The theme for the XIV National History Educational Conference is the global and the local – glocal history. Whether to prioritize and foreground local, national and/or global perspectives in history education has for a long time been a discussion in history educational research. Global goals, such as the United Nations Human Rights Charter, includes ideals about understanding across and beyond cultural and geographical borders. Combining these perspectives is a challenging task for history education. It raises questions about students’ possibilities and limitations in regards to understanding what is close and what is far away. Thus, key issues for the conference will be in what ways local, national and global history may support or complicate history teaching? Other topics of interest are: How can ‘World history’ and more local history stimulate or hinder different understandings of the past? How does universal global ideals relate to local perspectives? Is Glocal history a theoretical and practical possibility or impossibility in schools? Is it reasonable to assume that different grades and stages require different glocal foci? In what ways can the Global citizenship concept of “thinking global; acting local” relate to history education?
Submissions from across the field of history education are welcome, although we encourage applications and papers that in one way or another discusses one or several questions relating to glocal history.
Keynote speakers for the conference are Prof. Keith Barton, Indiana University Bloomington, and Dr. Denise Bentrovato, University of Pretoria. Professor Barton and Dr. Bentrovato have studied local, national and global perspectives in teaching in countries such as Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Colombia, South Africa and New Zealand, and will present interesting glocal contrasts to stimulate further discussion during the conference.
Presentations in any of the Scandinavian languages or English are welcome. You are most welcome to submit your abstract of 200 – 300 words here. Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts is February 9, 2020. Accepted papers should be submitted at least 14 days before the conference via this link. Presentations without papers will be given less time.
