Charis Psaltis | Mario Carretero | S abina Čehajić-Clancy Social Psychological Theories, History Teaching and Reconciliation COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020 History Education and Conflict Transformation Charis Psaltis · Mario Carretero Sabina Čehajić-Clancy Editors History Education and Confict Transformation Social Psychological Theories, History Teaching and Reconciliation Editors Charis Psaltis Sabina Čehajić-Clancy Department of Psychology School of Science and Technology University of Cyprus University Sarajevo Nicosia, Cyprus Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Mario Carretero Autonoma University of Madrid Madrid, Spain ISBN 978-3-319-54680-3 ISBN 978-3-319-54681-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54681-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937491 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017. This book is an open access p ublication. 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Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface and acknowledgements Social representations of history are fundamental in forming social iden- tities and are consequently critical for understanding intergroup rela- tions. Social psychological approaches are vital for understanding how history education can contribute to confict transformation and reconcili- ation processes. In this volume, we discuss the effects, models and impli- cations of history teaching in relation to confict transformation with an emphasis on how social psychological theories can enrich our under- standing of history teaching in relation to confict transformation and reconciliation processes. This book is based on the contributions made by members of COST Action IS 1205, “Social psychological dynamics of historical represen- tations in the enlarged European Union” coming from various coun- tries who specialize in the study of post-confict societies. In addition to COST IS 1205 members, renowned academics were also invited to offer an international perspective on the role of history teaching in confict transformation including contributors from North and South America. The contributors comprise a mix of well-established, mid-career and young researchers and academics who study various actors and factors involved in history education ranging from policy making, school cur- ricula, textbooks, civil society organizations, teachers and teaching prac- tices themselves. Many of the contributors are particularly interested in the role of social representations of the past and of history, and of the role of group-based emotions in intergroup conficts and reconciliation v vi PREfACE AND ACkNOwLEDGEMENTS processes. The contributors are also in the in processes of prejudice reduction, intergroup contact, apologies, guilt, shame, regret, forgive- ness, moral exemplars and confict transformation. They all draw on vari- ous social psychological theories that attempt to understand processes of confict transformation and reconciliation in the context of post-coloni- alism, post-cold-war transition, post-confict societies, genocide and the holocaust drawing valuable links between social psychological theories and various aspects of history education. A distinct characteristic of this volume is that it stresses the impor- tance of an approach to history teaching that is transformative at all lev- els of analysis (intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup/positional and social representational/ideological). The list of contributors comprises social, developmental, cognitive and educational psychologists, historians and educators referring to various social psychological theories and mod- els to better understand the way that history teaching could be enriched from an interdisciplinary perspective. Such an interdisciplinary perspec- tive is described as transformative history teaching, in another outcome of the COST IS1205 network of researchers which is the publication of the “Recommendations for the History Teaching of Intergroup Conficts” (Psaltis et al. 2017). Transformative history teaching attempts a critical understanding of the confictual past through the cultivation of histori- cal thinking, empathy, an overcoming of ethnocentric narratives and the promotion of multiperspectivity. The frst part of this volume discusses the state of the art from an international perspective on developments relating to (a) history text- book writing in post-confict societies (b) work from international, regional and local civil society organizations on history teaching and rec- onciliation with the purpose of identifying the various strategies, theo- ries and models that inspired these initiatives and the extent to which they draw on social psychological theory explicitly or implicitly in con- fict transformation processes, and (c) lay representations of people in relation to master narratives in post-confict societies in South Eastern Europe (Croatia, Serbia) and the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus) that give ample evidence of the pernicious effects of adherence to master nar- ratives at the representational level as a block to confict transformation, reconciliation and political compromise. The second part of the volume deals with the question of perpetra- tor–victim dynamic and the specifc tensions arising from the asymmetri- cal confgurations of these different contexts (colonialism and holocaust) PREfACE AND ACkNOwLEDGEMENTS vii when it comes to the question of how to best deal with the legacies of the past, ingroup past wrongdoings, master narratives and counter-nar- ratives as well as the phenomenon of genocide and the holocaust in a way that can be informed by social psychological theory. This part makes clear that well-established approaches in history teaching, in this context, can be problematic not only because they fail to achieve their proclaimed reconciliation or moral aims but because they often run the danger of reproducing problematic aspects of history teaching that fail to promote the historical thinking skills of the students. The third part focuses on history textbooks and teachers as the main mediators of classroom teaching practice in post-transition and post- confict settings that pose unique challenges due to the fact of reversals in asymmetric confgurations of status and power. In such contexts, one interesting question is how history teachers from both the new and old minorities adjust to the rapture of a transition into a new constitution of a newly established nation state. The chapters of this section make clear the important role of the quality of deliberations and communication