Confused or deliberative: narratives about the birth of islam in Polish history textbooks

• Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska ^[1]
  1. [1] Warsaw School of Economics

     Warsaw School of Economics

     Warszawa, Polonia

     
• Localización: Multidisciplinary journal of school education, ISSN-e 2543-8409, ISSN 2543-7585, Vol. 25, Nº. 1, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: In search of spirituality and support in educational settings), págs. 89-111
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • Objectives of the research:The aim of the article was to identify andanalyse problematic areas related to how early Islam is presented and nar-rated in history textbooks, taking into account the local context. Research methods:The data corpus consists of 12 history textbooks. Themixed methods approach applied in the study included cluster analysis anddiscourse analysis.A brief description of the context of the issue:Islam and Muslims occupylimited space in the Polish school curricula, yet there is a plethora of infor-mation about the Islamic world in the public discourse. This puts a tremen-dous challenge on the shoulders of teachers and textbook authors toaccurately present information about Islam and Muslims in schools.

    Research findings:Three problematic areas were discovered and analysed:(a) narrating Islam from a mainstream, non-Muslim perspective, which inthe Polish case might be skewed into presenting Islam through the lens ofCatholicism; (b) navigating between historical accounts and legends whilstpresenting early Islam; and (c) explaining past events by interpreting themthrough contemporary events. Conclusions and recommendations:The article concludes by indicatingchallenges of teaching different religions in a largely mono-religious schoolsetting, from the perspective of the classroom majority and Muslim stu-dents. Due to the marginal presence of Muslims in the public sphere, thesenarratives call for a more balanced approach. Otherwise, they can only fur-ther alienate and otherise Muslim students in the classrooms – and Islam in mainstream society.