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National Identity and the History Curriculum

Nation Making in the Shadow of Partition

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Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia

Part of the book series: Global Education Systems ((GES))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the ways India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh use their shared history to construct a national identity and promote social cohesion within their respective countries. The history curriculum in each country has undergone revisions with a change in government in support of specific political ideologies. The relationship of religion to national identity remains fluid but central in each case. With some exceptions, the nation in each country context is discursively constituted as seamlessly similar internally by invoking specific identity markers. This draws boundaries against the external “other” but also excludes internal “others” who become “illegitimate” citizens. The implications of the history curriculum on social cohesion and cross-border relations are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

    Naureen Durrani

  2. Department of Linguistics & Languages, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Ahmed Salehin Kaderi

  3. University College London-Institute of Education (UCL-IoE), London, UK

    Kusha Anand

Authors
  1. Naureen Durrani
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  2. Ahmed Salehin Kaderi
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  3. Kusha Anand
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Correspondence to Naureen Durrani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Padma M. Sarangapani

  2. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, India

    Rekha Pappu

Section Editor information

  1. Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

    Naureen Durrani

  2. School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, India

    Disha Nawani

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Durrani, N., Kaderi, A.S., Anand, K. (2022). National Identity and the History Curriculum. In: Sarangapani, P.M., Pappu, R. (eds) Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Global Education Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_41-2

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  1. Latest

    National Identity and the History Curriculum
    Published:
    10 December 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_41-2

  2. Original

    National Identity and the History Curriculum
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    30 January 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_41-1

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