published in Ognjenović, G. (2020). Phantoms of Neverland: The Tale of Three+ History Textbooks in Croatia. In: Ognjenović, G., Jozelić, J. (eds) Nationhood and Politicization of History in School Textbooks. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
The chapter analyses how does the identity of Croatia’s Orthodox population appear in schoolbooks? The analysis of primary school textbooks as a reflection of state politics in the Republic of Croatia focuses on presentation of Vlachs, the first people of Eastern Orthodox faith to arrive on the territory of present-day Croatia. Analyses attempts to identify some deeper reasons for why today’s history textbooks in primary schools, as part of daily politics of the state, present the identity of Croatia’s Orthodox population as they do, showing that it is no accident that even productive critics, by default, classify the country’s entire Orthodox population as Serbs. This short reflection provides a possibility of a better understand of why Vlachs’ transgressive identity history continues to challenge such stereotypes, and may be a time bomb under the beds of Southeast Europe’s contemporary nation states.
Read the article here.
