“It is like the re-enactment show”: Narrative and historical culture among young French Canadian students

This study of historical consciousness illustrates the cultural processes by which French Canadian students narrate the history of their national past. Findings are based on data collected through a narrative inquiry with 635 francophone students from a variety of backgrounds. Although participants made explicit references to and use of formal learning from their school history courses, a majority of participants produced simplified narratives largely informed by mythistories of their historical culture. These findings suggest that the current curricular emphasis on historical thinking may fail to challenge students’ historical ideas in ways that take into consideration the forces of historical culture (mythistories, mnemonic infrastructure representations, conceptions of the past) and help them generate more complex narratives of the collective past that acknowledge the diversity of perspectives present in the society in which they life.