『세계사』 교과서 속의 오스만 제국과 2015 개정 교육과정

Abstract

This paper investigates how the Ottoman Empire is treated in the world history curriculum and textbooks of Korean high school. Generally, the history of the Ottoman Empire as well as the West Asian region or Islam world in the world history textbooks has been described to be too succinct and superficial, and sometimes erroneous and stereotyped from the Eurocentric and Orientalist viewpoint. So the world history curriculums for 2007 and for 2011 mirrored the ‘Global History’ perspective which raises doubt on Eurocentrism and bases on understanding the development process of history through vigorous regional interactions to overcome this Eurocentric approach. The consequences of analysis of world history textbooks show that contents and descriptive ways about the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire are significantly improved. However, the 2015 revised curriculum abandoned the global historical viewpoint because the former is too unfocused and enormous in volume for the students and teachers to adapt to. Moreover, by excluding Africa and Southeast Asia from the curriculum and making the history of India-West Asian region described from a religious standpoint, the 2015 revised curriculum causes concerns.