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This article contributes to a preliminary historical and decolonial analysis of teaching and research in the field of education and international development at the UCL Institute of Education. The preliminary analysis, published as ‘Education, decolonisation and international development at the Institute of Education (London): a historical analysis’ by Elaine Unterhalter and Laila Kadiwal, appeared in the Special 120th Anniversary Issue of London Review of Education. That article and our response to it focus on the work of the Centre for Education and International Development, and its preceding organisational forms from 1927 onwards. In a responsive critique, we consider the evidence, methods, analysis and conclusions offered by Unterhalter and Kadiwal and identify a wide range of additional material on curriculum, staff, students and international partnerships that will be of value to future historians. Contemporary decolonial analysis is important for interpreting the history and for the future positioning of the Centre for Education and International Development, and the wider field of study. We conclude by identifying challenges for ongoing work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the changes in education legislation and the history curriculum in Spain over recent decades. To this end, the characteristics established for the teaching of history in the last two education laws, passed in 2013 and 2020 -- the first by a conservative government and the second by a progressive one -- are studied and compared. This study is carried out by situating the education debates presented in this research in the social and political context of Spain. The study of these legislative changes allows us to observe the different visions of national identity existing in Spain, which find a prominent area of confrontation in education and the teaching of history. The article also argues that the emergence of the ultra-right has led to a markedly nationalist vision of Spanish history that seeks to recover elements of national unity, and that has become one of the axes defended by conservative options for the teaching of history in Spanish schools. This view contrasts with the approaches advocated in the latest education legislation, which propose a more heterogeneous approach to the subject of identity in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the writing skills of 7th- and 8th-grade students with a high proportion of migration background in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The study was part of the SchriFT project (2017--20), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. A writing task was given on the topic: Why can we only make assumptions about many past events? As an answer to the task, the students had to write a historical explanation that took into account the epistemological principles of historical reasoning. The students' writing was analysed using a category system, and their historical knowledge was assessed through a knowledge test. The results showed that the students possess diverse levels of writing skills, with few producing elaborate explanations, and most struggling with the subject-specific language and reasoning skills. The study also highlights the potential for genre-based writing approaches in history education. The results suggest that many students perceive history as an image of the past and have limited understanding of historical reasoning. Further research is needed to investigate the influence of motivation and interest on language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple-documents-based (inquiry) tasks are often used to examine historical thinking, as they require students to apply discipline-specific ways of reasoning and writing. Intervention studies using such tasks have often relied on principles from cognitive apprenticeship to make these discipline-specific heuristics explicit to students. While several studies have found positive results, they offer little insight into how and where exactly students' progress on historical thinking manifests itself, nor into the differential effects of the intervention. Building on essay data gathered during an intervention study on students' historical inquiry skills, this study explores differential effects of the intervention according to students' initial historical inquiry ability. To this end, a purposeful sample of students was selected for whom the intervention was particularly effective. The qualitative analysis of students' essay tasks (pretest and posttest) revealed remarkable differences between students with high and low pretest scores. Although both groups made progress on all aspects of the essay task, they differed in terms of where and how this progress manifested itself: at posttest, students with a high initial score outperformed others in evaluating sources and rebuttals. This study offers insight into patterns of progress in students' historical inquiry skills which can inform differentiation in instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a local study of the presence of history as a subject in the kindergartens of Kristiansand, a municipality in southern Norway. There is no syllabus for history in the national curriculum; nevertheless, the research sought to find historical content in the kindergartens. The research method was informed by a precept of history didactics, namely that history is everywhere. Using this observation, tentative categories for content likely to feature history were formulated, and then searched for in the individual yearly plans of the kindergartens. This was supplemented by interviews. It is concluded that, in accordance with the national curriculum, history in the kindergartens is a local affair. It emerges especially through local history, visits to museums, and projects with historical features. This research was not designed to determine whether learning outcomes in history are achieved, nor to consider kindergartens outside Kristiansand. However, it references