De svenska romernas historia i SO-klassrummet: En designstudie på högstadiet

Abstract

In light of the desire to right past wrongs regarding Swedish Roma history, research has called for a stronger focus on state redress and the challenges and opportunities of focusing on reconciliation in history education practice. As an answer to that call, this design-based study builds on theories concerning the complexities of teaching and learning about historical justice and difficult histories and investigates how secondary school students make sense of the difficult Swedish Romani history in the Social Studies classroom.  Analysing pre- and post-tests, classroom observations and student exams, the study found that the students were capable of combining historical and practical perspectives in their narrative reconstructions of the Roma past, present and future.  This was mainly done through: critical historical thinking, contextualization, an awareness of different manifestations of antigypsyism in the past and present, and lived experience of antigypsyism, whilst also acknowledging the importance of a shared responsibility for Roma rights in the present and displaying an optimistic view on the Swedish Roma future. Altogether, the results indicate that this approach may foster a nuanced multiperspectival understanding of the past among young learners, informed by both historical and practical perspectives. These findings also shed new light on how we may overcome some of the challenges related to reconciliation in history education.