Eurocentrism in Teaching about World War One

a Norwegian Case

Abstract

In this article, I argue that the imperial and colonial aspects of WW1 hold an ambiguous position in teaching about the war, presented as a cause of the war, but not acknowledged as a part of its history. Data was established through observation of history education about WW1 in the context of social studies at a lower secondary school in Norway. Identifying different manifestations of Eurocentrism, I first discuss how the national curriculum and textbook representations both explicitly thematize imperialism and colonialism, but at the same time reproduces Eurocentrism in terms of how non-Western history only enters the curriculum in the context of Western imperialism and colonialism. Secondly, teachers briefly mention colonial rule and exploitation when teaching about a war, which was a global and an imperial conflict. Finally, Eurocentrism emerges in the discrepancy between the image the teachers create, of colonies as resources for colonial rule, and the pupil’s perceptions of Africa as a continent of lack. The article aims to discuss the dilemmas and challenges Eurocentrism poses to history education and argues for the importance of using strategies which deconstruct and challenge Eurocentric narratives.