Abstract. Key words: Local history, history education, cultural diversity

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1 (Not) teaching local history and cultural diversity in Greece: a case-study in the Florina region Kostas Kasvikis, Andreas P. Andreou Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify aspects concerning the teaching of local history under the prism of cultural otherness and diversity in the past. A research conducted in the Florina region, North-Western Greece, indicates that Primary education teachers appreciate the value of teaching local history although their educational activities and projects are generally restricted to neutralized local themes and they are unwilling to involve their students with issues dealing with cultural diversity and identities in the local past. For interpreting these research outcomes firstly we discuss the current institutional framework of teaching local history in the context of the highly centralized educational system of Greece. Then we explore issues of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity in the past and present as adapted in the region of Florina and the related politics of national homogenization adopted by the Greek State during the 20th century. It is concluded that local teachers do not challenge the normative ethnocentric pursuits of history education, having internalized the belief that the study of cultural diversity in a local perspective constitutes a hazardous subject for national reasons, mainly those related with the Macedonian issue. Key words: Local history, history education, cultural diversity 1. Introduction: In denial of the past Our case-study focuses on the district of Florina which lies in the Greek part of the Macedonia region, close to the borders of Greece with F.Y.R.O.M. and Albania. The entire district comprises quite a small area (1.924 km²), which remains relatively economically underdeveloped, although with an important background in terms of history and culture. The population of the whole prefecture including the town of Florina is about The town of Florina hosts four departments of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece, with approximately students. The aim of this paper is to examine and discuss the teaching of local history in light of the cultural otherness and diversity of the Florina region. Our interest in the subject has been motivated by two incidents. The first involves two of our colleagues who teach social anthropology and special education. During the course of a research they encountered strong reactions from Primary Education teachers for the use of the term slavophones (Slavic speakers) in a questionnaire distributed to local schools. The second incident was more directly related to our academic environment and the Erasmus Intensive Programme P.S. Bo.W.Ma. ( People and Space in the Borderland of Western Macedonia: tracing historical, social and intercultural features ), which was implemented in the Florina region by the Department of Primary Education. The aim of this international cross-disciplinary project was to enable students of different countries to explore via lectures, on-site visits and research, guided tours and workshops the natural and man-made environment of the area; to identify features concerning local history, social structure and the cultural identity of people in the past and the present; and, eventually, to produce educational material based on their experience. One of our students presenting on behalf of his colleagues the experience gained from the programme expressed his personal reservations concerning the use of the name Macedonia instead of F.Y.R.O.M. (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia) used by the teachers and students from the host countries. Concluding, he suggested, for the next sessions of the Programme, a visit to the prominent archaeological site of Vergina, so as to observe real evidence of the Greekness of Macedonia i. From this point of view the rationale and aims of the P.S. Bo.W.Ma. Erasmus Programme, which stressed the appreciation and understanding of cultural diversity in borderland areas, had been aborted and the knowledge and experience acquired had been bluntly discarded, in favour of an ethnocentric perspective, which overlooked the local historical, anthropological and cultural data that the student and his colleagues had explored during the 10 days of its duration. 2. A research project Intrigued by the above reactions to names and interpretations of the area s past and present, we embarked upon a research aiming to explore teachers perceptions and practices towards teaching local history, with an emphasis on aspects concerning cultural diversity. In the research participated 80 Primary Education teachers working in the schools of the Florina region, all of which stressed the educational importance of teaching local history. Concerning their practices, the majority of the teachers stated that they make references to aspects of the history of Florina in their core history courses with the aim, according to their comments, of stressing the contribution of local developments and events to the national history. On the other hand, just 25% have materialised at least one local history project of any type. According to their responses these projects dealt with the Hellenistic and Roman past and the related archaeological sites, the contribution of local heroes to the Macedonian Struggle ii, the liberation of the area from Ottoman rule, 38

