History Education and Post-Conflict Reconciliation: Reconsidering Joint Textbook Projects

This book analyzes the role of history education in conflict and post-conflict societies, describing common history textbook projects in Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Far East and the Middle East. These textbooks were designed to break down the exclusive identities and conflict perceptions that students in these regions may hold and to introduce ideas promoting the peaceful coexistence with former enemies. The analysis of these unique projects that were developed during the past decade highlights the positive experiences, the challenges and the problems of the process of common history textbook development and offers valuable information as to the role of history education in the development and prevention of intergroup conflicts and violence. The objectives of this study are: (1) to conduct a comparative analysis of common history projects in different countries and (2) to provide conceptual frameworks and methodological tools for enhancing the role of common history projects in the processes of conflict prevention and resolution. This book is timely, as issues of history education in conflict and post-conflict societies are becoming more popular with the increased realization that unresolved disagreements about historical narratives can, and often do, lead to renewed violence. This book will be of interest to students of peace studies and conflict resolution, political science, sociology, anthropology, social psychology, and international relations in general.