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The nature and place of
narrative in History
education
Dr Robert Parkes
Senior Lecturer in History Education,
Curriculum Theory, and Media Literacy
The contemporary call for
narrative in History
education
Dr Robert Parkes
Senior Lecturer in History Education,
Curriculum Theory, and Media Literacy
What’s the story?
What I will argue
in this presentation
Thesi
s Sta
tem
ent/
s(a
work
in p
rogre
ss)
Calls for ‘narrative’ history in the
classroom generally adopt a uni-
dimensional understanding of narrative
(and responses to these calls are also
often guilty of the same). A narrative pedagogy needs to be more
than the rehearsal of a singular
national story, and instead needs to
focus on how we can engage ethically
and effectively with (rival) narratives.
If we draw on understandings of
narrative from Narrative Theory and
the Philosophy of History, the
hermeneutic aspects of history
education becomes evident; and
exploring ‘reception’ becomes a critical
pedagogical mission that requires
utilizing the connection between
history and hermeneutics.
Who’s telling this story?
About the Presenter
Robert
J. Pa
rkes
Working within an historical, philosophical, and
literary tradition of Curriculum Studies (rather
than within an empiricist social science
tradition); PhD explored history curriculum after ‘the end of
history’ (published as “Interrupting History” a
book that explores history education after
postmodernism); Recently guest co-edited with Professor Monika
Vinterek (Darlana University) a special issue of
the journal “Education Sciences” that examined
the issue of how history educators are
responding to narrative diversity in different
regional jurisdictions; Once told my arguments were ‘redolent of
Gadamer’ (who I hadn’t read at the time, but in
retrospect can see why – I take as a starting point
that we are thoroughly ‘historical beings’ with an
historically constituted ‘historical consciousness’
– There is no outside history).
A shared story?
The Australian History
Curriculum Experience and its
Recent British Resonances
The S
truggle
for
His
tory
/His
tori
es
Regularly an area of
public debate, government disquiet, and
a site of struggle over
cultural literacy, collective memory, and
the national narrative. This happens irrespective
of, and often without any
evidence of, what actually
happens in classrooms, as
Barton (2012) has noted.
‘New
His
tory
’ of
1990s
Curr
icula
Mandatory Australian
History
Indigenous & Women’s
perspectives (and Whig legacy)
Australia as part of Asia
Revi
sions
and
React
ions
In Australia, the central concern in this
debate centred on representations of the
colonisation of Australia, and its interlocutors included
scholars, media commentators, and Prime Ministers on both sides of the political divide.
Curr
iculu
m S
hift Invasion” as an
alternative to “peaceful settlement”
as a description of the
colonisation process.
(Land, 1994)
Conti
nuin
g d
ebate
s ove
r cu
rric
ulu
m
conte
nt
Development of an Australian (national)
Curriculum
Howard’s (Sept 2012) Sir
Paul Hasluck Foundation
Inaugural Lecture call for “a
proper sense of history”. Not ‘black armband’ or
‘white blindfold’. (Gillard,
2010)
Conti
nuit
ies
of
Conce
rn
Displacement of the ‘great tradition’ by
the ‘New History’ (of the 1980s) with a
strong focus on skills Despite reforms that have provided a
more balanced curriculum, continual
concerns that students learn ‘bits and
pieces’ of history but leave without a
“coherent mental framework of the past”
(Davies, 2011); reinforced by surveys
that ‘show’ how students and the public
don’t know (what someone considers)
‘the basics’. The challenges of rival narratives (in a
multicultural society)… and a depiction of
alternative perspectives on the national
past as partisan and political; while
triumphant narratives are presented as
‘unbiased’ or ‘balanced’ accounts.
Who wants to hear a
story?
The conservative construction
of history as (grand) narrative
Gro
ve’s
Pro
posa
lfo
r U
K’s
Nati
onal
Curr
iculu
m
Long list of important and
heroic individuals (Names
and dates)
An intense focus on ‘the
island story’ of Britain:
“know and understand
British history as a coherent,
chronological narrative, from
the story of the first settlers
in these islands to the
development of the institutions which govern our
lives today”
Need f
or
students
to
pla
ce p
eople
and
eve
nts
wit
hin
a
cohere
nt
narr
ati
veBBC News (March 2013)
Melleuish (August 2006)
Rest
ori
ng
Mis
sing C
onte
nt
Telegraph (2013)
News.com.au (22 April 2013)
The Australian (14 October
2008)
Melle
uis
h (
2007)
Mult
iple
narr
ati
ves
are
too
diffi
cult
for
students
to c
ope
wit
h
However, care should be
exercised in dealing with
this issue of multiple
narratives and interpretations. Many
students may struggle with
simply understanding facts,
people and events (this can
be true of university
students!) and seek the
‘approved’ version, something that any teacher
of history finds exasperating. (p.3)
Why w
e n
eed
narr
ati
ve:
Conse
rvati
ve P
ers
pect
ives
Social cohesion Seeing progress
towards the present (liberal democratic capitalism as ‘the end
of history’)
Providing context (but
often limited)?
