Abstract
Using discourse methodology, the chapter examines the discursive construction of national identity in prescribed history textbooks. Data analysis consisted of interviews of secondary history teachers. The respondents offered detailed statements on the link between national identity, ideology, and Russian history textbooks. The interviews demonstrated that some respondents felt that certain key and controversial events were either ignored or not discussed critically in current Russian history textbooks. New research data was provided for the relationship between national identity and history education. Most respondents agreed that the national identity was formed through the study of historical narratives, depicting significant events in the history of Russia. Finally, most respondents agreed, which was indicative of the political climate in the RF, that the primary value of history education in schools was education for national identity, patriotism, and citizenship education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aleksashkina, L. (2013). Email communication, 8 July 2013.
Allan, B. & Hopf, T. (2016). Recovering discourses of national identity. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190255473.001.0001/acprof-9780190255473-chapter-2
Altbach, G. P., Kelly, H. G., & Petrie, L. W. (Eds.). (2011). Textbooks in American Society: Politics, policy and pedagogy. State University of New York.
Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Revised and extended). Verso.
Anyon, J. (1979). Ideology and United States history textbooks. Harvard Educational Review, 49, 361–386.
Apple, M. (1993). Official knowledge: Democratic education in a conservative age. Routledge.
Apple, M. (2004). Ideology and curriculum (3rd ed.). Routledge Falmer.
Bauman, G. (1996). Contesting culture. Cambridge University Press.
Brubaker, R. (1994). Nationhood and the national question in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Eurasia: An institutional account. Theory and Society, 23, 23–47.
Burris, V. (1988). Reification: A marxist perspective. Sociologist, 10(1), 22–43. https://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~vburris/reification.pdf
Castells, M. (2006). Globalisation and identity. A comparative perspective. Retrieved from https://llull.cat/IMAGES_175/transfer01-foc01.pdf
Castells, M. (2010). The power of identity (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Crawford, K. (2000). Researching the ideological and political role of the history textbook: Issues and methods. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251533858_Researching_the_Ideological_and_Political_Role_of_the_History_Textbook_-_Issues_and_Methods
De Castell, S., Luke, A., & Luke, C. (1989). Beyond criticism: The authority of the school textbook. In S. De Castell, A. Luke, & C. Luke (Eds.), Language, authority and criticism: Readings on the school textbook. Falmer Press.
De Cillia, R., Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (1999). The discursive construction of national identities. Discourse and Society, 10(2), 149–173.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of grammatology. John Hopkins University Press.
Foucault, M. (1969). The Archæology of knowledge. Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things. Tavistock.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish. Penguin.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977, edited by G. Gordon. Harvester Press.
Halbwachs, M. (1950). La mémoire collective. Mouton.
Halbwachs, M. (1992). On collective memory. University of Chicago Press.
Hall, S. (1996). Cultural identity and diaspora. Retrieved from http://sites.middlebury.edu/nydiasporaworkshop/files/2011/04/D-OA-HallStuart-CulturalIdentityandDiaspora.pdf
Koval, T. (2013). Interview, 3 December 2013.
Minson, J. (1985). Genealogies of morals. Nietzsche, Foucault, Donzelot and the Eccentricity of ethics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Nietzsche, F. (1967). On the genealogy of morals. Vintage Books.
Perkins, K. Kurtiş, T. & Velazquez, L. (2019). What it means to be “one of us”: Discourses of national identity in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0147176718304711
Pratte, R. (1977). Ideology and education. David McKay.
Provenzo, E., Shaver, A., & Bello, M. (Eds.). (2011). The textbook as discourse: Sociocultural dimensions of American schoolbooks. Routledge.
Putin, V. (2003). Pseudoliberalism’ has no place in Russian history textbooks. Retrieved from http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=11904
Putin, V. (2012a). On necessarily to standardize textbooks. Retrieved from http://www.edu.ru/index.php?page_id=5&topic_id=3&date=&sid=20190&ntype=nuke
Putin, V. (2012b). History revisionism is ‘intolerable’, Putin’s speech, 25 June 2012. Retrieved from: http://rt.com/politics/israel-putin-nazism-monument-664/
Putin, V. (2013). Speech at the meeting of the Council for International Relations, February 19. Retrieved from http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/5017
Putin, V. (2014). Meeting with members of the Holy Synod and representatives of local Orthodox Churches (The President of Russia). Retrieved from: http://article.wn.com/view/2014/07/19/Meeting_with_members_of_the_Holy_Synod_and_representatives_o/
Sarup, M. (1993). An introductory guide to post-structuralism and postmodernism (2nd ed.). Harvester/Wheasheaf.
Shubin, A. (2013). Interview, 15 July 2013.
Smith, A. (2001). Nationalism: Theory, ideology, history. Polity Press.
Whitehouse, J. (2018). Critical analysis of sources in history: Developing historical thinking. Education and Society, 36(2), 5–14.
Wodak, R., et al. (2009). The Discursive construction of national identity. Edinburgh University Press.
Zajda, R. (1988). ‘The Calculable Woman’. Discourses of the self and sexuality in the Australian Women’s magazine Cleo. Thesis. University of Melbourne.
Zajda, J. (2009). Teachers and the politics of history textbooks. In L. Saha & A. Dworkin (Eds.), The new international handbook of research on teachers and teaching (pp. 373–387). Springer.
Zajda, J. (2015). Nation-Building and history education in a global culture. In J. Zajda (Ed.), Nation-building and history education in a global culture (pp. 183–189). Springer.
Zajda, J. (2017). Globalisation and national identity in history textbooks: The Russian Federation. Springer. http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789402409710
Zajda, J. (Ed.). (2021). 3rd International handbook of globalisation, education and policy research. Springer.
Zajda, J., & Whitehouse, J. (2018). The Russian revolution in school history textbooks. World Studies in Education, 18(2), 61–88.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zajda, J. (2022). The Discursive Construction of National Identity in Prescribed History Textbooks. In: Zajda, J., Davidovitch, N., Majhanovich, S. (eds) Discourses of Globalisation, Multiculturalism and Cultural Identity. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92608-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92608-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92607-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92608-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)