Abstract
In 2009, the Danish nation state implemented a history canon, Historie 09 , as an obligatory part of the history national curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools. The history canon was part of a high-profile 'cultural battle' that the Danish liberal–conservative political and intellectual elite initiated during the first decade of the twenty-first century – a conflict that also included several other curricular canons. The Danish history curriculum was meant to satisfy three aims: (1) to bolster students with historical cultural ballast as they are prepared to be a part of the globalized economy and community; (2) to revitalize a chronologically structured master narrative about the historical and cultural origins of the Danish nation; and (3) to incorporate history teaching into an ongoing political struggle against some of the possible consequences of increasing cultural and religious diversity in Denmark – and, accordingly, to further a re-traditionalized vision of Denmark as a culturally homogeneous society, presumably existing as distinct from the membership of a heterogeneous European Union. This paper analyses the background of the history canon project in terms of educational policy, how it was realized in the revised history curriculum of 2009, which is still in force, and finally how representatives of the political elite who framed the history canon interpret the history curriculum. I will conclude by briefly discussing how history teachers have responded to the history canon project.
Highlights
In 2009, the Danish nation state implemented a history canon, Historie 09, as an obligatory part of the history national curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools
Mørch wrote that what was evolving was a multi-ethnic, multicultural society. He did not openly condemn this, but he was absolutely aware that it presented a serious political and sociocultural challenge to Danish identity because ‘the political system is unable to work out how to handle the situation’. This explains why the entire final third of Den sidste Danmarkshistorie was about ‘how difficult it is to decide what should happen to Denmark that is making the transition from a nation state to a multicultural society’
There was no explanation of why the selected canon points were suitable to promote a solid knowledge of ‘Danish cultural heritage’ in school students, of what the Canon Committee considered were its characteristics, or of how to perceive the canon’s content as having symbolic value in induction into Denmark’s cultural heritage. The omission of this specification may be explained by the Canon Committee recommendation that: The history canon takes into account the fact that various political and cultural groupings in the community must perceive that the list of canon points represents their own views of Danish history
Summary
In 1996, the Danish historian Søren Mørch published a book entitled Den sidste Danmarkshistorie [The last history of Denmark], subtitled 57 fortællinger af fædrelandets historie [57 tales of the history of the fatherland]. Mørch wrote that what was evolving was a multi-ethnic, multicultural society He did not openly condemn this, but he was absolutely aware that it presented a serious political and sociocultural challenge to Danish identity because ‘the political system is unable to work out how to handle the situation’ (ibid.: 398). This explains why the entire final third of Den sidste Danmarkshistorie was about ‘how difficult it is to decide what should happen to Denmark that is making the transition from a nation state to a multicultural society’ (ibid.). What both he and I did not anticipate in 1996 were the ways in which the Danish nation state would try to revitalize national history education during the first decade of the twenty-first century – the main theme of this article
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