The influence of politics on the teaching of history : Analysis of textbook materials issued in the period 1984 - 1998; Lessons on the establishment of SFRY

Teza ovog rada je da se politički sustavi i vlasti doista izravno miješaju u kreiranje sadržaja povijesne građe koja se koristi u školama - odobravanjem sadržaja i uporabe udžbenika. Teza je testirana analizom srednjoškolskih udžbenika koji su izdani od 1984. do 1998. godine. Analizom materijala glavni fokus stavljen je na dijelove udžbenika u kojima je obrađena uspostava “druge” Jugoslavije. Odabirom istih lekcija u različitim izdanjima udžbenika, razlike među udžbenicima su naglašenije i lakše uočljive. Naglašavajući te razlike, možemo jasno povezati povijesno razdoblje u kojem su objavljeni udžbenici s načinom na koji su formulirani i/ili mijenjani. Razdoblja koja možemo koristiti kao “vremenske okvire” izdavanja su: jugoslavenska utopija (za udžbenike objavljene 80-ih), Razdoblje destabilizacije i neizvjesnosti (za udžbenike objavljene na prijelazu 80-ih u 90-e) i Razdoblje hrvatskog nacionalizma (za udžbenici objavljeni u kasnoj fazi rata i poraću). Glavne razlike između materijala (koje su navedene u analizi u radu) jasno ukazuju na to u kojoj fazi/vremenskim okvirima je svaki udžbenik objavljen – što daje potvrdu da povijesno okruženje (kao što su: promjena vlasti, rat, politička promjena... ) doista izravno zadiru u izradu udžbenika povijesti i to ne samo na jezičnoj razini – toliko mijenjaju sadržaj da se cijela povijesna slika određenog razdoblja potpuno mijenja do te mjere da nema gotovo nikakvo zajedničko značenje.The thesis of this paper is that political systems and government authorities do indeed directly interfere in the creation of the content of historical literature that is used in schools by approving the content and usage of the textbooks. The thesis has been put under testing by analysing highschool textbooks that were issued from 1984 up to 1998. By analysing the materials, the main focus was on the textbook sections where establishment of the “second” Yugoslavia was covered. By choosing the same sections in different editions, the differences between the textbooks were more emphasised and easily noticeable. By stressing out those differences, we can clearly correlate the historical period of when they were published with the way they are formulated and or changed. The periods that we can use as “timeframes” of publishment are: Yugoslav Utopia (for the textbooks published in the 80’s), Period of destabilisation and uncertainties (for the textbooks published in the transition 80’s to 90’s) and Period of Croatian nationalism (for the textbooks published in the late stages of the war and postwar). The main differences between the materials (that were stated out in the analysis in the paper) clearly indicate in which stage / timeframes was each textbook published - which gives out the confirmation that historical surroundings (such as: government change, war, political change...) really do directly interfere in the production of history textbooks and not only on the linguistic level - they alter the content so much that the whole historical image of a certain period gets to completely change to the level that it has almost no common meaning