“Minorities”, the nation and Europe in the history textbooks of Germany, Spain and Turkey

Abstract

A feature of the concept of “minorities” is the invisibility and stigmatization of communities, more so within the idea of the nation. The European Union project stimulated new vistas, and offers challenges to reconcile peoples under a new political, social and economic concept. However, in the midst of crisis and war in Europe, mistrust and hostility are increasing, incited by right-wing populism and nationalism and these aims of the last century are slowly making their way into history textbooks. This article analyses the representation and construction of these complex concepts in eight German, Turkish and Spanish secondary school history textbooks. In times of strengthening nationalism, it is also discussed here whether the representations convey essentialist ideas and imperialistic structures hidden between the lines in school textbooks, or whether they reflect the concept of “minorities” as a component of a pluralistic and hybrid European society. The research is divided into two areas: 1) A quantitative analysis of textbooks: A comparative research will be carried out on the representation of 'minorities' in English, German, Turkish and Spanish history textbooks. The textbook research is temporally limited to the period from the sixteenth until the twenty-first centuries.