a corpus of literature on history in Norwegian kindergartens, and interacts with it. The conclusion about the presence of the subject is the same as was found for another city, Trondheim, in research by others. For international readers, the article also argues that in principle it is possible for young children to learn history orally and informally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controversial issues are often regarded as abundant in history education. Most topics can be regarded as controversial in one way or another. The purpose of this article is to analyse the way history teachers in Swedish lower secondary schools relate controversial issues to a particular view of the nature of the subject of history. By analysing statements from six teacher interviews which centred on the risks and opportunities associated with teaching about controversial issues, the authors were able to see a clear relation between views on controversial issues and views on the nature of history as such. The teachers' reactions to the introduction of controversial issues, whether introduced by the teacher or by the students, was in many cases directly related to a specific view of the subject itself and its epistemological nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a 2017 book chapter on the continuing erasure of Indigenous epistemes in academia, the Sami scholar Rauna Kuokkanen posed an important question: is it acceptable for a site of learning to be so ignorant? Foregrounding Indigenous scholarship from the Arctic, this article examines the potential of history education to address this question. Based on previous research on Arctic gender history and the coloniality of knowledge, I suggest a paradigm shift, in view of the new UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development framework (May 2021). The research investigates the challenges and opportunities that history education offers in terms of epistemic and cognitive justice within the context of Arctic memory cultures. The article concludes that much can be learned from (not about) Indigenous scholarship, which has long demonstrated a range of critical and sustainable methodologies that offer opportunities to seek epistemic justice and the restitution of cultural memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid a growing national debate regarding the current health and future direction of the history curriculum in Britain, there have been numerous calls for an examination of its roles and purposes, and questions have been raised as to how far it engages an increasingly diverse student body. This article examines the perceptions and attitudes of students towards the history curriculum within the context of one secondary school in south-east England through an exploratory case study. The findings draw upon research undertaken with Year 9 students, through 105 completed questionnaires, and through focus group interviews conducted with 12 participants. Thematic analysis suggests that, although students very much value learning about British history, they would prefer a curriculum with a wider focus which incorporates broader global studies. Although the environment offered by the case study is not particularly socially diverse, there is evidence that some groups of students desire greater curriculum reform and inclusivity. As a case study, the results are not intended to be generalised outside of context, but merely to provide points of discussion regarding an area in which prior research has been somewhat limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on an approach to the concept of historical time in early childhood education through the lens of cognitive psychology. It consists of three parts: (1) theoretical approaches, inspired by three broad scientific fields -- cognitive psychology, pedagogy and history; (2) the presentation of educational examples, formed by empirical data and case studies; and (3) conclusions. Its main purpose is to combine theoretical approaches and findings from contemporary scientific research with empirical data from the educational process, so as to argue that kindergarten children can represent and be taught the concept of historical time and, with its help, can be introduced to history education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing legacies of past injustice is a central concern for transitional justice. It has most commonly been attempted through a 'truth-telling' approach; it is assumed that if the truth of past injustices is made known, then justice can be acted upon within contemporary society. 'Truth telling' - and disciplinary approaches to learning about past injustices - is therefore a central rationale for postconflict history education. However, this article argues that 'truth telling' is not sufficient for transitional justice history education. Instead, greater attention should be paid to historical legacies, since it is beliefs about how the past impacts the present that shape reparation decision making. While the concept of historical legacies has been under-theorised by transitional justice scholars, this article demonstrates how recent work from the field of history education can be helpful. In particular, this article distinguishes between legacies as essentialised causal relationship between the past and the present, and legacies which refer to how people construct causal relationships between the past and present. By understanding legacies as constructs, this article encourages history educators to engage with how identity factors may mediate the way in which students understand the impact of the past on the present, particularly in postconflict societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study that examined the historical social narratives of 14–17-year-old Finnish-speaking adolescents in Finland and transnational settings. Our goal was to research what kinds of narratives young people would tell when they were asked to write the history of a group or nationality most suitable for them. The research material was