Religion and interreligious contacts constitute an important source of dynamics in past as well as present societies. The perception of the position and role of religion and religious diversity in society is subject to change. At present, religion and interreligious contacts are often one-sidedly negatively framed, as a source of ...
(Show more)Religion and interreligious contacts constitute an important source of dynamics in past as well as present societies. The perception of the position and role of religion and religious diversity in society is subject to change. At present, religion and interreligious contacts are often one-sidedly negatively framed, as a source of conflict and violence, and not compatible with modern societies. The past, however, offers a much more nuanced picture. In this respect, the question arises as to what social representations of interreligious contacts in the past are being constructed and disseminated. This is examined for the three most widespread current history textbook series for general secondary education in Flanders. By means of a content and discourse analysis, it is examined for the six grades of secondary education (covering the past from prehistory till today) which contacts are discussed, from which perspective they are looked at, which actors are named, how the contacts are framed, which (positive, negative or neutral) connotations are attributed to them, and to what extent and how past and present are related to each other.
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