Skip to main content

Recontextualizing Historical Injustice into Education: The Relationship Between a White Paper and a Textbook on the Abuse of the Roma in Swedish History

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Historical Justice and History Education

Abstract

In this chapter, Arvidsson and Elmersjö investigate the relationship between a White Paper on the historical abuse of the Roma in Sweden and a textbook on the same issue written for use in schools. The purpose is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding how historical knowledge produced by official inquiries and commissioned research, with the aim of making amends for past injustices, translates into teaching. Using the concepts of official knowledge and recontextualization, Arvidsson and Elmersjö show how the knowledge of the historical abuse of the Roma produced in the White Paper was recontextualized under the umbrella of general human rights education and, in the process, changed significantly.

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

Access this chapter

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

  • Andersson, Lars M., and Mattias Tydén. 2007. Sverige och Nazityskland: Skuldfrågor och moraldebatt. Stockholm: Dialogos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antiziganismen i Sverige: Om övergrepp och kränkningar av romer under 1900-talet och i dag. 2015. Stockholm: Kommissionen mot antiziganism.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antiziganismen i Sverige: Om övergrepp och kränkningar av romer under 1900-talet och idag. Lärarhandledning. 2015. Stockholm: Kommissionen mot antiziganism.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, Michael. 2000. Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, Michael, and Linda K. Christian-Smith. 1991. The Politics of the Textbook. In The Politics of the Textbook, ed. Michael Apple and Linda K. Christian-Smith, 1–17. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arvidsson, Malin. 2016. Att ersätta det oersättliga: Statlig gottgörelse för ofrivillig sterilisering och vanvård av omhändertagna barn. Örebro: Örebro University.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018. Sanningskommission på svenska: Riksdagsdebatt om upprättelse och ansvarsutkrävande för historiska orättvisor. In Mänskliga rättigheter i samhället, ed. Malin Arvidsson, Lena Halldenius, and Lina Sturfelt, 165–188. Malmö: Bokbox.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkan, Elazar. 2000. The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, Keith. 2008. A Sociocultural Perspective on Children’s Understanding of Historical Change: Comparative Findings from Northern Ireland and the United States. In Researching History Education: Theory, Method, and Context, ed. Linda Levstik and Keith Barton, 300–332. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Agency, Choice, and Historical Action: How History Teaching Can Help Students Think About Democratic Decision Making. Citizenship Teaching & Learning 7 (2): 131–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, Basil. 1986. On Pedagogic Discourse. In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. John G. Richardson, 205–240. New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevernage, Berber. 2012. History, Memory, and State-sponsored Violence: Time and Justice. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, Kathrin, Svea L. Herrmann, and Ole A. Brekke. 2014. Sterilization Policies, Moral Rehabilitation and the Politics of Amends. Critical Policy Studies 8 (2): 203–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2013.869179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bromley, Patricia, and Julia Lerch. 2018. Human Rights as Cultural Globalisation: The Rise of Human Rights in Textbooks, 1890–2013. In The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies, ed. Eckhardt Fuchs and Annekatrin Bock. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruchfeld, Stéphane, and Paul Levine. 1998. …om detta må ni berätta: En bok om Förintelsen i Europa 1933–1945 [Tell ye your children… A book about the Holocaust in Europe 1933–1945]. Stockholm: Forum för levande historia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Depaepe, Marc. 1998. Educationalisation: A Key Concept in Understanding the Basic Processes in the History of Western Education. History Education Review 27 (1): 16–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dir. 2014: 47. Kraftsamling i arbetet mot antiziganism.https://www.regeringen.se/49bafa/contentassets/0a31f6f3fc2848db852f9d8fdc2fd9ec/kraftsamling-i-arbetet-mot-antiziganism-dir.-201447. Accessed 15 May 2019.

