Abstract
Ten years ago, I set out to study the ways in which Finnish children encounter the past. Back then, I found that parents and grandparents play an important role as sources of historical knowledge. In early 2020, I duplicated the same interview study with 78 children between 10 and 12 years of age. Despite the changes in media culture, looking at photographs and visiting historical sites together with family have retained their relevance as historical activities. Storytelling through family mementos is also commonplace. Although the historical discourse of families revolves around everyday topics, the Finnish wars of 1939–1945 are still strongly present in historical storytelling. Against the backdrop of their parents’ and grandparents’ lives, children perceive history as a progress narrative, which inspires them to believe in their nation’s and their own future success. In this article, I explore the significance of family reminiscing for children’s historical consciousness.
Highlights
Historical consciousness has moved to the fore of history didactics
Digitalisation that has brought the diversification of individuals’ forms of remembering and their targets of identification does not seem to concern the children of the present study who are still closely attached to the home
In contrast to the studies among adolescents and adults (Grever, 2009; Ribbens, 2007; Rosenzweig and Thelen, 1998), nation has not lost its importance concerning the historical consciousness of primary school pupils who participated in this study
Summary
Historical consciousness has moved to the fore of history didactics. The German historical philosopher Rüsen (2004) describes historical consciousness as the ability to incorporate the past as a part of individual or cultural self-awareness, which manifests as a narrative explanation. Historical consciousness is an ongoing dialogue between the individual and his or her past, present and future. Our understandings of the past are understood to have an impact on the present moment and to guide future decisions. The interdependencies between the past, the present and the future are bidirectional: the past affects our future expectations, while, our future expectations affect the way we see the past (Jensen, 1998; Seixas, 2004).. For example, on the ways in which history is used to construct individual and collective identities and the role history plays in people’s everyday lives. The Youth and History survey, which was conducted in the late 1990s, examined the views of young people
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