Melle
uis
h (
2007)
On t
he f
unct
ion o
f narr
ati
ve Placing events into a
sequence enhances our knowledge and understanding of history.
His
tori
cal A
ssoci
ati
on
(2005)
What
is n
arr
ati
ve?
Narrative as “the construction and presentation of a version
of historical events which
inevitably reflects the
author’s own understanding and interpretation of those
events” (p. 28). Note the absence of ‘grand narrative’ or ‘meta-
narrative’ (Hawkey, 2007)
Yest
erd
ay’
s H
eadlin
e
Riv
al N
arr
ati
ves
of
the N
ati
on
(His
tory
Wars
)
German and Japanese textbook
controversies UK’s national curriculum quarrels
Post-Apartheid History in South Africa
Russian nationalism in History
textbooks
Multiple voices in Canadian, New
Zealand, and Australian history American debates over history
standards (Nash, Crabtree, & Dunn,
1998)
Taylor & Guyver (2012)
A v
ehic
le f
or
soci
al c
ohesi
on?
History curriculum is perceived
to act as an apparatus for the
social re/production of national
identities, through linking “the
development of the individual
to the images and narratives of
nationhood.” (Popkewitz, 2001) Little evidence exists that
history curriculum shapes
students’ historical consciousness (contrary to all
the political attention it gets)
(Taylor & Collins, 2012)
Did
the li
nguis
tic
turn
eve
r ta
ke p
lace
?
historical discourse is in its essence a
form of ideological elaboration”
(Barthes, 1967/1997, p. 121) “the straightness of any story is a
rhetoric invention” (Kellner, 1989, p. x)
historical narratives are artifacts of an
interpretive act constituted in part by
a historian’s aesthetic,
epistemological, and ethical
commitments, and in part by the
underlying tropic forms of language
itself. (H. White, 1973) History operates as a narrative form
that exceeds the sum of its referential
statements (Ankersmit, 2001)
Aust
ralia
has
arr
ived! If exposed to hostile
and dualistic perspectives long enough, educators may begin to think of
these as the only viable alternatives. (Barton, 2012, p. 189)
Is there a counter story?
Narrative: problems and
possibilities
Pere
nnia
l D
ebate
s
Narrative history proposed as an antidote
for skills-based and issue-focused disciplinary approaches. Reflects Ankersmit’s
distinction between historical writing and
historical research
(the two key activities of
historians)
What
mig
ht
Narr
ati
ve
Learn
ing lo
ok
like?
Children storify and sequence information
into a narrative as their initial way of grasping meaning. (Hawkey, 2004) Mythic, Romantic, and
Philosophic story phases. (Egan, 1998)
Ideolo
gie
s of
his
tory
te
ach
ing (
Eva
ns,
1994)
Storytellers Scientists
Reformers
PhilosophersFrom a certain perspective they are each providing different narratives about what history is!
Teach
er’
s M
eta
-Know
ledge:
Pedagogy
as
Repre
senta
tion
Collective Memory
(Reconstructionist)
THE story of the past
Interpellation Disciplinary
(Constructionist)
The BEST story of the past
that we currently can determine
from the available evidence Postmodern
(Deconstructionist)
Multiple perspectives on the
past WHOSE
story of the past?
Interjection
Seixas (1999)after Jenkins & Munslow (2004)
Dis
ciplin
ary
His
tory
in
the C
lass
room
I don’t teach history, I
develop historians” Invokes the representation
problem identified by Ulf P.
Lundgren
Argument for discipline is
often ‘critical thinking’ (but
why History then? Why not
Law? etc. If this is an
argument for learning
adductive reasoning)
Post
-colo
nia
l resi
stance
to
his
tori
cal
repre
senta
tion
InterpellationWe are acquiescent in the face of the grand
narrative of the nation.
Rejection / Interjection *
We insert or juxtapose rival narratives of the
past.
InterpolationWe draw attention to the historical narrative
we are teaching as an artifice, a representation
(derived from methodological, ethical and
other choices of the historian), a rhetorical
practice.
* Appears to be the dominant response in curricula.
Ashcroft (2001)
Am I Missing the Story?
Rethinking the possibilities
of ‘narrative’ history
Goodso
n (
2013) Narrative learning is
not solely learning from the narrative, it is
also learning what goes on in the act of
narration and in the ongoing construction
of the life story. (p. 72)
Reth
inki
ng n
arr
ati
ve
as
his
tory
pedagogy
Narrative templates (Werstch, 2002) Forms of narrativity and the
possibilities of narrative
learning (Goodson, 2013)
Scripted Describers Armchair Elaborators Multiple Describers Focused Elaborators Narrative pedagogy and the
fusion of horizons
Win
eburg
’s
Rese
arc
h
Historical thinking as
an unnatural act Differences in how novices and experts read historical sources Cognitive switching of
(Religious) Historians
A Brief History of ‘Interpretation’
Biblical
Exegesis
Schleiermache
r
1768-1834
Dilthey
1833-1911
Heidegger
1889-1976Gadamer
1900-2002
Nietzsche
1844-1900
Ricoeur
1913-2005
Derrida
1930-2004
Understand
any
passage of
text only in
context of
whole.
