"History education that encourages multiperspectivity and critical thinking is key to the development of a culture of democracy," as recently emphasized by The Council of Europe´s Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (2022). However, the fact that history is fundamentally entailed in the construction of collective memory, and hence respective national identities, makes it difficult the teaching of contentious themes. This necessitates the consideration of novel educational methods and approaches for overcoming potential challenges as well as enhancing awareness of the links between the past and the present by promoting diversity, multiperspectivity, and tolerance.
In this sense, this project focused on a concept that a local history-based approach to teaching the past may encourage social involvement and a plural self-understanding anchored in local connectedness which links the past to the present. Furthermore, considering that digital transformation has enabled new, alternative voices to enrich and diversify historical portrayals, it focused on identifying the dynamics determining the receptivity of respective diverse historical content and narratives, as well as the possibilities of incorporating the outcomes of these new media into history teaching.
Aims
This one-month fellowship finalized a first mapping of current actors who establish different narratives of the pasts in online-platforms and provides the basis for a broader project proposal that aims to address the following research questions:
- Who are the actors on online platforms that present diverse, complementary, or alternative narratives and images of the past to those found in history textbooks?
- What are they producing in terms of materials, narratives and discursive strategies?
- How do they define their motives and strategies of contestation?
- How do they harmonise or challenge the memory politics of their own ethno-religious communities, including exchanges on social media?
- Which factors and qualities facilitate or impede the reception of these discursive products?
Methodology
Following a theoretical review on different modes of remembering, the research design of this initial stage was primarily based on preliminary quantitative content and network analysis aimed to determine the basic characteristics of interaction in their social media accounts during the period of 1 July 2021 – 30 June 2022, such as tweets, likes and retweets, to identify the major actors and situate them in the intended preliminary mapping of the new digital actors of Turkish collective memory.
Results
The preliminary findings of this research were presented at the Memory Studies Association's 7th Annual Meeting, focusing on "Communities and Change," at Newcastle University (UK) in July 2023, which is planned to result in a peer-reviewed publication and the design of a long-term research proposal.
