Preliminary Programme

This paper will look at ways in which national histories had an impact on broader national historical cultures in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. It will, for example, discuss the interrelationship of historical writing and of historians with architecture, music, film, fictional writing and other academic genres, such as ethnology or geography. The basis aim of the paper is to assess the importance of national historical writing for representations of national identities more generally. (Show less)

This paper will look at the narrative constructions of national history and their interrelationship with other so-called master narratives, namely those of ethnicity/race, class, religion and gender. After a brief discussion of the conceptual field, it will ask whether those ‘others’ were able to challenge national master narratives or whether they are better understood as constituting major ingredients of national master narratives. (Show less)

The ‘missionary imperialism’ that promoted the hegemony of the dominant ethnic or national group(s) within most European empires encouraged the subsuming and conflation of civic and ethno-cultural dimensions of identity within a broader imperial framework to mollify competing nationalist discourses. This was particularly true of the British imperial experience, ensuring that the historical legacy of England and Britain became intertwined within a broader imperial historical discourse. The historical master-narrative constructed suggested a homogeneity and continuity which was thoroughly British. However, intensity of identity was defined by ethnic, social and religious proximity and commonality to the English core of empire. As the British state accepted responsibility for the provision and expansion of compulsory education during the latter half of the 19th century, state-authenticated national history strove to inculcate a singular imperial identity. This ensured that, whilst other groups might be acknowledged within the imperial-national story, a historically substantiated ethnic, social, religious and national hierarchy demarked state-sponsored conceptions of identity that were promoted within schools across Britain.

The paper will establish an original theoretical analysis that considers the relationship between empire, state and nation, and the extent to which imperial education systems could successfully disseminate common frameworks of identity through history lessons. It will explore the cauterising legacy that post-imperial states are presented with that encourages a process of identity transition, and will assess its impact on approaches to history teaching and identity construction in schools. The paper will consider empirically imperial and post-imperial approaches to history teaching in Britain since the late 19th century. As the decline of empire has encouraged historical revisionism within Britain that embraces post-colonial and post-imperial dimensions, history teaching in state schools has become highly competitive. The paper will conclude by considering the politicisation of discourses concerning history teaching. It will assess the extent to which debates regarding Britishness and the role of empire within the national story are influenced by orthodox approaches to history teaching founded on an enduring imperial identity that promotes an exclusory view of the past that refutes the multiethnic, multicultural, multinational and multi-religious foundations of contemporary British society. (Show less)