Teaching History for Social Justice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Current Practices and New Directions in History Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review contemporary approaches to history education and present a rationale for teaching and learning history based on concepts of social justice. The paper begins with a review of contemporary studies on history education, focusing on research related to a disciplinary approach as well as studies that employ sociocultural theory to conceptualize the production of historical narratives. I then critique the approaches as they relate to the 1) production of historical narratives, 2) relationship of history education to participatory democracy and/or the common good, and 3) presentation of national historical narratives in U. S. classrooms. Finally, the paper presents a conception of history education based on teaching history for social justice.

Author

• Terrie Epstein, Hunter College - CUNY