History Teaching and the Perpetuation of Memories: the Northern Ireland Experience

Abstract

Teaching history in a society that has experienced violent and on-going conflict, at least partially as a consequence of contested views of national identity, presents significant challenges for educators. This is particularly true in Northern Ireland, where the continued existence of two parallel educational systems often has been implicated in the perpetuation of community divisions, and where new directions in education are regularly promoted as important contributors to peace and reconciliation (Murray, Smith and Birthistle, 1997). This chapter examines the role of formal history instruction in Northern Ireland schools and points to some of the ways history teaching may help to overcome — or perpetuate — perceptions of community antagonism rooted in the past. In particular, we explore whether an emphasis on evidence-based inquiry and the avoidance of questions of identity, provides the most appropriate balance of historical approaches in a setting such as Northern Ireland.