Understand any
text by placing it
in its historical
context.
We can never step
outside of our
tradition, which
provides the horizon of
our understanding
(prejudices). Thus self-
understanding is
critical.
There is no outside text.
Texts repeat other texts.
We cannot exhaust meaning.
Original meaning cannot be
recovered with any confidence.
Von Ranke
1795-1886
Droysen
1808-1884
Sources must
be verified.Understanding comes
through empathy.
Greek
Historians
Recl
aim
ing
Herm
eneuti
cs
Understanding is to be
thought of less as a subjective act than as
participating in an event
of tradition. (Gadamer,
290)
Our historical consciousness is always
filled with a variety of
voices in which the echo
of the past is heard. (Gadamer, 282)
The E
nco
unte
r w
ith A
lteri
ty:
Pedagogy
as
Rece
pti
on
(Fusi
on o
f H
ori
zons
in a
nd b
eyo
nd t
he
class
room
)
Simon (2005)Parkes (2004)
The e
nd o
f th
e
story
?Rese
arc
h P
oss
ibili
ties
Rival narratives necessary
(and exciting) but insufficient. We need to
explore the pedagogical
processes of reception. What do we remember and
why? To what extent is it
our lived history that we
remember in surveys? What
makes memorable history
teaching (and what part
might narrative play in
that)?
Refe
rence
s
Ankersmit, F. R. (2001). Historical representation. Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press.
Attwood, B. (Ed.). (1996). In the age of Mabo: History,
Aborigines and Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Ashcroft, B. (2001). Post-Colonial transformation. London:
Routledge.Barthes, R. (1967/1997). The discourse of history. In K. Jenkins
(Ed.), The postmodern history reader (pp. 120-123). London:
Routledge.Evans, R. J. (2002). Telling lies about Hitler: The Holocaust,
history and the David Irving trial. London: Verso.
Gillard, J. (2010). Students to learn 'balanced view of history'.
Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-03-01/students-to-learn-bala
nced-view-of-history/2569490
Howard, J. (2006, 26th January). Unity vital in battle against
terrorism, The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 11.
Kellner, H. (1989). Language and historical representation.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Jenkins, K., & Munslow, A. (Eds.). (2004). The nature of history
reader. London: Routledge.
Land, R. (1994). Invasion and after: A case study in curriculum
politics. Brisbane: Queensland Studies Centre.
Lundgren, U. P. (1991). Between education and schooling:
Outlines of a diachronic curriculum theory. Geelong, Victoria:
Deakin University.
Lusted, D. (1986). Why pedagogy? Screen, 27(5), 2-14.
Macintyre, S., & Clark, A. (2003). The history wars. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press.
Parkes, R. J. (2011). Interrupting history: Rethinking history
curriculum after 'the end of history'. New York: Peter Lang.
Parkes, R. J. (2004). The zone of proximal development as a
strategically mediated encounter with alterity. Paper
presented at the annual conference of the Australian
Association of Research in Education (AARE), University of
Melbourne, 28 November - 2 December 2004.
Refe
rence
s (C
ont’
d)
Popkewitz, T. S. (2001). The production of reason and power:
Curriculum history and intellectual traditions. In T. S. Popkewitz,
B. M. Franklin & M. A. Pereyra (Eds.), Cultural history and
education: Critical essays on knowledge and schooling (pp. 151-
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Reed, L. (2004). Bigger than Gallipoli: War, history and memory
in Australia. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press.
Ritter, D., & Flanagan, F. N. A. (2003). Stunted growth: The
historiography of native title litigation in the decade since Mabo.
Public History Review, 10, 21-39.
Segall, A. (2006). What's the purpose of teaching a discipline,
anyway? In A. Segall, E. E. Heilman & C. H. Cherryholmes (Eds.),
Social studies - the next generation: Re-searching in the
postmodern (pp. 125-139). New York: Peter Lang.
Seixas, P. (1999). Beyond 'content' and 'pedagogy': In search of
a way to talk about history education. Journal of Curriculum
Studies, 31(3), 317-337.
Simon, R. I. (2005). The touch of the past: Remembrance,
learning, and ethics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Taylor, T. (2008). Denial: History betrayed. Carlton, Victoria:
Melbourne University Press.
Taylor, T., & Guyver, R. (2012). History wars and the classroom:
Global perspectives. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
White, H. (1973). Metahistory. Baltimore: John Hopkins
University Press.
Wilson, S. M., Shulman, L. S., & Richert, A. E. (1987). "150
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