collected as part of data collection in 2020 from three cities: a small Finnish town, a medium-sized city in Finland and a large European city outside Finland. We analysed whether young people chose to write national, sub-national or supra-national historical social narratives. Place-based differences in results were apparent, and we analysed these differences using the concept of spatial socialisation. We also discuss the challenges that history education faces in the light of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have studied how eliciting historical empathy in a class of 13th grade students through using the film 12 Years a Slave (McQueen, 2013) supported their in-depth understanding of slavery in nineteenth-century USA. Historical empathy is one of the core elements of the new curricular reform implemented from 2020 in Norway, and it is believed to have potential to strengthen: (1) students’ future citizenship and participation in democratic and multicultural societies; and (2) students’ in-depth understanding of history. We implemented a five-week lesson plan with different activities based around the film, and used students’ assignments to evaluate their feelings about the lessons and their historical understanding of slavery. The results confirmed the potential of film to enhance historical empathy when the screening is well prepared and combined with relevant activities. Students demonstrated a high level of engagement and managed to perform complex tasks. Both their ability to contextualise and to ‘care’ improved. Particularly, students’ historical understanding of slavery was boosted by the group conversations and the dialogic nature of the activities in the classroom. In addition, we observed a greater positive influence on boys’ achievements compared with girls’ – a finding which is interesting in a wider educational context and which needs further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released a Final Report containing 94 Calls to Action. Included were calls for reform in how history is taught in Canadian schools, so that students may learn to address such difficult topics in Canadian history as Indian Residential Schools, racism and cultural genocide. Operating somewhat in parallel to these reforms, social studies curricula across Canada have undergone substantial revisions. As a result, historical thinking is now firmly embedded within the curricula of most provinces and territories. Coupled with these developments are various academic debates regarding public pedagogy, difficult knowledge and student beliefs about Canada's colonial past. Such debates require that researchers develop a better understanding of how knowledge related to Truth and Reconciliation is currently presented within Canadian classrooms, and how this may (or may not) relate to historical thinking. In this paper, I explore this debate as it relates to Indian Residential Schools. I then analyse a selection of classroom resources currently available in Canada for teaching about Truth and Reconciliation. In so doing, I consider how these relate to Peter Seixas's six concepts of historical thinking (Seixas and Morton, 2013), as well as broader discussions within Canada about Indigenous world views, historical empathy and Reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ has become extremely influential in discussions about curriculum in England over the last ten years. However, the concept seems to have done little to revolutionise curriculum design, and in some cases it has led to curricular narrowing and a focus on an increasingly nationalistic narrative in history. Michael Young (2019, 2021) has argued that the failure of the concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ to underpin meaningful curriculum reforms has been mainly due to its misinterpretation and loose definition. This paper explores these claims and finds that key voices in education in England, and history education specifically, have misunderstood and misapplied the concept of powerful knowledge. However, it also makes the case that powerful knowledge cannot be meaningfully defined in terms of history education, and that attempts to make curricular decisions based on the concept are therefore a distraction from more meaningful curricular work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to apply various reading skills is an important prerequisite to comprehend expository texts commonly found in history textbooks, but it is unclear which specific skills contribute to students' historical content knowledge and historical reasoning abilities. This study used a digital learning environment (DLE) to measure and support lower secondary students' subject-specific reading skills, and explored the relationships with students' historical content knowledge and historical reasoning ability. Results showed that subject-specific reading skills, such as explaining historical events, correlated significantly with both historical content knowledge and historical reasoning ability, but not all skills were significant predictors. These findings indicate that to promote the advanced practice of historical reasoning, history teachers should pay attention to students' reading comprehension skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores student meaning making in a Grade 11 US history unit on the Second World War. The 10-lesson unit was designed as an experiment that aimed to apply an instructional model of historical consciousness to a classroom context. Although the notion of historical consciousness has gained significant interest in the field of history education, translating it into educational practice remains a challenge. In this study, it refers to a disposition to make meaning of the past for oneself, which is manifested in three meaning-making abilities and processes (Boix Mansilla and Gardner, 2007; Nordgren and Johansson, 2015; Rüsen, 2004). To study the manifestation of historical consciousness in the learning process during this unit, I employed found poetry on collected classroom transcripts