Abstract
This chapter explores the role of history education in imagining the nations of the United States and Canada within the global order. I provide an overview of the discourses of national identity and relevant research on history education in each nation. Observing three US and two Canadian secondary history classes engaged in the study of World War II, I identify the schematic narrative templates that render the United States as a “reluctant hegemon” and Canada as uncertain of its claim to nationhood. The US story of the World War II as a fundamentally political narrative suggests an underlying narrative in which politics, rather than military or economic actions, are the driving force in history. Canadian narratives, on the other hand, portray different images of the war. Not only do military narratives dominate the narrative landscape, but the narratives attend in detail to the material experiences of ordinary soldiers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the need to critically read and rewrite the national narrative.
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Notes
- 1.
Although curriculum standards are controlled at the state level in the United States and at the provincial level in Canada, both countries are home to vigorous national debates over how schoolchildren should learn history. Those familiar with so-called “history wars” in other nations will likely find familiar themes in these debates.
- 2.
For details about research methods, findings, and extended discussion of data, see Faden (2014).
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Faden, L.Y. (2015). Globalization and History Education: The United States and Canada. In: Zajda, J. (eds) Nation-Building and History Education in a Global Culture. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9729-0_4
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