Challenging Dominant Narratives: Centring Historically Underserved Voices to Create New Enquiries for the History Classroom

Abstract

Although there have been many attempts over the last 30 years to diversify the history curriculum in schools, decolonisation is a relatively recent phenomenon. This article will initially explore the seminal influences that enabled teachers at Park View School to develop a curriculum that challenges the dominant narratives and provides students with alternative pathways to understand how history has been constructed and how this can be widened. It will showcase two schemes of work that re-centre voices that have been historically and colonially underserved: The Tape Letters unit draws on an oral history archive about the experiences of the British-Pakistani community and invites students to conduct their own oral history interviews; the LGBTQ+ unit enables students to navigate the subjectivity of archives and to explore, through material culture, the changing position of the LGBTQ+ communities in Britain and ultimately construct their own digital archive.

Citation

Lyndon-Cohen, D. (2024), "Challenging Dominant Narratives: Centring Historically Underserved Voices to Create New Enquiries for the History Classroom", Moncrieffe, M.L., Fakunle, O., Kustatscher, M. and Rost, A.O. (Ed.) The BERA Guide to Decolonising the Curriculum: Equity and Inclusion in Educational Research and Practice (The BERA Guides), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 103-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-144-720241009