and observations, as well as student work. I turned to this qualitative, arts-informed method when I realised the analytic methods that I had employed so far failed to capture important subtleties of students' historical consciousness emerging from the data. In this paper, I present and discuss the results of my analysis, offer a rationale for using found poetry in history education research and reflect on the need for relevant and meaningful school history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a trend in popular historical culture which has seen the increasing replacement of a concept of history that rests on some form of evidence base by visions of fictional pasts, or - to put it more precisely - by an ambiguous blend of the past and fictional pasts. Drawing on ethnographic research focused on the contents of Austrian children's rooms, this paper explores traceable manifestations of history and historical fiction, particularly toy dragons and dinosaurs, in their properties as objects and as focuses of their owners' interpretations as ascertained in interviews. The research finds little clear demarcation in the minds of the children interviewed (all between 8 and 12 years old) between imaginings and cognitive attempts to reconstruct the past. The article examines the influence of these factual-fictional representations on historical thinking from a history education perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In history curriculum design in England, currently at least two loci of authority - the history teachers' 'extended writing movement' and the national awarding body Pearson Edexcel - present somewhat contrasting portrayals of the narrative mode for the purposes of historical causal explanation. Nonetheless, both loci suggest they are reappropriating academic knowledge for the purposes of secondary schooling in a fashion similar to what Basil Bernstein (1986) dubs 'recontextualisation'. As a practising history teacher, I provide a phenomenological critique of Pearson Edexcel's specifications for the national GCSE and A-level examinations from the perspective of the extended writing movement's realisation of the Bernsteinian model, with a specific focus on the narrative mode for the purposes of historical causal explanation. In order to characterise the status of historical narrative in the academic field of production, I draw on analytic philosophies of history, theories of history by practising historians and historical explanations from one historiography: the Salem witch trials. Finally, I make recommendations for future reforms in national history examinations in England: constant revaluation with reference to academic knowledge; the avoidance of specific yet unsustainable claims about the discipline of history generally; and the abandonment of a genre-led assessment in favour of an epistemology-led alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the growing body of literature concerning teaching and learning about the Holocaust, very little research has explored the experiences of teachers from an emotional perspective. This study considers the emotion work done by educators who are teaching about the Holocaust at the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Through the lens of 'emotional labour', the study explores how the educators articulate their emotion work, and how they manage their emotions in situ. The findings reveal a complex interplay of emotion work and self-preservation that results in educators variously altering the extent to which they are 'present' and how they choose to withdraw themselves emotionally from certain exhibits or spaces at the museum. The study also reveals the benefits of the informal emotional support network that exists between the educators, as well as the various routines they adopt to help them manage their emotion work. It is argued that the findings of this paper highlight a need for further research into how teachers teach about emotionally difficult histories such as this, in similar and more diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to problematise the use of visits to heritage sites in history education in primary school. The empirical basis is a questionnaire and interviews with teachers in Sweden. Theoretically, the perspective is linked to the discussion of affective practices. The results show the connection that some, but not all, teachers recognise between different forms of historical knowledge. According to these teachers, visits to heritage sites activate the sensory experiences of the pupils, which has a positive impact on the pupils' learning. Two ideal approaches can be discerned when it comes to the use of visits to heritage sites in history education. Such visits form either a teacher-driven, integral part of the education, or the teacher assigns the display of the site to local guides. The two approaches can be related to the history subject that appears in education, although this is ultimately determined by the educational setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on theories of historical justice, reconciliation and transformative change, this article investigates how 293 secondary school students make sense of the difficult past, present and future of the Romani in a national history test. Using qualitative and quantitative text analysis, this study seeks to explore whom students foreground as agents of change in regard to the Roma past, present and future. Considering the past and looking to the future, the inquiry led students to narrate four scenarios: no change; a regression to a past state of no rights; a development for the better; a future free from oppression. While the students underscored the importance of a shared responsibility for Roma rights, they stressed the nation state as the single most important agent of change for Roma rights in the present and future. Against the backdrop of justice and change, this study argues that while students realise and recognise Roma rights through their narrational practices, and thus may become empowered to