2 the Byzantine churches of Prespes and also what was referred to by the teachers as local customs. The most striking find is related to the contradictions which emerged from the correlation of their answers concerning their teaching practices and their personal attitudes towards the cultural diversity of the region of Florina. In a list of the local historical events and situations which were available to indicate those which were being introduced in their history lessons and considered as important for teaching, the local teachers appear rather ambiguous: while they register as important the linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity of the different local communities (50 out of 80, 63%) only 34 teachers (43%) indicated that had presented to their students, at least once, the historical context of the diversified communities of the area. This divergence between what is considered important for teaching and what is actually presented in the historical courses is also apparent in other topics from the same list dealing with various aspects of diversity and otherness in the region of Florina which were always accompanied by low rates of preference. Indicative are their responses on the following local events: a. The invasion and settlement of Slavs in the 6th - 7th century A.D. is considered important by 27 teachers out of 80 (34%) but even less - 22 (28%) - have mentioned that historical fact at least once in their history courses, b. the turmoil of the 11th to 14th century with the invasions and brief occupations by the Normans, Franks, Bulgarians and Serbs is mentioned as important only by 10 teachers (13%) while just 5 of them (6%) have made any kind of reference to it, c. the occupation by the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel and the establishment of his kingdom s capital in the area is validated as important by 18 teachers (23%) but fewer - 15 (19%) make references to the event, and d. the Jewish community of Florina and the effects of the Holocaust upon it is considered important by 17 teachers (22%) and has been presented by 7 out of 80 (9%).Furthermore, according to their answers no project out of the 30 instigated by the teachers was directly related to issues concerning the cultural diversity of the area. Finally, it is important to note that, as is attested to by their comments, a number of local teachers (37,5%) considered many aspects of Florina s history as hazardous or controversial to be taught. The research suggests that the teachers of the area, despite their awareness towards teaching local history, appear rather reluctant to introduce local data and sources in their lessons or, for that matter, to involve their students in history projects that focus on issues of cultural diversity and local identities. These attitudes and practices, in conjunction with the incidents described above, indicate a lack of real appreciation for local history s potential as a teaching subject and suggests that the identities and the diversity of the area are considered sensitive, or even risky, subjects to touch upon. The question that is raised is whether these perceptions and practices of the teachers are affected by the current situation concerning local history teaching in Greece or are dependent on certain indigenous aspects concerning the ethnicities and cultures that unfolded in Florina and their handling by the Greek State during the 20th century. These two issues will be further examined. 3. Teaching local history in Greece The educational system of Greece consists of a highly centralized structure with strict state control over personnel, educational methods, school programmes and evaluation. All teaching aims, content knowledge and syllabi are defined by very detailed curricula, formulated until recently by the Pedagogic Institute, an official State scientific body, and are approved by the Ministry of Education. Furthermore the policy of having one exclusive textbook per topic and school grade is practised. These policies and prescriptions have a determinant impact on history education in the Greek context which leads to the neglection of procedural and conceptual historical knowledge, despite the current trends in history education, in favor of subject-matter knowledge which maintains a strong national narrative (Andreou, 2008, Avdella, 2000, Kokkinos et al, 2005, Repousi, 2011). Within this educational context, little importance was given to local history teaching until recently, despite the fact that political interest and an ideological investment in the significance of the local past arose as far back as the period of the Greek Revolution. In 1825 the revolutionary government assigned to teachers the task of collecting local archaeological remains and creating museums in the existing schools in order to protect ancient heritage and to utilize the relics of the past as teaching material. That political decision entailed a direct correlation between the study of local history and its educational purposes, a perspective quite innovative for that period (Vaina, 1997: 54-57, Kokkou, 1977: 41). Subsequently, during the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was national history that developed as the dominant