around textbook writing and actual teaching practice. finally, in the fourth part of the volume the focus moves to pedagogy and a comparison of various possible approaches that could be taken in post-confict settings at the level of both formal and non-formal edu- cation through the work of civil society organizations. The context of Israel, Northern Ireland and Cyprus is very relevant to explore such questions because they all have by now gathered a lot of experience on the topic of this volume either through research on history teaching or through refection on the work of civil society organizations in this feld. The concluding chapter written by M. Carretero, a co-editor of the volume, draws on his experience on history teaching in relation to pat- riotism, nationalism, social identity processes and reconciliation in vari- ous parts of the world. It tries to be a refective commentary establishing a meaningful relation between present trends in history education and how to rethink them in relation to the teaching of historical contents in post-confict societies. Therefore, this chapter tries to focus not only on what to teach but also on how to teach it and how this could contribute to confict transformation. Also, this chapter intends to develop a mean- ingful relation between social psychology contributions and present ideas coming from history education, historiography and related felds. we have enjoyed the process of preparing our edited volume and in particular the support of our colleagues and friends who have been viii PREfACE AND ACkNOwLEDGEMENTS helpful and challenging at the same time. Believing that our work will be useful for academics and practitioners living and working in (post-) confict contexts has sustained us with positive energy throughout this process. we want to especially thank members of the COST Action IS 1205 (http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/isch/IS1205) coming from various European countries and beyond. COST IS 1205 is supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), which is a pan-European intergovernmental framework. Its mission is to enable breakthrough scientifc and techno- logical developments leading to new concepts and products and thereby contribute to strengthening Europe’s research and innovation capacities. It allows researchers, engineers and scholars to jointly develop their own ideas and take new initiatives across all felds of science and technology, while promoting multi- and interdisciplinary approaches. COST aims at fostering a better integration of less research intensive countries to the knowledge hubs of the European Research Area. The COST Association, an International not-for-proft Association under Belgian Law, integrates all management, governing and administrative functions necessary for the operation of the framework. The COST Association has currently 36 Member Countries (www.cost.eu). without the intellectual and experiential contributions of researchers and academics from this COST Action and the generous funding from COST for the various working group meetings, this volume would not have been possible. we would like to extend special thanks to the chair of the COST Action IS 1205, Laurent Licata, who originally had the idea of such a volume in a meeting of COST IS 1205 working groups 2 and 4 in Cyprus. we also would like to thank our publishers for their enthusiasm, encouragement and support and specifcally Eleanor Christie, Laura Aldridge and Andrew James. Charis Psaltis would like to thank all contributors for their valuable chapters and their enthusiasm for this project. He would also like to thank his co-editors; without them, this volume would not become a reality. Last but not least, he wishes to thank his wife Chara Makriyianni not only for her own pioneering work, in this feld, in the civil society of Cyprus but also the valuable discussions along the process of writing up parts of this book. Last but not least, for her sacrifce of a lot of her valu- able time taking care of Maximos when he could not be around due to the editing of the volume. Charis hopes that this volume will contribute PREfACE AND ACkNOwLEDGEMENTS ix to both the process of reconciliation in Cyprus and other parts of the world and the cultivation of critically minded citizens so that children of the world like Maximos live in a more peaceful and co-operative world compared to the one we currently experience. Mario Carretero would like to thank all the members of the COST IS 1205 Project, and particularly Charis Psaltis who invited him to be co-editor of this volume, because their intellectual inputs were essential to achieve a better understanding of history education in post-conficts societies. He would also like to thank Prof. Giovanna Leone and the CORIS Department of La Sapienza University (Rome) who supported his fellowship as Visiting Scholar for one semester providing excellent academic conditions for his work on this book. Sabina Čehajić-Clancy wishes to thank her colleagues and friends that have mentored and supported her throughout her career as a psy- chologist working in confict environments, especially Rupert Brown, Emanuele Castano and Eran Halperin. She would also like to thank her parents and her husband for their unconditional support, love and faith. She dedicates this volume to Noah and Ardan, her two greatest a chievements. Nicosia, Cyprus Charis Psaltis Madrid, Spain Mario Carretero Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Sabina Čehajić-Clancy reference Psaltis, C., McCully, A., Agbaria, A., Makriyianni, C., Pingel, f., karahasan, H., Carretero, M., Oguz, M., Choplarou, R., Philippou, S., wagner, w. & Papadakis, Y. (2017). Recommendations for the History Teaching of Intergroup Conficts. COST IS 1205 working Group. Retrieved from http://docs.wixstatic.com/ ugd/89ca3b_a592bbe79ece4d218cbf9858928b5d10.pdf. contents Confict Transformation and History Teaching: Social Psychological Theory and Its Contributions 1 Charis Psaltis, Mario Carretero and Sabina Čehajić-Clancy Part I Global and Regional Perspectives on Textbook Writing, Civil Society Organizations and Social Representations History Textbook Writing in Post-confict Societies: From Battlefeld to Site and Means of Confict Transformation 37 Denise Bentrovato Confronting History and Reconciliation: A Review of Civil Society’s Approaches to Transforming Confict Narratives 77 Rezarta Bilali and Rima Mahmoud Social Representations of the Past in Post-confict Societies: Adherence to Offcial Historical Narratives and Distrust Through Heightened Threats 97 Charis Psaltis, Renata franc, Anouk Smeekes, Maria Ioannou and Iris Žeželj xi