Report
(GEI Fellowship, February 2014)
Denis Vuka: Studied Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology at University of Athens
(School of Philosophy). In 2011 he received his Master’s Degree in History and
Didactics of History offered by the same University (Faculty of Education). Since
2012 is a PhD Canditate at Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Geschichts und
Kulturwissenschaften, Freidrich Meinecke Institut, Didaktik der Geschichte (Sofia
Saripolou Scholarship). His research focuses on history teaching, analyzing the role
and the influence of political ideology in textbooks.
Title: Political Ideology and Education: The Case of (Myth)History Teaching in
Albania during Communism and Post-Communism
The aim of my doctoral research is to provide “insights” into the ways in which
history, during communism and the years that followed its collapse, was taught. This
project examines the implementation of state ideology in history textbooks by
analyzing the extent of ideological and political influence on history teaching. The
tracing of both ideology and indoctrination reflected in history textbooks is expanded
over the second half of the 20th century, including the post-communist era. The
expansion of the research into the period after the dissolve of the People's Socialist
Republic of Albania will cover the changes that occurred afterwards in the content
and in methodology of history teaching. The main focus remains always in the
political message the textbooks convey and it will be analyzed and interpreted through
both historical narrative and visual material contained in textbooks.
Given the amount of available sources, I have chosen to focus on the 4th and 8th grade national history textbooks since they constitute a representative sample of the
period under consideration. The choice was also decided on the basis of the
illustrations employed in textbooks. The historical textbooks referring to the 8 th - year
Obligatory Educational System make wider use of images compared to those of the
Secondary Educational System. Beginning from this remark, I assume that they might
have carefully and purposively chosen and consist a powerful channel through which
is inserted the ruling ideology in textbooks. In my opinion it is a topic that definitely
needs further investigation and it will be to a large extent treated in my dissertation.
Moreover, the subject of national history was selected, under the notion that it
represents a branch of study that plays a decisive role in the shaping of historical
consciousness and national identity, providing an ideal area to detect ideological
schemas and indoctrination.
In my three-week stay at the Institute, February 2014, I focused on the primary
sources found in the library. I made an extended use of the entire Albanian history
textbook collection that contains mainly history textbooks issued during the 80's and
90's. The historical narrative, as well the visual material were analyzed in depth as
regarding the way they depict the official political doctrine dictated by the respective
authorities of the country. I attempted primarily to detect the ideological framework
of the state system itself, as the main factor that shapes the content and the objectives
of history teaching. Subsequently, I defined its elements and features that emerged
from the narrative.
Within the ideological framework of the Albanian history textbooks, I observed
two diametrically opposed political theories competing to define identity among the
youth, namely those of communism and nationalism. The coherently promotion of
both tenets required subtly combination in practice between ''class consciousness''
inculcation and ''national/nationalist'' identity forming. The molding of the ''New
Man'' imbued with the ideals of socialism and communism needed simultaneously the
cultivation of solid patriotic values such as the love and protection of the fatherland,
national
symbols-heroes
and
ethno-genesis
myths
that
promoted
national
homogeneity and the perceived cultural purity of the Albanian nation over the
centuries. This conglomerate of symbols had the ultimate goal of unifying the
members of the society and maintaining of the existing state of affairs/''status quo''.
Their effectiveness, evident in the country's unchanged political situation for more
than 45 consecutive years, owed much to such myth-making policies.
After the fall of the regime the paradigm was submitted to shifts following the
socio-political transformations in the early 90's. The textbooks´ narrative experienced
a de-politicization reform though, at the same time, the structure of the national
narrative remained largely unaffected. The historical periodization was preserved and
still used the same ''teleological narrative'' describing the linear evolution of the
Albanian nation from antiquity to modern times. The myth-mania trend was
perpetuated by putting the emphasis anymore on a nationalistic framework and by
omitting the Albania’s Marxist legacy. The building of the national identity moved a
step further and was put in a more nationalistic context, expressing even irredentist
tendencies. The historical narrative did not anymore nurture mere patriotic feelings
mixed with communist led ideology's beliefs, as was the communist pattern.
At the same time, my stay at GEI was an excellent opportunity to consult academic
literature and journals on textbook analysis, all of which will serve as the basis for my
theoretical approach. I have extensively consulted studies on propaganda
implemented in education under totalitarian regimes and former socialist/communist
countries. Many researches and publications were found that deal with the
dissemination of propaganda during the National Socialism era in Germany, in the
Soviet Union, in German Democratic Republic, in Poland and in former Yugoslavia.
Additionally, these three weeks at the GEI library proved to be extremely useful from
an organizational aspect, since I wrote the very first draft of the table of contents of
my dissertation thesis that will function as an orientation guide for my larger project.
Finally, the results of this research will serve in the future as the basis for my thesis
while, at the time being, providing valuable sources for either journal publications or
academic conferences. My first article, written during my stay at GEI analyses the
construction of the myth of the national leader over the centuries. A second article,
which also will be part of my dissertation, will explain the evolution of the Albanian
textbooks covers and their use as political propaganda during the era in question.