Penney Clark

Murals as Monuments: Students' Ideas about Depictions of Civilization in British Columbia.

Around the world people confront monuments that celebrate historical origins, movements, heroes, and triumphs no longer seen as worthy of celebration. While an analysis of these lieux de mémoire themselves can reveal historical consciousness, the sites become particularly interesting at the moment when they inspire debate, namely, when people ask what can be done with these artifacts of earlier power configurations, outdated modes of understanding, and bygone identities. Recent protests over a series of murals depicting the origins of civilization in British Columbia, located in the central rotunda of the British Columbia Legislative Buildings, offer this opportunity. This article analyzes a sample of 53 essays written by senior high school students, responding to the dilemma of what to do about the murals. It explores four different orientations toward the past implicit in the student responses, using theoretical frames adapted from Nietzsche and Rüsen. These have implications for identities, public policies, and the teaching and learning of history in the present.

HISTORICAL EMPATHY AND CANADA: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY

In this article, we examine the CBC/Radio ‐ Canada series, Canada: A People’s History , for its use of empathy, specifically with regard to its portrayal of Aboriginal people. We call the empathy promoted in the series, emotive empathy, and compare it to the concept of historical empathy constructed by researchers in history education. The emotive empathy employed in this series, while adequate for public audiences, is not sufficient for history classrooms because it lacks a cognitive dimension. We discuss implications for using the series, and by extension, other instructional resources, to promote the development of historical empathy. Key Words: history teaching, historical empathy, history and film, narrative strategies, Aboriginal representations Dans cet article, les auteurs analysent le recours a l’empathie dans la serie Le Canada : une histoire populaire / Canada: A People’s History de Radio ‐ Canada / CBC, surtout pour ce qui a trait a la representation des autochtones. Les auteurs qualifient d’empathie emotive l’empathie promue dans la serie et la compare au concept d’empathie historique developpe par les chercheurs qui etudient l’enseignement de l’histoire. L’empathie emotive utilisee dans cette serie, bien qu’adequate pour le grand public, ne l’est pas pour les cours d’histoire parce qu’il manque alors une dimension cognitive. Les auteurs analysent les implications de l’utilisation de cette serie et, d’une maniere plus generale, d’autres ressources pedagogiques par rapport a la promotion de l’empathie historique. Mots cles : enseignement de l’histoire, empathie historique, histoire et films, strategies narratives, representation des autochtones

“LIBERTY OF TRADE FROM THE THRALDOM OF THE AUTOCRATS”: PROVISION OF SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS IN ONTARIO, 1850‐1909

This article examines provision of elementary school readers in Ontario from 1850 to 1909. It traces the conflicts that arose due to the dual role of textbooks as economic commodity and democratic instrument of curriculum. It illuminates the strategies that three dominant stakeholders used in textbook provision to position themselves to best advantage in these conflicts: the Education Department, retail booksellers, and textbook publishers.. Key words: textbook publishing, school books, booksellers, political and economic contexts, curriculum history Cet article porte sur la fourniture de manuels aux ecoles primaires de l’Ontario de 1850 a 1909. L’auteure relate les conflits qui ont surgi en raison du double role des manuels, comme objet de commerce et comme outil democratique utilise dans les programmes scolaires. L’article met en lumiere les strategies qu’ont utilisees trois categories d’acteurs cles afin de se positionner au mieux de leurs interets dans ces conflits : le ministere de l’Education, les libraires et les maisons d’edition de ces manuels. Mots cles : edition de manuels scolaires, manuels scolaires, libraires, contextes politique et economique, histoire des programmes scolaires.

‘Fratricidal warfare’: English-Canadian textbook publishers take on the Americans, 1970–1980

Educational publishing sits at the intersection of industry, culture and education. Pedagogical aims must be balanced with the need for publishers to make a profit, while also acknowledging Canadian national identity and culture. The events of central interest are related to the tensions between two publishers’ associations in the wake of the sales, in 1970, of Canadian publishers Gage and Ryerson Press to American interests. The Canadian Book Publishers’ Council was comprised mainly of American branch plants and the Independent Publishers Association membership was Canadian-owned publishing companies. The two associations became bitter rivals, engaging in ‘fratricidal warfare’, as they lobbied the provincial and federal governments and fought to maintain their places in the textbook market. About 65% of total sales revenues from publishing in Canada came from textbook sales in this period. Both governments and commercial interests had to balance Canadian sovereignty with commercial gain and educational goals.

Fiction, history and pedagogy: a double-edged sword

Abstract There are many areas of overlap between history and fiction. Teachers of history have long recognized this connection and used a range of fictional accounts in their teaching. In this article, we argue that fiction is a double-edged sword that must be handled carefully. On the one hand, it presents compelling characters and accounts that provide powerful connections with the past often missing from school history. On the other hand, the narrative force that draws the reader in and connects him or her to the experience of the characters also mitigates against alternative readings of the situation, undercutting the reader’s ability to understand the past in complex and critical terms. We contend that in the hands of effective teachers, the double-edged sword of fiction can be a valuable and effective tool in the teaching of history. We begin by exploring three scholarly conversations around the nature of history, history education and learning theory. We then discuss the general relationship between history and fiction, move on to describe two broad categories of fiction and their particular connections to history and history teaching and consider some of the tensions between history and fiction. Finally, we investigate pedagogical implications for effective use of fiction in the teaching of history.

Deux points de vue sur l’enseignement de l’histoire au Canada

Au Canada, chaque province et territoire est une juridiction distincte, disposant d’une autonomie en matiere d’education. Cependant, certaines generalisations peuvent etre faites concernant les neuf provinces et trois territoires du Canada anglais. Les differences en matiere de programmes et d’enseignement avec la province de Quebec (Canada francais) ont des racines religieuses et culturelles. En depit des differences, l’enseignement de l’histoire au Canada, tant anglais que francais, reconnait de plus en plus la pluralite des recits et met plus l’accent sur une investigation active du passe que sur la simple transmission de recits historiques.