published in Rath, R. Maier, P. Kendzor (eds), Zivilgesellschaft in Zeiten militärischer Bedrohung: Zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement und Reaktionen im Bildungssektor auf gewaltsame Konflikte im östlichen Europa sowie im überregionalen historischen Vergleich. Eckert Dossier 6, Braunschweig (pp.84-104)
The demise of the USSR and subsequent developments in the former Soviet republics have continued to attract the attention of social scientists for two and a half decades. Post-Soviet political developments, regime dynamics, democratic or (in some cases) authoritarian transformations, civil society, conflicts and identity issues constitute the subjects most often under research. In the new post-Soviet political context, history education and history textbooks have played an important role throughout the processes of state-building identity formation. The Republic of Moldova is among those states where the country’s identity discourse and history education are closely related to each other. Moreover, each political involvement in the process of changing history curricula and textbooks in the past decades has provoked vehement debate and protest in Moldovan society. The post-Soviet states with ongoing internal or external conflicts have even greater difficulties in the process of statehood construction. The separatist region of Transnistria, established after 1991, controls its educational system, including curricula and textbooks. History education reflects the official discourse and focuses on Transnistrian interests. In many cases, textbooks are based on Soviet historiography, and Western neighbors are treated as enemies. The discourse is aggressive and hateful, which is not acceptable in the twenty-first century and which violates existing international standards. The main problem facing relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol is a lack of efficient communication. Education should be used to solve this conflict, as it is one of the most important tools at our disposal.
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