Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Narrative Justice? Ten Tools to Deconstruct Narratives About Violent Pasts

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Historical Justice and History Education

Abstract

Bermudez argues that for history education to contribute to the advancement of historical justice, teachers must deconstruct historical narratives that normalize violence, and help students develop a critical understanding of the violent past. These tasks, she claims, require an unusual integration of disciplined historical inquiry and ethical reflection. This vision of history education is discussed against the backdrop of ongoing debates about what are legitimate goals of history education, particularly in current literature on the development of historical thinking skills and historical consciousness. The theoretical argument is then operationalized in the proposal of ten narrative keys that offer analytic tools to critically examine representations of the violent past conveyed through formal and non-formal history education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arendt, Hannah. 1970. On Violence. New York: Harcourt Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, Keith., and Linda Levstik. 2004. Teaching History for the Common Good. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bermudez, Angela. 2019. The Normalization of Political Violence in History Textbooks: Ten Narrative Keys. Historical Dialogues, Justice, and Memory Network – Working Paper Series, No. 15, March 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bermudez, Angela., and Diego Argumero Martínez. 2018. The Narrative Framing of Violence in Teaching Resources About the Spanish Conquest of America. Panta Rei 8: 93–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bermudez, Angela., and Terrie Epstein. 2020. Representations of Violent Pasts in Memorial Museums: Ethical Reflection and History Education. Journal for the Study of Education and Development /Infancia & Aprendizaje 43: 503–543. https://doi.org/10.1080/02103702.2020.1772541.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bermudez, Angela., and Alan Stoskopf. 2019. Representations of Political Violence in American History Textbooks: Interrogating the “Trail of Tears” Narrative. In Intercultural Education: Critical Perspectives, Pedagogical Challenges, and Promising Practices, ed. Cinzia Pica-Smith, Carmen N. Veloria, and Rina Manuela Contini. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carretero, Mario. 2011. Constructing Patriotism: Teaching History and Memories in Global Worlds. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cercadillo, Lis. 2012. Las controvertidas relaciones entre educación histórica y ciudadana. XXIII Simposio Internacional de Didáctica de las Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Sevilla, Marzo 27–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, Elizabeth., ed. 2007. Teaching the Violent Past: History Education and Reconciliation. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conill, Jesús. 2001. Aspectos éticos de la globalización. Justicia, solidaridad y esperanza frente a la globalización. Documentación Social 125: 225–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, John. 1916. Democracy and Education (Chapter 16. The Significance of Geography and History). New York: Macmillan. Accessed 10 March 2017 – via Internet Archive. https://archive.org/stream/democracyandedu00dewegoog#page/n6/mode/2up.

  • Epstein, Terrie., and Carla Peck. 2018. Teaching and Learning Difficult Histories in International Contexts. Milton: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, Johan. 1990. Cultural Violence. Journal of Peace Research 27 (3): 291–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grever, Maria. 2012. Dilemmas of Common and Plural History: Reflections on History Education and Heritage in a Global World. In History Education and the Construction of National Identities, ed. Mario Carretero, Mikel Asensio, and María Rodriguez-Moneo, 75–92. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Körber, Andreas. 2014. De-constructing Memory Culture. In Teaching Historical Memories in an Intercultural Perspective. Concepts and Methods, ed. H. Bjerg, C. Lenz, and A. Körber, 145–150. Berlin: Metropol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korostelina, Karina V. 2013. History Education in the Formation of Social Identity: Toward a Culture of Peace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Peter J. 1992. History in Schools: Aims, Purposes and Approaches. A Reply to John White. In The Aims of School History: The National Curriculum and Beyond, ed. P. J. Lee, J. Slater, J. Walsh, and J. White, 23–24. London: Tufnell Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Walking Backwards into Tomorrow: Historical Consciousness and Understanding History. International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4 (1): 1–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. History Education and Historical Literacy. In Debates in History Teaching, ed. I. Davis, 63–72. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Peter J., and Denis Shemilt. 2007. New Alchemy or Fatal Attraction? History and Citizenship. Teaching History 129: 14–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCully, Alan. 2009. The Contribution of History Teaching to Peace-building. In Encyclopedia of Peace Education, ed. Gavriel Salomon and Edward Cairns, 313–322. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. Teaching History and Educating for Citizenship: Allies or “Uneasy Bedfellows” in a Post-conflict Context? In Teaching and Learning Difficult Histories in International Contexts, ed. Terrie Epstein and Carla Peck, 160–174. Milton: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla, Angelíca., and Angela Bermudez. 2016. To Normalize Conflict and Denormalize Violence: Challenges and Possibilities in a Critical Teaching of History of the Colombian Armed Conflict. Revista Colombiana de Educación 71 (1): 187–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Psaltis, Charis., Mario Carretero, and Sabina Cehajic-Clancy, eds. 2017. History Education and Conflict Transformation. Social Psychosocial Theories, History Teaching and Reconciliation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüsen, Jörn. 1983. Reason and History: An Essay on Metahistory (trans. Anne Cordero, Published as PDF by Rüsen in 2015). Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Historical Consciousness: Narrative Structure, Moral Function, and Ontogenetic Development. In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, ed. Peter Seixas, 63–85. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. Using History: The Struggle Over Traumatic Experiences of the Past in Historical Culture. Historien 11: 11–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seixas, Peter., ed. 2004. Theorizing Historical Consciousness. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. A History/Memory Matrix for History Education. https://public-history-weekly.degruyter.com/4-2016-6/a-historymemory-matrix-for-history-education/. Accessed 20 June 2020.

  • ———. 2017. Historical Consciousness and Historical Thinking. In Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education, ed. Mario Carretero, Stefan Berger, and Maria Grever, 59–72. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Seixas, Peter., and Tom Morton. 2013. The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts. Toronto: Nelson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seixas, Peter., Peter N. Stearns, and Sam Wineburg, eds. 2000. Teaching, Learning and Knowing History. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoskopf, Alan., and Angela Bermudez. 2017. The Sounds of Silence: American History Textbook Representations of Non-violence and the Abolition Movement. Journal of Peace Education 14 (1): 92–113. (Published online September 22, 2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symcox, Linda., and Arie Wilschut, eds. 2009. National History Standards: The Problem of the Canon and the Future of Teaching History, International Review of History Education. Vol. 5. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Tony., and Robert Guyver, eds. 2012. History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wineburg, Sam. 2001. Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain

    Angela Bermudez

Authors
  1. Angela Bermudez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angela Bermudez .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Matilda Keynes

  2. Department of Education, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Henrik Åström Elmersjö  & Björn Norlin  & 

  3. Department of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Daniel Lindmark

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bermudez, A. (2021). Narrative Justice? Ten Tools to Deconstruct Narratives About Violent Pasts. In: Keynes, M., Åström Elmersjö, H., Lindmark, D., Norlin, B. (eds) Historical Justice and History Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-70411-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-70412-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation