Past Times - Talking and Teaching History

Contested Histories co-director Marie-Louise Jansen and Timothy Ryback, Director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, joins our podcast to celebrate 10 years of the Contested Histories intiative. The intiative, now hosted at EuroClio, maps contestations and controversies over statues, memorials, street names and other representations of disputed historical legacies in public spaces. Together, our guests reflects on the origins of the initiative, the different kinds of contestetations and remedies that the intiative maps, and their use for (history) educators.

Stefania Gargioni and Maria Vlachaki, history educators in Paris and Thessaloniki, join the podcast to talk about their ongoing work for EuroClio's Moving Europe project. The two are making a step-by-step guide for teachers on how they can collaborate with (migration) museums in taking history outside of the classroom.

Simona Stankutė joins our podcast to talk about her recent residency with EuroClio and the work done by her colleagues at the Lithuanian History Teachers' Association creating an alternative history curriculum. We talk about challenges of overcrowded curricula , the steps needed to change a curriculum, and how teachers in Lithuania are in dialogue with the government in shaping the future of history teaching there.

Em. prof. dr. Judith Pace (University of San Francisco, USA) joins our podcast to talk about her research on teaching controversial topics, notably her latest academic work in South Africa, while also sharing some tips and recommendations for teachers. Judy's latest article, Deliberative dialogues with preservice teachers in Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Africa using a gradient of controversy approach, discussed in the podcast episode, was published shortly after this podcast.

In this episode Andreas Holtberget speaks with Jessica Ellison from the National Council for History Education in the United States. They talk about the challenges arising from Trump's re-election, from defunding of education and the chilling effects of his many executive orders to book banning and teacher solidarity in response.