The Image of the Balkan Peninsula in Serbian History Textbooks for Middle School

Ivanović, Miloš (2014) The Image of the Balkan Peninsula in Serbian History Textbooks for Middle School. ISHA Journal, 3. pp. 69-79. ISSN 1203-1048

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the image of the Balkan Peninsula in Serbian history textbooks for the 6th through 8th grades of primary school. This examination shows that, surprisingly, the era of Balkan history that gets the most space in textbooks is the medieval period. This situation is in fact the same as for the previous generation of Serbian history textbooks. In the new textbooks for 7th and 8th grade, a national perspective on history remains dominant, but in lesser measure than before. The similar tendency is present in the handbook Crucial Terms for Purposes of Compulsory Education: History. Authors of history textbooks, with some exceptions, stress political and military history, thus emphasising to pupils the conflicts among Balkan states and nations. Textbooks need to offer more topics from social history, economic history, and everyday history, showing the features various parts of the Balkans have in common. Finally, however, it is necessary to point out that historical consciousness and knowledge is not shaped exclusively by school and textbooks

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