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Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education pp 697–716Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Emotional, Moral, and Symbolic Imagery of Modern History Textbooks

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Abstract

Tsyrlina-Spady and Lovorn discuss the results of a comparative horizontal content analysis of six modern Russian history textbooks and introduce the problem of emotional and moral symbolism and emotives as tools used to shape students’ national identities and construct knowledge of their national history. A number of current trends in the content and design of Russian history textbooks are demonstrated, specially focusing on verbal and visual representations of political leaders, in particular Stalin and Putin. The authors explore the textbooks’ moral vocabulary and argue that power and patriotism are strongly prioritized. They conclude that each of the textbooks demonstrates a clear agenda to develop emotional connections through a lens of patriotic identity and national superiority, with no attempt to develop historical and critical thinking skills.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA, USA

    Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady

  2. Department of Instruction and Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Michael Lovorn

Authors
  1. Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady
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  2. Michael Lovorn
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Campus de Cantoblanco, Autónoma University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Mario Carretero

  2. Ruhr Universitat Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Stefan Berger

  3. Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Maria Grever

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Tsyrlina-Spady, T., Lovorn, M. (2017). Emotional, Moral, and Symbolic Imagery of Modern History Textbooks. In: Carretero, M., Berger, S., Grever, M. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52908-4_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52908-4_36

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52908-4

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