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This edited book discusses the historical role of textbooks in promoting national ideology. It brings together chapters from several continents, establishing a dialogue between the Global North and South, and between authors from relatively newly independent states and those working in countries that were once centres of colonial empire.
Anchored in the symbolic space of the Atlantic, the book examines how empires, nations, and identities were historically constructed and contested across the ocean that once linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade, slavery, and migration. It highlights the enduring influence of colonial legacies in textbooks from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, and beyond, revealing how these narratives continue to shape civic imagination and historical consciousness.
Clear, engaging, and highly accessible
, National and Global Historical Perspectives on Textbooks: The Atlantic Connection
invites readers to examine closely what schoolbooks convey, through words and images, and to reflect on how these narratives shape public memory and civic life. By combining theoretical insights with comparative perspectives, the book offers a fresh and timely understanding of the role of education in an era marked by global inequalities, renewed nationalism, and debates over historical truth.
This volume will appeal not only to researchers and students in textbook studies, history education, curriculum theory, and memory politics, but also to teachers, policymakers, and anyone interested in how societies craft the stories they tell their children.
Sérgio Neto
is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at U.PORTO, Portugal.
Ana Isabel Ribeiro is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
António Gomes Ferreira
is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Luís Mota
is an Associate Professor at the Higher School of Education of the Polytechnic University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Clara Isabel Serrano
is an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon (IE-ULisboa), Portugal.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Textbooks Between Scripts and Silences(
Sérgio Neto, Ana Isabel Ribeiro, António Gomes Ferreira, Luís Mota and Clara Isabel Serrano
).- Chapter 2. Textbook Publishing. Historical Perspectives on the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Light of Current Challenges (
Steffen Sammler
).- Chapter 3. International Perspectives on School Textbook Policies in the 1930s and the Portuguese Case (
Luís Grosso Correia
).- Chapter 4. The Spanish Conquest and Colonial Rule in 20th Century Mexican History Textbooks (1894-1972)(
Eugenia Roldán Vera and Gustavo López Mateo
).- Chapter 5. Comparing Overseas Migration in Present-Day School Textbooks from Three Perspectives: USA, Argentina, Italy (
Vittorio Caporrella
).- Chapter 6. Perspectives on History School Textbooks in the 21st Century. Cross-examining Views in Portugal, Brazil and Spain (
Luís Mota, António Gomes Ferreira and Carla Vilhena
).- Chapter 7. In Search of a Shared History Between Brazil and Portugal. A Comparative Study of School Textbooks (20th and 21st Centuries)(
Ana Paula Caldeira, Débora Dias and Gisella Amorim Serrano
).- Chapter 8. Brazil in Spanish History School Textbooks (
Sarah Luna de Oliveira
).- Chapter 9. The History Education of Slavery and Race in Post-2020 Europe (
Marta Araújo
).- Chapter 10. Representations on “Discovery”, Enslavement and Colonialism Through Cabo Verde School Textbooks (
Francisco Osvaldino Nascimento Monteiro, Samira Miranda and Víctor Barros
).- Chapter 11. The Teaching of Shared Conflicting Views of Iberia in Portuguese Textbooks: Colonialism, Ethnocentrism, and Luso-Tropicalism (
Clara Isabel Serrano, Ana Isabel Ribeiro, Nuno Miranda and Sérgio Neto
).- Chapter 12. Ignorance of the Spanish Colonial Past in Africa. School Textbooks and Forgetfulness Among the New Generations (
Jaume Camps Girona
).- Chapter 13. Guinea-Bissau: Imaginaries of a Nation in the Making. Environmental Education, Literacy, and Awareness in the Manuals of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC), Before and After Liberation (60-70s) (
Julião Soares Sousa and Mélanie Toulhoat
).- Chapter 14. The “Different Other” in Argentine Textbooks: Indigenous and Migrant Representations Across Political Regimes (1976-2022)(
Graciela María Carbone
).- Chapter 15. History and Geography Textbooks in Italy. Representations, Discourses and Practices (
Maria Lucenti
).- Chapter 16. Conclusion – Towards a New Atlantic Connection in Textbooks?(
Sérgio Neto, Ana Isabel Ribeiro, António Gomes Ferreira, Luís Mota and Clara Isabel Serrano
).
About the author
Sérgio Neto
is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at U.PORTO, Portugal.
Ana Isabel Ribeiro
is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
António Gomes Ferreira
is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Luís Mota
is an Associate Professor at the Higher School of Education of the Polytechnic University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Clara Isabel Serrano
is an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon (IE-ULisboa), Portugal.
Summary
This edited book discusses the historical role of textbooks in promoting national ideology. It brings together chapters from several continents, establishing a dialogue between the Global North and South, and between authors from relatively newly independent states and those working in countries that were once centres of colonial empire.
Anchored in the symbolic space of the Atlantic, the book examines how empires, nations, and identities were historically constructed and contested across the ocean that once linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade, slavery, and migration. It highlights the enduring influence of colonial legacies in textbooks from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, and beyond, revealing how these narratives continue to shape civic imagination and historical consciousness.
Clear, engaging, and highly accessible
, National and Global Historical Perspectives on Textbooks: The Atlantic Connection
invites readers to examine closely what schoolbooks convey, through words and images, and to reflect on how these narratives shape public memory and civic life. By combining theoretical insights with comparative perspectives, the book offers a fresh and timely understanding of the role of education in an era marked by global inequalities, renewed nationalism, and debates over historical truth.
This volume will appeal not only to researchers and students in textbook studies, history education, curriculum theory, and memory politics, but also to teachers, policymakers, and anyone interested in how societies craft the stories they tell their children.
