Textbooks in history, geography and the social sciences provide important insights into the ways in which nation-states project themselves. Based on case studies of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Turkey Bulgaria, Russia, and the United States, this volume shows the role that concepts of space and time play in the narration of ''our country'' and the wider world in which it is located. It explores ways in which in western European countries the nation is reinterpreted through European lenses to replace national approaches in the writing of history. On the other hand, in an effort to overcome Eurocentric views,''world history'' has gained prominence in the United States. Yet again, East European countries, coming recently out of a transnational political union, have their own issues with the concept of nation to contend with. These recent developments in the field of textbooks and curricula open up new and fascinating perspectives on the changing patterns of the re-positioning process of nation-states in West as well as Eastern Europe and the United States in an age of growing importance of transnational organizations and globalization.

Textbooks in history, geography and the social sciences provide important insights into the ways in which nation-states project themselves. Based on case studies of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Turkey Bulgaria, Russia, and the United States, this volume shows the role that concepts of space and time play in the narration of ‘our country’ and the wider world in which it is located. It explores ways in which in western European countries the nation is reinterpreted through European lenses to replace national approaches in the writing of history. On the other hand, in an effort to overcome Eurocentric views,’world history’ has gained prominence in the United States. Yet again, East European countries, coming recently out of a transnational political union, have their own issues with the concept of nation to contend with. These recent developments in the field of textbooks and curricula open up new and fascinating perspectives on the changing patterns of the re-positioning process of nation-states in West as well as Eastern Europe and the United States in an age of growing importance of transnational organizations and globalization.

List of Figures and Tables
Preface

Introduction: Teaching beyond the National Narrative
Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal and Hanna Schissler

PART I: EUROPE CONTESTED

Chapter 1. Projections of Identity in French and German History and Civics Textbooks
Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal, Teresa Bertilotti, and Sabine Mannitz

Chapter 2. Privileged Migrants in Germany, France, and the Netherlands: Return Migrants, Repatriates, and Expellees after 1945
Rainer Ohliger

Chapter 3. What Counts as History and How Much Does History Count? The Case of French Secondary Education
Jacques E.C. Hymans

Chapter 4. The Decline and Rise of the Nation in German History Education
Julian Dierkes

PART II: EUROPE SEEN FROM THE PERIPHERY

Chapter 5. Nation and the Other in Greek and Turkish History Textbooks
Vasilia Lilian Antoniou and Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal

Chapter 6. “Europe” in Bulgarian Conceptions of Nationhood
Tim Pilbrow

Chapter 7. Learning about Europe and the World: Schools, Teachers, and Textbooks in Russia after 1991
Robert Maier

Chapter 8. Europe in Spanish Textbooks: a Vague Image in the Space of Memory
Miguel A. Pereyra and Antonio Luzón

PART III: GLOBAL FRAMEWORKS AND APPROACHES TO WORLD HISTORY

Chapter 9. World History and General Education: How to Bring the World into the Classroom
Michael Geyer

Chapter 10. Cartographies of Connection: Ocean Maps as Metaphors for Inter-Area History
Kären Wigen

Chapter 11. World History: Making Sense of the Present
Hanna Schissler

Notes on Contributors
Index