engleski

Breaking the Nationalistic Master-Narrative: The Case of Teaching History in Contemporary Croatia

The historical culture in Croatia – as elsewhere in the post-communist Eastern Europe – has been captivated by the nationalistic master-narrative. Hence, this paper elaborates on how my course in Modern Croatian Political History – delivered in the first semester of the Polsci undergraduate studies – aims to break the nationalistic understanding of history. I approach to my students initially by teaching them on particular historical period. Subsequently in seminar discussions upon assigned readings – which usually comprehend my teaching – I introduce the students into a skills of cause – effect thinking thus making them eventually to grasp comprehensively a particular historical events. The observable outcomes have been that students understand history in a much more complex terms then they did prior attending my course. Eventually, they stop blaming others for particular hardships in the Croatian nation’s history. Hence, by deepening the understanding of my students own national history, my classes initially resonate with the aims of the ‘Never Again’ Project. Since the later outcome presents the introduction into coming to terms with the past processes, I think that my classes contribute to prospective break of a future cycle of violence, especially in respect to the legacy of the war for independence that Croatia relatively recently went through.

historical culture, Croatia, nationalism, master-narrative, teaching history, coming to terms with the past

rad je indeksiran u bazi SCOPUS