Abstract:A nation, argued Ernest Renan (1882), requires the 'possession in common of a rich legacy of memories': the shared narrative of a national past, on which to build an identity and common purpose. Follo...A nation, argued Ernest Renan (1882), requires the 'possession in common of a rich legacy of memories': the shared narrative of a national past, on which to build an identity and common purpose. Following in the footsteps of Eric Hobsbawm (1983) and Benedict Anderson (1983), various historians have come to examine the shaping of this narrative as a political project, in particular through the construction of a national history curriculum and its implementation in the classroom. Specifically, Laura Hein and Mark Selden argue (1998) that 'stories […] about the national past' included in history textbooks are 'invariably prescriptive', while Norman Vasu et al. (2014) describe the broader narratives presented as 'powerful and necessary tools in shaping national identity'. These dynamics are present in Southeast Asia, where Anthony Milner (2005) and Helen Ting (2009) have identified nationalist agendas in Malaysia's history textbooks before and after independence, while Agus Suwignyo (2014) has shown the extent of state manipulation in Indonesian textbooks under Suharto's dictatorship.Read More
Publication Year: 2018
Publication Date: 2018-10-30
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 20
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