act for a just future, these narratives also re-establish historical cultural and ethnic group boundaries which potentially may disempower young learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how undergraduates, as historical thinkers, learn to interact with history and construct their understanding of the past, and examines the role that primary and secondary sources play in narrative construction and revision. Using the African American civil rights movement as a content focus, participants used images to create initial narratives that reflected their understanding of the movement. Half the participants then read an essay on the movement written by a prominent historian, and the other half examined 18 primary sources that reflected the historian's interpretation of the movement. Participants then each created a second narrative, again selecting images to depict their understanding of the movement. The results of the study suggest that even as students work with primary sources, they need an effective narrative framework based on recent scholarship to forge powerful counter-narratives that transcend outdated interpretations and historical myths. In terms of teaching and learning about the lengthy struggle for racial justice in the United States, simply encouraging teachers and students to 'do history' and conduct their own online research is unlikely to change persistent narrative structures that continue to enable and excuse systemic racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching sensitive histories in post-conflict societies makes particular demands on educators to understand students' identities and their relationships to the past. This paper expands our understanding of post-conflict youth identities and experiences of history education through a small-scale study of students' life stories in Northern Ireland which defied sectarian boundaries in different ways: some were children of interfaith marriages, while others attended integrated schools or were part of cross-community peace-building organisations. Participants saw themselves as forging new identities and 'moving on' from the past, although this process was fraught with ambivalence. I describe these expressions of identity through Ulrich Beck's (1992) model of triple individualisation. For these 'postsectarian' students, school history was seen largely as a tool towards achieving qualification, far removed from their everyday struggles of self-fashioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a study that analyses students' historical narratives of the nation in relation to historical consciousness and how their sense of self-identification with groups affects their narrative structure and orientation. This study was conducted with French Canadian students registered in two high schools (n=58) and one university (n=18) in Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada. I found that a strong sense of identification leads young people to construct more engaging and militant stories of the collective past, with greater historical appropriation (using the collective 'we') and a sense of continuity with past actualities. I then discuss the implications of this study for research on the narrative competence of historical consciousness and what history education might do in school to promote historical consciousness in Canada.

This paper reports on a study that invited 187 16–18-year-old students in the United States to draw diagrams showing connections between their own lives and the past. Interviews were subsequently held with 26 study participants. The degree to which students made connections between their own lives and the past, and the various ways in which they integrated personal and historical narratives, are discussed, with three examples explored in detail. The ways in which interviewed students talked about their diagrams point to the significance of individuals' understandings of the nature of historical knowledge for how they use the past to orient their own lives.

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years as an independent state following more than half a century under colonial rule. Since independence, Uganda has experienced a period of political turmoil and civil war within its constructed colonial borders. Given these historical experiences, what do students find important about their nation's history and what history do they relate to when asked to explain their contemporary society and envisage possible futures? This article argues that Ugandan students' historical orientation is informed by and dependent on these students' local contexts. Furthermore, those students adopting a retrospective approach to history, compared with those applying a prospective approach, made more sophisticated judgements about the past. The study on which this article is based explores 219 narratives written by 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. The narratives were elicited through written responses to three assignments and were designed to capture different approaches to history, specifically prospective and retrospective approaches. Participants originated from two distinct regions: central and northern Uganda. The empirical results show how different approaches to history influence the students' narratives. For instance, value judgements about past developments were more common among students applying a retrospective approach. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline.

The aim of this article is to analyse adolescents' views of Swedish history. A small number of adults were also included in the study. The analysis shows that, regardless of the age of the informants, Sweden is portrayed as an exception from the world through its legacy of a long peace (in spite of a war-torn distant history) and through its enjoyment of progress, democracy and prosperity. We interpret this as a result of a history culture in which schools as well as other institutions produce a common, conflict-free history, which may be challenged in an emerging neonationalist era.

