Previous project outcomes

 2020

Nationhood and Politicization of History in School Textbooks: Identity, the Curriculum and Educational Media

“Since 19th century the history textbooks have been used as the potent tools of nationalist socialisation of youth. The ministries of education of most European states were eager to use the teaching of national history as a device of social control aimed at inculcating  nationalist ethos among the generations of young people. In this context the history textbooks were dominated by one-sided and stereotypical narratives where one’s own nation was regularly depicted in terms of heroic victimhood and moral superiority while the other nations assumed the role of passive bystanders or immoral aggressors. After WWII many European historians in the West led initiative to change these stereotypical depictions and to decouple the teaching of history from politics. At the same time much of cold war Eastern Europe retained the traditional heroic narratives where nationalism was now amalgamated with the state socialist ideology. With the collapse of Soviet block countries and Yugoslavia the writing and use of the history textbooks became even more politicised as the new regimes were keen to establish their legitimacy through the nation-centric interpretations of the past and present. The onset of war in the former Yugoslavia strengthened the hegemony of ethno-nationalist understandings of history. This book offers a comprehensive and thoroughly researched analyses of politicisation of history in the school textbooks in the South East Europe. It successfully combines primary empirical research with valuable theoretical insights and in this way provides a unique comparative look  at all new states that have emerged after the break-up of Yugoslav federation.” (Siniša Malešević, University College, Dublin)

“This book makes a valuable contribution to scholarship on the way history has been presented in the school textbooks in the successor states of post-Yugoslavia. It would carry forward the careful studies done in previous volumes published by Palgrave with these two editors on how religion has been treated in those states. Given these successor states’ desire to be received into the European Union and the directives given regarding how history should be presented (among many other directives) as required for that accession, the chapters lay out well how far short of the intended directives the history textbooks have fallen. The authors of the respective chapters all offer analysis based on recent investigation and scholarship… All the chapters manifest careful research and assessment of what their investigations have found. This volume definitely carries forward the study of how history is presented by the various successor states of the former Yugoslavia.
The volume will likely have a significant shelf-life: as the chapters indicate, the patterns described have taken root in the history textbooks and are not likely to be changed any time soon. If they were to change, the volume would continue to be a solid assessment of what was the case; if they do not, the volume will offer a careful assessment of what has developed (and is likely to continue to be the pattern).” (James R. Payton Jr., Emeritus Professor of History, Redeemer University)

“The book offers an original contribution. To my knowledge there is no other study of this kind concerning history textbooks in ex-Yugoslav successor states, considering not only the current situation, but also the tensions to construct a common past based on the former common nation (Yugoslavia) vs. the current intents to construct different nationalities… The book deals with different controversial topics related to the tensions between different national and ethnic group leaving together, but they are presented very carefully and in a professional manner all along the book.” (Alicia Barreiro, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Argentina)

2018

Education in Post-Conflict Transition: The Politicization of Religion in School Textbooks

“This is an important and timely book, describing and discussing the role of religion in school education within most of the successor states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It provides important insights into the ways by which religions are sought to be used in molding ethnic and cultural identities. The book documents and discusses the transitions from an almost absolutistic secularism of the former federal republic in the early post- World War II, to a process where churches and religious communities have now come to play dominant roles within the separate successor states, including through the religious education in schools. It will be an important source for contemporary discussions of the role of diverse religions within society and therefore of general importance beyond the successor states of former Yugoslavia.” (Asbjørn Eide, Professor Emeritus, Former Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, former Chairman of the United Nation’s Working Group on Minorities)

“The projected book offers vivid insights into the specific policies of religious education in schools…it treats the complex context and deals with aspects such as the general situation of religion in the different countries, the social position of churches, gender issues, reconciliation after the Yugoslav wars, and EU integration. With its qualitative and quantitative approaches, it is a methodological innovative study… Alas, this is not a common knowledge in the more secular “West”…the project brings about new questions and new answers in a skilful manner... Generally, each chapter offers an innovative potential… The chapters are solid research studies written as state of the art…this third title distinguishes itself by a new focus, namely on the sensible area of education in its broader context, and as such deserves attention” (Katrin Boeckh, Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, University of Regensburg, Germany)

“Religion has been identified as a key factor in the processes of transitional justice and reconciliation among Yugoslav successor states, especially given its role in identity formation and nation (re)building. This timely volume considers the educational changes across the region and offers valuable insights into the ways public schools have become not only the sites of religious instruction but also spaces for sowing the seeds of divisive identity politics. The combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches enriches the volume's assessment of specific social and political conditions that have allowed such religious grip over school curricula and exposes the ways in which religions act as accomplices to political interests rather than serve the educational benefits of children.” (Amila Buturovic, Professor of Religious Studies and Humanities, York University, Canada)

“A comprehensive set of ethnographic, comparative pedagogical studies of religious education in most of the Yugoslav successor states (Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia). These extraordinary essays not only present how religious education in public schools had to be reconstructed following radical political change but are instructive for European and other societies engaged with the new realities of multi-religious environments.” (Kurt Anders Richards, Professor of Theology, Abraham Centre, University of Dallas, USA)

2016

Revolutionary Totalitarianism, Pragmatic Socialism, Transition; Tito's Yugoslavia, Stories Untold  Vol I 


“This fascinating collection of essays by an impressive team of scholars will become required reading for anyone interested in the still insufficiently researched and understood topic of Tito's Yugoslavia.” (Marko Hoare, Associate Professor of Economics, Politics and History, Kings University London, England)

“New data, documents and emergence of silenced stories forces us to constantly reconsider what we thought we knew about past events and developments. The disintegration of the Yugoslav state may never be fully understood in all its complexity. To understand it better we need to know more about the time before, during and after its demise. This is why this book is important, timely and necessary.” (Inger Skjelsbæk, University of Oslo and PRIO, Norway.)


Titoism, Self-Determination, Nationalism, Cultural Memory; Tito's Yugoslavia, Stories Untold Vol II 


“Building on the newly discovered archival material, these two multidisciplinary volumes offer a critical reevaluation of scholarship on Yugoslavia and its aftermath.  Authors offer a perspective free of both the orientalist and occidentalist interpretative baggage, trying instead to offer a substantive historical, political and sociological contribution to our understanding of a failed dream of a multinational South Slavic state.” (Tomislav Longinovic Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA)

“This book is a significant, bold, and timely contribution to studies of the former Yugoslavia. It illuminates complex and non-linear relationships between the former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and the society and people he led for more than four decades. The scope of the volume is massive and the topics covered are remarkably diverse. The contributors to this volume tell multiple untold stories about the region’s history. While many of the book’s topics are familiar, the chapters in the book add novel, often unexpected and dynamic aspects to these phenomena, thus weaving together a rich and intricate story. The end result is an innovative, multifaceted, and vibrant portrait of Josip Broz Tito and intricate Yugoslav historicities.” (Azra Hromadžiċ, Assistant Professor. Maxwell School Syracuse University, USA)