Is a Single Teachable Indian Past Possible Today?
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An accessible contribution to the ongoing discussion about the quality and politics of social science textbooks in India.
More than ever before, the school history textbook in India has become an embattled object and the subject of many contestations from both above and below. It is vulnerable not only to the political vagaries of governments but also to the exclusive claims of myriad communities and groups to their sense of the past. What is the future of India’s textbook, arguably the most important repository of the country’s national past? Is a single teachable past even possible any longer?
In this essay, Janaki Nair uses the Indian predicament to discuss the possibility of building up a “historical temper” in the Indian classroom. Sharing examples from her unique position as a professional historian with sustained experience in the field of pedagogy, Nair invites reflections on the prospect of cultivating a historical temper that can help the teacher equip students to grapple with history.
More than ever before, the school history textbook in India has become an embattled object and the subject of many contestations from both above and below. It is vulnerable not only to the political vagaries of governments but also to the exclusive claims of myriad communities and groups to their sense of the past. What is the future of India’s textbook, arguably the most important repository of the country’s national past? Is a single teachable past even possible any longer?
In this essay, Janaki Nair uses the Indian predicament to discuss the possibility of building up a “historical temper” in the Indian classroom. Sharing examples from her unique position as a professional historian with sustained experience in the field of pedagogy, Nair invites reflections on the prospect of cultivating a historical temper that can help the teacher equip students to grapple with history.
Janaki Nair was professor of modern Indian history at the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is the author of several books, including Mysore Modern: Rethinking the Region Under Princely Rule and The Promise of Metropolis.