ANALYSIS OF THE IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT OF THE HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

This article tries to examine History textbooks as a language, which obliges us to study the functioning of its elements. The message becomes the main element of the act. The test can be interchanged by a political-guided one. Therefore, we need to decipher its textual, didactic and paratextual elements to find out their legitimising of a situation. Such decoding implies the dependence of the historical lesson to the legitimating function of its contents. Furthermore, it’s also necessary to connect the message or main element with the other elements of the speech act. The relationship between the message and the transmitter-textbook writer conveys analyzing his/her political position, bids and interest, his/her real relevance and paradoxes, knowing the channel implies considering the various relationships established between textbooks, the educative system and the publishing world. The analysis of the code means relating the school historiography to the pedagogical tendencies of the period. The study of the context is with regard to the legalised reality: power structures, regime, establishment… Finally, the receiver relates to the receiving and circulation of the textbooks. Besides, studying the receiver involves a higher complexity including aspects such as the History actually taught in the school and the actual impact on the mind of a people.