The ancient past in public and private historical consciousness : national identity and middle school history education in Bavaria and East Germany, 1945 to 2000
This thesis systematically explores how far and in what ways, public (official, state-sanctioned) and private (non-official, individual) views of the ~ancient past~ inform and or are influenced by prevalent world views, present needs and conditions and, particularly, by notions of national identity. It identifies the mechanisms by which the past is made relevant to the present and investigates to what degree these mechanisms are generic or dependent on particular contexts. The project focuses on post-war West and East Germany (specifically on Bavaria and the (il)R post-unification Saxony) as a case study. The thesis proposes a theoretical framework for the relationship between historical consciousness and national identity, which is used as a basis for the development of methodologies and data-analysis. Two main sets of data are used to explore different aspects of the theoretical model: 1. 'Middle School' educational media as a source for public historical consciousness and national identity: The analysis of history schoolbooks and curricula investigates how public historical narratives about the ~ancient past~ fit into and are affected by the wider socio-political processes which generate and define public
Cordts von Loewis of Menar, Hannah Louise
The ancient past in public and private historical consciousness : national identity and middle school history education in Bavaria and East Germany, 1945 to 2000. This thesis systematically explores how far and in what ways, public (official, state-sanctioned) and private (non-official, individual) views of the ~ancient past~ inform and or are influenced by prevalent world views, present needs and conditions and, particularly, by notions of national identity. It identifies the mechanisms by which the past is made relevant to the present and investigates to what degree these mechanisms are generic or dependent on particular contexts. The project focuses on post-war West and East Germany (specifically on Bavaria and the (il)R post-unification Saxony) as a case study. The thesis proposes a theoretical framework for the relationship between historical consciousness and national identity, which is used as a basis for the development of methodologies and data-analysis. Two main sets of data are used to explore different aspects of the theoretical model: 1. 'Middle School' educational media as a source for public historical consciousness and national identity: The analysis of history schoolbooks and curricula investigates how public historical narratives about the ~ancient past~ fit into and are affected by the wider socio-political processes which generate and define public
ancient past public_private historical_consciousness national_identity middle school history_education east germany systematically explore far way public official state sanctioned private non_official individual views ancient past inform influence prevalent world_view present need condition particularly notion national_identity identifies mechanisms past make relevant present_investigates degree mechanism generic dependent particular context project_focus post_war west east germany specifically post unification case_study proposes theoretical_framework relationship historical_consciousness national_identity use_basis development methodology data_analysis two_main set data_use explore different_aspect theoretical_model middle school educational medium source public historical_consciousness national_identity analysis history investigates public historical_narrative ancient past fit affect wide socio_political process generate define public