History Teaching and Peace Education in Southeast Europe

Abstract

*After the fall of communist regimes, perceptions of the past and the writing of history have been revised. The rewriting of the Balkan countriesʼ history corresponded to major changes in historiography but also reflected changes in collective self-definitions. On the other hand, the wars in Yugoslavia triggered interest and intervention by Western organisations into history teaching. The Council of Europe, teachersʼ associations, the EU and Western governments, the Stability Pact, NGOs elaborated projects aimed at revising history teaching. All this activity was founded on the belief that history can be used as a tool of reconciliation in a region divided by nationalist conflicts. Therefore, history teaching has been conceived as part of a major project of peace education in Southeast Europe. In my paper, I am going to analyse the different levels of rewriting the history of Southeast Europe ʻinsideʼ and ʻoutsideʼ the region, the international tradition of projects of peace education in the 20th century (after the two world wars), the political cultures of intervention in the West, which sustained the process of revision of history teaching in Southeast Europe, and the reactions in Balkan societies themselves.