Historical literacy in a context of patriotic history: An analysis of Zimbabwean history textbooks

Abstract

History is one of the five compulsory subjects in Zimbabwe since 2001. This compulsion speaks to the value with which the government regards the subject especially in teaching the youth about the Chimurenga (War of Liberation). The discourses of war have intensified in Zimbabwe since the late 1990s leading to the growth of a historiography of patriotic history. In this paper we set out to identify the purpose of school history in Zimbabwe through analysing the contemporary history textbooks. The literature that we reviewed focused on the concept of historical literacy and history textbooks. We conceptualised that historical literacy refers to the benchmarks an individual attains through studying history such as knowledge; conceptual understanding; source work/historical method; historical consciousness and historical language. We purposively selected a sample of three history textbooks on the basis that these textbooks reflect the nature of historical literacy that the history...