{"id":11697,"date":"2026-01-26T17:13:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edukacija21.com\/?p=11697"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:39:27","slug":"o-starim-spomenicima-u-savremenom-kontekstu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edukacija21.com\/en\/o-starim-spomenicima-u-savremenom-kontekstu\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Contested Histories in a Changing World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As part of the Monumental Challenges<\/a> project (2023\u20132025), led by EuroClio \u2013 the European Association of History Educators,<\/a> our team developed teaching materials on contested monuments around the world. At the time, we could not have anticipated how timely and significant these debates over global controversies would become. Nor could we have foreseen how related political developments would unfold, or how the issues we raised would resonate in today\u2019s social and political landscape.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The aim of the project was not to respond to day-to-day political events, but to use history and civic education to foster historical consciousness and an understanding of contested historical legacies.\u00a0 We started from the belief that collective memory, identity, and power are inseparable, and that any understanding of the past is inseparably connected to the present. In this sense, the teaching materials were designed to contribute to education for democracy, encouraging students to critically question dominant narratives, consider diverse perspectives, and develop the skills needed for active and responsible participation in contemporary democratic societies.<\/p>\n

There were a number of reasons for preparing the lesson\u00a0 plan about Hans Egede Statue : local incidents in Belgrade, where several important monuments were vandalized over the weekend of 24\u201326 January 2026; students\u2019 interest in learning more about Greenland in a global context; and the Monumental Challenges teaching materials themselves, which explore contested monuments worldwide.<\/p>\n

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The first step involved a lesson plan<\/a> from the Monumental Challenges<\/em> project, centered on the Statue of Hans Egede in Nuuk, Greenland, and its vandalization during protests in 2021.The lesson was adapted for the second-year civic education curriculum with an emphasis on media, partially incorporating text from the Monumental Challenges<\/em> materials about the monument. Students were shown images of the statue in Nuuk and Copenhagen, along with a summary of key facts about Hans Egede\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

When students saw the photographs of the Egede statue doused in red paint, they immediately recognized the parallel with the recent event in Belgrade, where the statue of Gavrilo Princip had been similarly defaced that same weekend. This served as a starting point for discussion on monuments in public spaces and how they provoke contestation among different social groups.<\/p>\n

At the start of the lesson, students were provided with a brief text on Hans Egede and the historical context of Greenland, which served as a foundation for practical work and the development of media literacy skills.<\/p>\n

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Students\u2019 tasks included writing different types of news stories about the Hans Egede statue:<\/p>\n