National Narratives in Students’ Mind: Main Features and Guidelines for Developing Historical Thinking

Abstract

During the last decades, there has been a strong interest in the educational field to promote critical historical thinking. However, romantic national approaches still endure in the way young people think about the past. This article focuses on some of the key elements that sustain these romantic and nationalist representations. First, the role of key historical concepts that backbone national narratives, such as the nation, national identity or territory, is analysed. Second, it examines the way young people linked to the national past through identification processes, the experience of emotions and the issuance of moral judgments. Finally, we consider the role of national narratives as cultural mediators and their influence on historical thinking. The article discusses educational alternatives to address these elements in a way that allows us to think historically about the national past.