National narratives have often served to mobilize the masses for war by providing myths and distorted interpretations of the past, while conversely wars were major sources for producing national narratives. Because national history is very likely to remain a central topic in history education, albeit in ways that differ from how the topic was used fifty years ago, it is important to gain a greater understanding of the underlying structures and mechanisms of these narratives in history textbooks. After outlining the historical interconnectedness of the emerging nation states and history teaching, this review article explains the complexity of the history textbook as an educational resource. Next, we identify some current problems and challenges in history textbook research. We continue by discussing promising research trends related mainly to national narratives, such as the analysis of images, the use of digital tools, and studies of the autonomy of textbook narratives and of history textbooks in relation to other media. Another recent reorientation is textbook research that uses a holistic approach. By this we mean studies that examine the history textbook as a whole: composition, periodization, visual intertextuality and chapters that do not at first glance appear to focus on national history. These studies offer new insights and explanations for the perpetuation of national narratives in history textbooks.

This paper reports on a study that invited 187 16-18-year-old students in the United States to draw diagrams showing connections between their own lives and the past. Interviews were subsequently held with 26 study participants. The degree to which students made connections between their own lives and the past, and the various ways in which they integrated personal and historical narratives, are discussed, with three examples explored in detail. The ways in which interviewed students talked about their diagrams point to the significance of individuals' understandings of the nature of historical knowledge for how they use the past to orient their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a study that analyses students' historical narratives of the nation in relation to historical consciousness and how their sense of self-identification with groups affects their narrative structure and orientation. This study was conducted with French Canadian students registered in two high schools (n=58) and one university (n=18) in Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada. I found that a strong sense of identification leads young people to construct more engaging and militant stories of the collective past, with greater historical appropriation (using the collective 'we') and a sense of continuity with past actualities. I then discuss the implications of this study for research on the narrative competence of historical consciousness and what history education might do in school to promote historical consciousness in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National narratives have often served to mobilize the masses for war by providing myths and distorted interpretations of the past, while conversely wars were major sources for producing national narratives. Because national history is very likely to remain a central topic in history education, albeit in ways that differ from how the topic was used fifty years ago, it is important to gain a greater understanding of the underlying structures and mechanisms of these narratives in history textbooks. After outlining the historical interconnectedness of the emerging nation states and history teaching, this review article explains the complexity of the history textbook as an educational resource. Next, we identify some current problems and challenges in history textbook research. We continue by discussing promising research trends related mainly to national narratives, such as the analysis of images, the use of digital tools, and studies of the autonomy of textbook narratives and of history textbooks in relation to other media. Another recent reorientation is textbook research that uses a holistic approach. By this we mean studies that examine the history textbook as a whole: composition, periodization, visual intertextuality and chapters that do not at first glance appear to focus on national history. These studies offer new insights and explanations for the perpetuation of national narratives in history textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years as an independent state following more than half a century under colonial rule. Since independence, Uganda has experienced a period of political turmoil and civil war within its constructed colonial borders. Given these historical experiences, what do students find important about their nation's history and what history do they relate to when asked to explain their contemporary society and envisage possible futures? This article argues that Ugandan students' historical orientation is informed by and dependent on these students' local contexts. Furthermore, those students adopting a retrospective approach to history, compared with those applying a prospective approach, made more sophisticated judgements about the past. The study on which this article is based explores 219 narratives written by 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. The narratives were elicited through written responses to three assignments and were designed to capture different approaches to history, specifically prospective and retrospective approaches. Participants originated from two distinct regions: central and northern Uganda. The empirical results show how different approaches to history influence the students' narratives. For instance, value judgements about past developments were more common among students applying a retrospective approach. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse adolescents' views of Swedish history. A small number of adults were also included in the study. The analysis shows that, regardless of the age of the informants, Sweden is portrayed as an exception from the world through its legacy of a long peace (in spite of a war-torn distant history) and through its enjoyment of progress, democracy and prosperity. We interpret this as a result of a history culture in which schools as well as other institutions produce a common, conflict-free history, which may be challenged in an emerging neonationalist era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]