Developing Historical Consciousness for Social Cohesion: How South African Students Learn to Construct the Relationship Between Past and Present

In a society mired by racial segregation, the post-apartheid South African history curriculum was designed to promote social cohesion through a centralised narrative of oppression, liberation and democracy. However, in this chapter, Robinson argues that a centralised historical narrative is not sufficient to promote social cohesion. What is required is a focus on historical consciousness—how young people understand the legacy of the past—since it is beliefs concerning this legacy of historical injustice that shape many of South Africa’s defining questions. Historical consciousness is therefore the focus of this study, and in particular how it is developed in four South African Grade 9 history classrooms. The study finds that while history teachers convey the same historical facts, the way that the legacy of the past is communicated differs widely between racial groups in South Africa. A range of pedagogical strategies are used which position the apartheid past as either temporally distant and having little impact on the present, or temporally close and having profound and lasting impact on the present. Furthermore, at times it is the students themselves who police the ways in which the legacy of the past is communicated.