Imagining the nation: A textual analysis of Canadian and Australian history education materials

grantor: University of TorontoIn this study, I examine the relationship between citizenship and history education in the teaching of national history. I examine three aspects of "reflective-active citizenship": critical citizenship literacy (skills for recognizing the interpretive lenses through which historical narratives are constructed), conflictual content (content that invites students to investigate historical conflicts and/or their connection to contemporary debates), and self reflection (learning opportunities that would guide students to be critically self-reflective in relation to the histories examined). In relation to the model of "reflective-active citizenship" I propose, I conduct a textual analysis of four sets of contemporary educational materials produced in two multicultural settler nations, formerly colonized by Britain (two from Canada and two from Australia). In my comparison of the four case studies, I discuss how the history educational materials include explicit and implicit lessons in national identity.M.A