Text and Contexts: Pedagogical Practices for a History Textbook Lesson on the 1947 British India Partition

Abstract

In this chapter, Meenakshi Chhabra draws attention to the practices that teachers employ in the teaching of a history lesson on a historical event of mass violence, the 1947 British India Partition of Punjab. Through interviews with three high school history teachers in three different contexts, Chhabra engages in the complex dynamic between collective memory, textbook content, school context and the teachers’ multiple pedagogical practices of challenging, appropriating and reframing or adapting textbook and collective memory narratives of Partition. The analysis suggests implications for teacher training and possibilities for innovative practices related to historical events of violence, toward promoting a just, humane and inclusive democratic society.

I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the support from Seeds of Peace, the Fulbright Nehru Fellowship and Georg Eckert Institute for the research and writing of this chapter.