different social and political demands, textbook research faces many more challenges than is generally assumed (Foster, 2011:5).

The field of history textbook research: Problems and challenges
Textbookresearchhasastronginternationalresearchtradition.Intheearly1920s,theLeague of Nations encouraged comparative textbook research on stereotypes and portrayals of the 'Other' in order to bring about international understanding. After the Second World War, UNESCOandtheCouncilofEuropecontinuedthistypeofresearch (Pingel,1999;Nicholls,2003;Fuchs,2011:18).Sinceitsfoundationin1951,theGeorgEckertInstitute(GEI),nownamed the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research and based in Braunschweig, Germany, has contributed tremendously to textbook research. Gradually, the research has developedamoredetachedapproachbyprovidingcriticalanalysesofcontextsofproduction, contentperspectivesanddiscourses.Thesestudieshaveraisedquestions,forinstance,aboutthe relationsbetweenpower,ideologyandhistoricalknowledge(e.g. Foster,2011).International organizationshavesupportedtextbookresearchonvariousschoolsubjectsandthisresearch has been conducted in a variety of disciplines (history, geography, peace studies, education, media studies, sociology and psychology), but researching history textbooks in particular has alwaysbeenconsideredcrucialinthegeneralfieldoftextbookresearch (Korostelina,2013).
First, research on historical representations in history textbooks tends to reveal what is not in the history textbooks and what has been distorted or censored. Examples are the aforementionedbookbyLoewenandsomechaptersinthevolumeCensoring History(Heinand Selden,2000).Thiskindofresearchdemonstratesthathistorytextbooksoftenperpetuate'old narratives'andcontributetostructuralamnesiaandotherwaysof'forgetting'insocieties,for exampleduetostateinterventions:nationalgovernmentsaskfortextbookrevisionsorimpose theirideaofthe'right'knowledge.Sensitivetopicsaboutthepastaresuppressed,ignoredor erased (Connerton,2008).However,thesestudiesdonotclarifymuchaboutotherreasons for the perpetuation of certain narratives in the genre of history textbooks, for example in societies where the government does not prescribe specific textbook contents. Therefore, nexttothefocusonthedefectsofhistorytextbooks,anin-depthanalysisofstructureswithin textbooksisneeded.Insteadofstressingwhatisabsent,textbookresearchersaremoreand moreconcernedwiththequestionofwhatisinthehistorytextbookandwhy.
In the next section, we will discuss some promising new research trends that can shed more light on the question how and why narratives, and particularly national narratives, are perpetuatedinhistorytextbooks.
Furthermore,comparativeresearchintomapsandimagescanrevealhowtheplotofthesame historical 'event'isportrayeddifferentlyacrossnationalnarratives,preciselybecausenationsand theirlossortriumpharetheprincipaltheme.Forinstance,MarioCarretero(2014)compared Spanish and Mexican textbooks about the American colonization and the representation of Columbus. Whereas all Spanish history textbooks contain biographic information about Columbuswithlotsofimages,theMexicantextbooksincludeonlybriefmentionsofhisdeath andinsteaddevoteconsiderabletextandvisualstothemistreatmentofIndiansandMexicans. In the history textbooks of both countries, textual and iconographic information are closely connectedtostimulatehistoricalimaginationabouttheAmericancolonization.
Thedynamictransferoftextbooknarrativesiscurrentlyevenfurtherstrengthenedbythe use of new media. Textbook narratives are increasingly embedded in a (re)mediated world, especially now in the era of e-textbooks, which can easily direct students to YouTube or otherwebsitesbyhyperlinks.Fromthisperspective,EleftheriosKleridespointstothedynamic and hybrid forms of history textbooks, which he describes as 'multilayered', a 'combination ofdiscourses'andan'interdiscursivedomain'(Klerides,2010:34).Inlinewiththisresearch, Heinze (2010: 125) suggests that history textbooks should not be regarded just as 'mirrors' in which a certain discourse is reflected but as 'mediators of discourses, for they provide the methodological anddidacticimpetus with which thesediscoursesreproduce themselves' (Heinze,2010:125).
Finally, a promising new trend in history textbook research is the holistic approach: the analysis of the textbook as an integrated whole. In these studies, researchers analyse the dynamicsofitsinternalstructureanditsinterrelationwithothermedia.Thisapproachreveals howhistoricalknowledgeisorganized,suchasinthearrangementofchronologicaltime,the selection and naming of events and periods, and the use of colligatory concepts. Moreover, aholisticapproachenablestextbookresearcherstotraceunderlyingconceptionsofhistory: viewsontherelationshipbetweenpast,presentandfuture.Thisresearchtrendhighlightsthe construction of national narratives in history textbooks, and the (less visible) ways in which theyareperpetuated.Throughthisapproach,wemightalsogetabetterunderstandingofthe changing function and meaning of existing national narratives in history textbooks, and their potentialmobilizingpower.