Manchester University Press Citizenship, Nation, Empire: The Politics of History Teaching in England, 1870–1930: 118 (Studies in Imperialism)

Citizenship, nation, empire investigates the extent to which popular imperialism influenced the teaching of history between 1870 and 1930. It is the first book-length study to trace the substantial impact of educational psychology on the teaching of history, probing its impact on textbooks, literacy primers and teacher-training manuals. Educationists identified 'enlightened patriotism' to be the core objective of historical education. This was neither tub-thumping jingoism, nor state-prescribed national-identity teaching, but rather a carefully crafted curriculum for all children which fused civic as well as imperial ambitions. The book details contemporary debates about the purpose of history teaching and the influence of late-Victorian and Edwardian educational culture, and goes on to examine how pedagogical developments shaped the content of early-years reading books and textbooks through analysis of key themes including race, seafaring, gender and national identity. Special attention is paid to the significance of mass schooling in the formation of turn-of-the-twentieth-century cultures of hero worship, and the legacy of such developments for the 1920s. This volume will be of interest to those studying or researching aspects of English domestic imperial culture, especially those concerned with questions of childhood and schooling, citizenship, educational publishing and Anglo-British relations. Given that vitriolic debates about the politics of history teaching have endured into the twenty-first century, Citizenship, nation, empire is a timely study of the formative influences that shaped the history curriculum in English schools.