  • Ds 2014: 8. The Dark Unknown History: White Paper on Abuses and Rights Violations Against Roma in the 20th Century. Stockholm: Fritzes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson, Martin. 2015. Exkludering, assimilering eller utrotning? “Tattarfrågan” i svensk politik 1880–1955. Lund: Lund University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagerheim Kalsås, Vidar. 2018. Forteljingar om eigenart og undertrykkning: Ein studie av undervisningstekstar om minoritetane romanifolket og romar. Agder: Universitetet i Agder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, Stuart. 2006. Whose History? Portrayal of Immigrant Groups in U.S. History Textbooks, 1800–Present. In What Shall We Tell the Children: International Perspectives on School History Textbooks, ed. Stuart Foster and Keith Crawford, 155–178. Greenwich: IAP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halldén, Ola. 1994. Personalization in Historical Descriptions and Explanations. Stockholm: Stockholm University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, Nicola. 2015. From Reconciliation to Transitional Justice: The Contours of Redress Politics in Established Democracies. International Journal of Transitional Justice 9 (2): 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijv001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlsson, Klas-Göran. 2003. The Holocaust as a Problem of Historical Culture: Theoretical and Analytical Challenges. In Echoes of the Holocaust: Historical Cultures in Contemporary Europe, ed. Klas-Göran Karlsson and Ulf Zander, 9–57. Lund: Nordic Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keynes, Matilda. 2019. History Education for Transitional Justice? Challenges, Limitations and Possibilities for Settler Colonial Australia. International Journal of Transitional Justice 13: 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijy026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keynes, Matilda, Henrik Åström Elmersjö, Daniel Lindmark, and Björn Norlin. 2021. Introduction: Connecting Historical Justice and History Education. In Historical Justice and History Education, ed. Matilda Keynes, Henrik Åström Elmersjö, Daniel Lindmark, and Björn Norlin. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norlin, Björn, and Daniel Lindmark. 2021. Generating and Popularising Historical Knowledge in a Reconciliation Process: The Case of the Church of Sweden and the Sami. In Historical Justice and History Education, ed. Matilda Keynes, Henrik Åström Elmersjö, Daniel Lindmark, and Björn Norlin. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Living History Forum, “(O)mänskligt: Lärarhandledning”, https://www.levandehistoria.se, n.d.-a. Accessed 15 May 2019.

  • ———, “Workshop i (o)mänskligt”, https://www.levandehistoria.se, n.d.-b Accessed 15 May 2019.

  • Lundberg, Urban, and Mattias Tydén. 2010. In Search of the Swedish Model: Contested Historiography. In Swedish Modernism: Architecture, Consumption and the Welfare State, ed. Helena Mattsson and Sven-Olov Wallenstein, 36–49. London: Black Dog Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagy, Rosemary. 2008. Transitional Justice as Global Project: Critical Reflections. Third World Quarterly 29 (2): 275–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590701806848.

  • Neumann, Klaus, and Janna Thompson. 2015. Introduction: Beyond the Legalist Paradigm. In Historical Justice and Memory, ed. Klaus Neumann and Janna Thompson. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, Frida L. 2018. Självklart men oklart: Rättighetsspråk i gymnasieskolans läroplaner 1970–2011. In Mänskliga rättigheter i samhället, ed. Malin Arvidsson, Lena Halldenius, and Lina Sturfelt, 77–99. Malmö: Bokbox.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nolgård, Olle, and Thomas Nygren. 2019. Considering the Past and Present of Romani in Sweden: Secondary School Pupils’ Thinking and Caring About the History of the Romani in National Tests. Education Inquiry 10 (4): 344–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2019.1607708.

  • Nygren, Thomas, and Brian Johnsrud. 2018. What would Martin Luther King Jr. say? Teaching the Historical and Practical Past to Promote Human Rights in Education. Journal of Human Rights Practice 10 (2): 287–306. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huy013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlsson Al Fakir, Ida. 2015. Nya rum för socialt medborgarskap: Om vetenskap och politik i ’Zigenarundersökningen’ – en socialmedicinsk studie av svenska romer 1962–1965. Växjö: Linnéuniversitetet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olofsson, Hans. 2010. Fatta historia: En explorativ fallstudie om historieundervisning och historiebruk i en högstadieklass. Karlstad: Karlstad University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Östling, Johan. 2008. Swedish Narratives of the Second World War: A European Perspective. Contemporary European History 17 (2): 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777308004372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Secord, James A. 2004. Knowledge in Transit. Isis 95 (4): 654–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjögren, David. 2016. Att göra upp med det förflutna: Sanningskommissioner, officiella ursäkter och vitböcker i ett svenskt och internationellt perspektiv. In De historiska relationerna mellan Svenska kyrkan och samerna: En vetenskaplig antologi, band 1, ed. Daniel Lindmark and Olle Sundström, 123–152. Skellefteå: Artos & Norma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeyers, Paul, and Marc Depaepe, eds. 2008. Educational Research: The Educationalization of Social Problems. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • SOU 2002: 87. Rikets säkerhet och den personliga integriteten: De svenska säkerhetstjänsternas författningsskyddande verksamhet sedan år 1945. Stockholm: Fritzes.

    Google Scholar 

  • SOU 2010: 55. Delegationen för romska frågor. Romers rätt: En strategi för romer i Sverige: Ett lands behandling av dess romska befolkning är ett lackmustest för det civila samhället och dess demokrati: Betänkande. Stockholm: Fritzes.

    Google Scholar 

  • SOU 2016: 44. Kommissionen mot antiziganism. Kraftsamling mot antiziganism: Slutbetänkande. Stockholm: Wolters Kluwe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torpey, John C. 2006. Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter, Stephen. 2014. Transitional Justice in Established Democracies: A Political Theory. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Malin Arvidsson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

Arvidsson, M., Elmersjö, H.Å. (2021). Recontextualizing Historical Injustice into Education: The Relationship Between a White Paper and a Textbook on the Abuse of the Roma in Swedish History. 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_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70412-4_2

  • 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