published in Claudia Lichnofsky, Enriketa Pandelejmoni, Darko Stojanov (Hg.): Myths and Mythical Spaces. Conditions and Challenges for History Textbooks in Albania and South-Eastern Europe, Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2017, pp. 249-255.
The aim of this chapter is to discuss several examples from history textbooks for the upper grades of primary school (the seventh and eighth grades) from Macedonia and to provide an overview of the manner in which images of the “threatening neighbour” are constructed. The author shows four ways of this phenomenon: (1) the particular wording used to narrate an event; (2) the frequency with which relevant (negative) words or expressions appear in a textual sequence; (3) the selections of topics, or the aspects accentuated in the elaboration on a given historical event; and (4) the use of the historical present (tense) to create a sense of drama around historical events. Further work on these aspects can bring about the changes to history textbooks required for a critically oriented history teaching.
Read the article in English.
