Nation, Nationalism and Schooling in Contemporary Europe

Luciana Bellatalla, former full professor of Pedagogy at theUniversity of Ferrara (Italy).Piergiovanni Genovesi, Associate Professor of ContemporaryHistory and History of Contemporary Europe at the Universityof Parma (Italy).Eva Matthes, full professor of Pedagogy at the University ofAugsburg (Germany).Sylvia Schütze, research associate at the Faculty of EducationalScience at the University of Bielefeld (Germany).

During the 19th century, up to the middle of the 20th century, the theme of national identity - and even more so of the absolute primacy of the nation - was firmly at the center of the educational projects of European states. Moreover, schools had and have been one of the fundamental instruments in the processes of nation building and, subsequently, in the establishment of nationalist perspectives, being used as a place of transmission of narratives aimed at legitimising the primacy of the nation, whether historically or ethnically based. A significant undermining of the absolute primacy of the nation emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War. A widespread desire to reduce the scope of national sovereignty, to fight against the drifts of nationalism, took on a new consistency. The ideological struggle centered on the two blocs, which characterized the age of the Cold War, contributed to strongly circumscribing the political space of nationalism, but the fall of the Wall has opened up new spaces both for the role of the nation and for the phenomena of micro-nationalism and neo-nationalism. Scholars of different European countries contributed to the reflection on the interrelation of nation(alism) and schooling with a special focus on educational media. This reflection is more urgent than ever and is central to our future and our social, civil, and cultural development.

Scholars of different European countries contributed to the reflection on the interrelation of nation(alism) and schooling with a special focus on educational media. This reflection is more urgent than ever and is central to our future and our social, civil, and cultural development.

Eva Matthes and Sylvia SchützePreface ............................................................................................................................. 5Luciana Bellatalla and Piergiovanni GenovesiIntroduction: Nation, Nationalism, and Schooling in Contemporary Europe .................. 9TheoryGiovanni GenovesiBuilding Our Identity: Education and School to Face Uncertainty ................................ 25Luciana BellatallaNation: a Natural Fact or a Cultural Idea? ..................................................................... 30Pierluca TurnoneEducation and Globality: Rethinking the Nation from a Paideutic Perspective ............. 38Vito BalzanoCrisis of Personal Identity in Contemporary Europe:Future Scenarios in Italy in the Third Millennium ......................................................... 47Textbooks and Didactical MediaWerner WiaterPatriotic Poetry in Elementary School Textbooks at the End of the 19th Century.Did the School at That Time Contribute to the Spread of Nationalism in Germany? .... 61Fabrizio SolieriA Lyceum from the Risorgimento to the Post-First World War Era.Nation, Nationalism and Homeland in Books, Textbooks and Student Publications .... 70Ekaterina RomashinaThe Image of the Capital as a Metaphor for National Identity:Russian Primers from 1900 to 1925 ............................................................................... 84Jan Van Wiele'Nations', 'Nationalism' and 'Nation Building' in Belgian National HistoryTextbooks for Catholic and State Secondary Education (1910-1960) .......................... 93Simone MarsiFascist Traces in Italian Literature Textbooks ............................................................. 109Stefano CampagnaNational History and Cinema in Fascist Primary School:Reconstructing the Reception of Two Historical Filmsthrough Children's Writings ........................................................................................ 124Piergiovanni Genovesi"A Lively Feeling of Human Brotherhood That Goes beyond the Narrow Limitsof Nationalism Should Dominate".Nationalism, War, Peace, Europe: Themes in Transition in Italian School Primersin the Aftermath of the Second World War (1945-1957) ............................................. 138Sabrina Schmitz-ZerresFuture Narrations in History Textbooks of the German Democratic Republicand the Federal Republic of Germany as Forms of Nation Building ........................... 156Stefania CarioliNational Identity, Memory and Historical Culture:Risks and Opportunities of the Internet ........................................................................ 167Karl Porges and Ian StewartThe "Jena Declaration": German Pedagogical Responsibilties .................................... 180Authors / Autori / Autor*innen ................................................................................ 195