Historisk rättvisa i högstadiets historieundervisning: Elevperspektiv på de svenska romernas historia och mänskliga rättigheter

Historical Justice in Lower Secondary History Education : Student perspectives on Swedish Roma history and human rights

In light of the pursuit of historical justice for national minorities in Sweden, research has called for a stronger focus on what state redress implies in the history educational context and the teaching and learning of difficult minority histories. As an answer to this call, this compilation thesis aims to contribute knowledge about the reconstruction of Swedish Roma history in lower secondary history education in relation to ideals of historical justice, human rights and the historical and practical perspectives on the past. This thesis explores students’ perspectives and narrative reconstructions of Roma history through four original articles. The first article focuses on students’ perceptions of human rights in history (Article I). Article II center on students’ thinking and caring about the Roma past, present and future. Article III explores how students narrate agents of change in regard to the Roma past, present and future, and Article IV provides analyses of students’ perceptions and narrative reconstructions of Roma history before and after a design-based intervention in two history classrooms. The dissertation shows how what have been perceived as conflicting ideals in history education, namely the historical and practical past, are closely intertwined in students’ narrative reconstructions of the Roma past, present and future. Considering this difficult history, students underscored the importance of a shared responsibility for Roma rights in the present and future, albeit narrating the nation-state as the single most important agent of change for Roma rights in the past, present and future. Whilst the student cohorts in Article II and Article III realise and recognise Roma rights through their narrational practices and thus may become empowered to act for a just future, the studies make evident the way in which student narratives also re-establish cultural and ethnic group boundaries, which may disempower young learners. Acknowledging the complexities that lie in difficult histories, Article IV shows how a lesson design equally emphasising the historical and practical past results in students attaining a multiperspectival understanding of the Roma past and present beyond binary positions of “victims” and “perpetrators”, as well as an awareness of the historicity in narratives of the past, and a nuanced understanding of the historical and moral dimensions of the question of responsibility in the past and present. Thus, this thesis sheds light on how we may overcome some of the challenges associated with the pursuit of historical justice in the practice of history education.