{"id":106507,"date":"2019-11-28T09:49:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T08:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=106507"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:35","slug":"for-historical-understanding-it-can-sometimes-be-important-to-move-past-the-ratio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/11\/28\/for-historical-understanding-it-can-sometimes-be-important-to-move-past-the-ratio\/","title":{"rendered":"‘For historical understanding, it can sometimes be important to move past the ratio’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Tina van der Vlies obtained her PhD with her dissertation Echoing Events. The perpetuation of national narratives in English and Dutch history textbooks, 1920 \u2013 2010<\/em>. In her dissertation, she explores how and why historic events change in school textbooks and are used for comparison with other events.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What is your dissertation about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI studied national narratives and explored why these do or don\u2019t change and are passed on in Dutch and English school textbooks. To do this, I used two cases: the beginning of the Dutch Revolt (1566-1584) and the English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588. The latter has now acquired a topical relevance in the Brexit debate. Supporters say: \u2018We\u2019ve often stood \u2018alone\u2019, like during the battle with the Armada, and that gives us hope for the future.\u2019 Opponents, like Cameron in 2016, give the same example, but using the Armada to illustrate that anything that happens in Europe also affects England.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who conduct research into school textbooks often claim that historical narratives change under the influence of political interventions, for example. That happens in America, Russia and Japan too, where school textbooks are regarded as political instruments. I consciously studied England and the Netherlands because they have a free book market and textbooks are not prescribed by the government. Here too, however, there is often criticism that certain scientific discoveries, for example, are not included in the textbooks. Some historical narratives seem slightly static. I studied why that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tina van der Vlies.<\/span>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

How did you conduct your research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI studied 24 textbook series, so twelve series for each country, including workbooks and teacher guides. My aim was then to look in more depth at the form of these historical narratives so that I could analyse the more hidden processes of their alleged preservation. For example, I was interested in recurring historical comparisons. For a long time, Philp II, Napoleon and Hitler were portrayed in the same way and regarded as European tyrants. These different historical narratives shared the same heroic plot: England was able to stand up to these powers on her own.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are your main conclusions?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cModern debates and socio-political events have a great impact on how an old event is interpreted. Take the Dutch Revolt, which for a long time was remembered as a \u2018fight for freedom\u2019. During the Second World War, Queen Wilhelmina used it in her political rhetoric, by comparing the situation at that time with the Revolt. But at the same time, Catholic and Protestant historians began to collaborate more. For the Catholics, the Revolt had always been a painful issue, because for them it had not resulted in freedom at all. In 1954, a group of nine authors including Protestants, Catholics and pacifists jointly published a history book in which reference was made to Erasmus and in which the Revolt was interpreted as a \u2018fight for tolerance\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important result is that national historical narratives are so powerful because they don\u2019t stand alone. I studied English and Dutch school textbooks as layered narratives, in which historical accounts refer to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you hope to change with this dissertation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly, I hope to offer insight into why certain historical narratives seem to be almost immune to changes. As such, I want to stimulate discussion and awareness of national historical narratives. The second goal concerns how we conduct research into textbooks. That is done by critical academics, often highlighting omissions or inaccuracies, for example. But it\u2019s also necessary to understand<\/em> what is happening in the textbook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t