Teaching Rival Histories: In Search of Narrative Plausibility

Abstract

What are history teachers to do with the ubiquitous discrepancy, conflict, and contradiction among historical interpretations that abound not only in academia but also within and across larger cultures? How can the morass of relativism be avoided after acknowledging that there is not one, true history that “matches” the past? Seixas argues that the chapters in this volume explore many dimensions of the problem of rival histories across international boundaries, but fall short of helping teachers who seek to offer guidance to their students in evaluating contested narratives. Seixas proposes to remedy this shortcoming by building on Jörn Rüsen’s notion of Triftigkeit, or plausibility, defining five dimensions of narrative plausibility. Finally, he uses David Carr’s work to draw the connection between history and experience.