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Film, the Past, and a Didactic Dead End: From Teaching History to Teaching Memory

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Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education

Abstract

Kansteiner argues that the production of historical film and television programs and the writing of academic history represent two fundamentally different ways of appropriating the past. Academic history focuses on why questions and produces intellectually overdetermined and emotionally underdetermined texts. Historical film and TV pursue how questions (for instance, how did it feel like to live through WWII?) resulting in highly suggestive and immersive visual products. Consequently, film and TV are excellent classroom tools for the teaching of memory but not for the teaching of academic history. Kansteiner concludes with a look at cinema history to illustrate what types of memories can be successfully taught through the use of film.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 5, Aarhus, 8000 C, Denmark

    Wulf Kansteiner

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  1. Wulf Kansteiner
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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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Kansteiner, W. (2017). Film, the Past, and a Didactic Dead End: From Teaching History to Teaching Memory. 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_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52908-4_9

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