A theoretical and methodological proposal to decolonize history teaching

Abstract

The school subject of history plays a sensitive and instrumental role in the construction of hegemonic narratives (national and western). History teaching framed by institutional and historical legacies becomes a modern/colonial teaching of homogeneous narratives that ultimately transmits Eurocentric bias. Regarding this diagnosis, in this paper we develop a theoretical and methodological proposal to decolonize history teaching. For this purpose, first we address the role of history teaching in the education of citizens by exploring the contributions of the decolonial approach. Second, we explore theoretically the possibilities of a decolonial history by emphasizing its contributions. Finally, we propose a set of specific methodological concepts to include the decolonial perspective into history teaching.