Abstract
This article examines singular historical narratives of the 1947 British India Partition in four history textbooks from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Britain, respectively. Drawing on analysis and work in the field, this study proposes a seven-module “integrated snail model” with a human rights orientation that can be applied to teaching historical events of conflict and violence in different contexts. It offers opportunities for learners to enhance their historical understanding and consciousness, experience empathy for others, and take actions that uphold human rights.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed, I. (2012). The Punjab bloodied, partitioned and cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 tragedy through secret British reports and first-person accounts. Karachi, Sindh: Oxford University Press.
Aldridge, D. (2006). The limits of master narratives in history textbooks: An analysis of representations of Martin Luther King, Jr. Teachers’ College Record, 108(4), 662–686.
Bajaj, M. (2011). Teaching to transform, transforming to teach: Exploring the role of teachers in human rights education in India. Educational Research, 53(2), 207–221.
Banham, D., & Luff, I. (2013). SHP History Year 9 (Repr. 2009.) UK: Hodder Education.
Bar-Tal, D. (Ed.). (2011). Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: Social psychological perspective. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Bernath, T., Holland, T., & Martin, P. (1999). How can human rights education contribute to international peace-building? Current Issues in Comparative Education, 2(1), 14–22.
Botcharova, O. (2001). Implementation of track two diplomacy: Developing a model for forgiveness. In Raymond G. Helmick, S.J., & R. L. Peterson (Eds.), Forgiveness and reconciliation: Religion, public policy, and conflict transformation (pp. 278–304). Philadelphia, PA: Temple Foundation Press.
Butalia, U. (1998). The other side of silence: Voices from the partition of India. New Delhi: Penguin Books India.
Carretero, M. (2011). Constructing patriotism: Teaching history and memories in global worlds. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Carretero, M., Asensio, M., & Rodríguez-Moneo, M. (2012). History education and the construction of national identities. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Chhabra, M. (2015). Memory practices in history education of the 1947 British India Partition: Opportunities and challenges to breaching hegemonic remembering. Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, 7(2), 10–28.
Chhabra, M. (2016a). A social-psychological perspective on the teaching of a historical event of mass collective violence: The case of the 1947 British India Partition. In D. Bentrovato, K. V. Korostelina, & M. Schulze (Eds.), History can bite: History education in divided and post-war societies (pp. 243–256). Göttingen: V&R Unipress.
Chhabra, M. (2016b). Mirror images of reciprocal distortions and reciprocal connections: Conversations between Indian and Pakistani youth on the 1947 British India Partition. In T. Danijela (Ed.), Oral history education: Dialogue with the past (1st ed., pp. 117–130). Ljubljana: Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO.
Chhabra, M. (2017). Text and contexts: Pedagogical practices for a history textbook lesson on the 1947 British India Partition. In H. A. Elmersjö (Ed.), Teaching rival histories (pp. 87–106). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Choudhary, M. H., & Azam, U. (2014). Pakistan studies (textbook, class 9). Lahore, Punjab: G. F. H.
Cole, E. (Ed.). (2007). Teaching the violent past: History education and reconciliation. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Davies, L. (2004). Building a civic culture post-conflict. London Review of Education, 2(3), 229–244.
Eckmann, M. (2010). The role of history in education against discrimination. In R. Huhle (Ed.), Human rights and history: A challenge for education (pp. 166–191). Berlin: Stiftung EVZ.
Foster, S. J., & Crawford, K. A. (Eds.). (2006). What shall we tell the children? International perspectives on school history textbooks. Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Flowers, N. (2003). What is human rights education? In N. Flowers (Ed.), The human rights education book: Effective practices for learning, action, and change. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Human Rights Resource Center.
Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (2011). Teaching society and environment. South Melbourne: ViCengage Learning.
Jalal, A. (2013). The pity of partition: Manto’s life, times, and work across the India-Pakistan divide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Khan, Y. (2008). The great Partition: The making of India and Pakistan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kumar, K. (2001). Prejudice and pride. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Loewen, J. W. (2007). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York, NY: Touchstone.
Lücke, M., Tibbitts, F., Engel, E., & Fenner, L. (Eds.). (2016). Change: Handbook for history learning and human rights education in formal, non-formal and higher education. Frankfurt: Wochen Schau Verlag.
Marsh, C., & Hart, C. (2011). Teaching the social sciences and humanities in an Australian curriculum (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.
Maxwell, J. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
McCowan, T. (2012). Human rights within education: Assessing the justifications. Cambridge Journal of Education, 42(1), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/0303764X2011.651204.
McLeod, J. (2014). A peaceful pedagogy: Teaching human rights across the curriculum. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 152(7), 1225–1232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.303.
Menon, R., & Bhasin, K. (1998). Borders and boundaries: Women in India’s Partition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Mohammad, S., Chowdhury, S. N., & Bhowmik, P. K. (2013). The history of Bangladesh and world civilization (2nd ed.). Dhaka: National Curriculum and Textbook Board.
Nakou, I., & Barca, I. (Eds.). (2011). Contemporary public debates over history education—International Review of History Education. Charlotte, CT: Information Age.
Osler, A. (2016). Human rights and schooling: An ethical framework for teaching for social justice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Reynolds, R. (2012). Teaching history, geography and SOSE in the Australian primary school (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Seixas, P. (Ed.). (2006). Theorizing historical consciousness. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Stake, R. (2010). Qualitative research: Studying how things work. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Stanley, T. (2007). Whose public? Whose memory? Racisms, grand narratives, and Canadian history. In R. M. Sandwell (Ed.), To the past: History education, public memory and citizenship in Canada (pp. 32–49). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Strom, M. S., Sleeper, M., & Johnson, M. (1992). Facing history and ourselves: A synthesis of history and ethics in effective history education. In A. Garrod (Ed.), Learning for life: Moral education theory and practice (pp. 131–153). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Taylor, T. (2012). Why history matters. In T. Taylor, C. Fahey, J. Kirewaldt, & D. Boon (Eds.), Place and time: Explorations in teaching geography and history (pp. 27–53). French Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
Tibbitts, F. (2008). Human rights education. In M. Bajaj (Ed.), Encyclopedia of peace education (pp. 99–108). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Tibbitts, F., & Fernekes, W. (2010). Human eights education. In S. Totten & J. E. Pederson (Eds.), Teaching and studying social issues: Major programs and approaches (pp. 87–117). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Tudball, E. J. (2013). Citizenship and social education in primary schools. In P. Hudson (Ed.), Learning to teach in the primary school (pp. 149–169). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.
Utgikar, J. B., & Wagh, D. (2013). History of modern India (Repr. 2009.) Pune, Mahara: Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production Curriculum Research.
Wineburg, S. (2015). Why historical thinking is not about history. Adaptation of author’s keynote address to the 2015 American Association for State and Local History annual meeting. Graduate School of Education Open Archive. https://purl.stanford.edu/yy383km0067.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Chhabra, M. A human rights and history education model for teaching about historical events of mass violence: The 1947 British India Partition. Prospects 47, 149–162 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9424-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9424-2