After Empire: The Politics of History Education in a Post-Colonial World

Mycock explores the politicisation of history education in former colonising states where the end of empire has necessitated the simultaneous revision of colonial citizenship and identity and also the historical narratives established that underpinned them. His chapter assesses the form and content of the politically fractious and divisive ‘history wars’ about how the colonial past should be taught in schools in the wake of empire. He considers the conceptual and empirical complexities facing post-colonising states in ‘teaching the empire’, assessing whether they adopt celebratory, critical or amnesic approaches to the colonial past. It concludes by arguing that a ‘selective myopia’ is evident in many post-colonising states whereby they continue to disseminate nostalgic and largely uncritical versions of colonial history in schools.