Identities and social sciences teaching. Study of cases from three places of the world.

Abstract

The construction of identities is of relevance for the teaching of democracy and social sciences (Santisteban y Pagés, 2007). With their imprint on action and anchoring in the future, identities are dynamic, narrative, historical, social, plural and permanent constructions, through which the world is interpreted and subjectivities are organized (Hall, 1996). From an interpretative and critical perspective, this paper aims to explore and analyze what the secondary curriculum of Social Sciences in Argentina, Catalonia and South Africa say about identities, and then, based on testimonies about the practice, establish some possible guidelines for potential proposals and curricular innovations on the subject. Through a mainly qualitative methodology (Eisner, 1990), the curriculums are approached through a document analysis (Rapley, 2014); the testimonies -corresponding to questionnaires and interviews made to some members of the professoriate of the three sites - are analyzed by emphasizing the perspectives on the practice by investigating and interpreting their meaning (Flick, 2015). Although in all three curriculums identities are assumed as social, historical and temporal constructions (Grossberg, 1996), in each case it occurs in a different way and with its own characteristics. A majority of teachers conceive identities as traits or characteristics of people and a minority thinks of them as constructions. Among the possible contributions for potential curricular innovations are emphasized in the identities as social constructions and in their relevance in the teaching of the social sciences.

Keywords

Identities; curriculum; social sciences; teaching; professorate