scientific paradigm, providing the essential ethnogenetic and nation building grand narratives of the Greek past. Nevertheless, the study of local history was active, though it remained rather marginal as a scientific endeavour, promoting locality and stressing the contribution of the local to national history (Repousi, 2000a: , Leontsinis & Repousi, 2001: 11-12). Despite the fact that throughout the 20th century the educational value of teaching local history was stressed in the Greek pedagogical literature, these theoretical aspects were essentially ignored by the conservative educational policies (Ntoulas, 1988: 90-92, Repousi, 2000b: 104). As an outcome, teaching local history was constantly marginalized. Its usefulness was restricted to illustrating and supporting general history, or, in the best case, to challenge the narrative character of school history and to highlight the value of historical inquiry (Repousi, 2000a: ). Nowadays, teaching local history in Greece appears to be have been upgraded compared to practices of the past, though still without following the example of other European countries, the UK for instance (Douch, 1972, Slater, 1995, Repousi, 2000b: ). The first notable, although moderate, attempt to introduce local history to Primary Education was recorded during the 80 s history textbooks reform. It was accompanied with the appropriate pedagogical rhetoric and with a series of initiatives that included guidelines for teachers for collecting and using local history resources in their courses and the available time in fact only one teaching hour per year for handling 39

3 local history topics. Finally the alternative, to incorporate and combine local history with environmental studies was provided, aiming to broaden the understanding of the environment via the perspective of the (local) past (Ieremiadou, 2008, Leontsinis, 1996). At the same time a number of Secondary Education teachers took action calling for the introduction of local history in their courses, which eventually resulted in the provision of four hours per year to the teaching of local history in Secondary education (Mavroskoufis, 2003: 17-18). More recently, during the last decade, the curriculum reform and the introduction of new history textbooks set the framework for a more systematic introduction of local history both in Primary and Secondary Education. This is clearly reflected in the detailed references to the educational value of teaching local history as well as in the aims and objectives and the content knowledge for teaching included in the new history curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2003: , 188, ). In practice, assigned time for the specific study of local history in particular five of the sixty total teaching hours per year in Primary education and printed academic material for history teachers within Secondary education (Leontsinis & Repousi, 2001) were provided. Last but not least, The Flexible Zone, a 2-3 hours per week curricular innovation based on a cross-curricular approach widened the opportunities of Primary and Secondary Education teachers to carry out projects on various school topics, local history included, based on students needs and interests (Alahiotis and Karatzia-Stavlioti, 2006, Karatzia-Stavlioti and Alahiotis, 2007, Spinthourakis, Karatzia-Stavlioti & Lambropoulos, 2004). The trend to include local history in school courses is also reflected in the activities of the new Primary history textbooks and the relevant aims devoted to the subject in the teachers handbooks, even if not numerous (Kasvikis, in press). In practice, these initiatives are obstructed by the absence of any type of relevant training that would focus both on theoretical awareness and the eventual empowerment of Primary and Secondary education teachers to use local resources as historical evidence and to implement projects with their students on the history and culture of a certain region. In fact, the limited or total absence of in-service training for active teachers is a shortcoming not only of history education, but of the Greek education system in general, even at times of innovations and reforms. Despite the above restrictions, an efficient framework for establishing local history exists and in the last 20 years many educational activities of various types have been materialized, ranging from mere references to aspects of local history in the formal education history courses to educational tours and programmes in historical and archaeological sites and museums, as well as local history projects and integrated environmental programmes (Ieremiadou, 2008: 73-76, Repousi, 2000b: , Kyridis & Mavrikaki, 2003, papers in Kokkinos & Alexaki, 2002, Nikonanou & Kasvikis, 2008, Nakou & Vemi, 2010). On the other hand, little research work has been conducted towards identifying and examining teachers practices and attitudes towards the subject (Kasvikis, in press, Mavroskoufis, 2003: 21-23, for a review see Ieremiadou, 2008: 73-78). 4. Local history of Florina region: diversity and identities As the official education policy, in light of the above evidence, appears to encourage, or at least not to disincline, the introduction of any type of local historical data in education, we turn to the second key feature in understanding and interpreting perceptions and practices concerning the teaching of local history in the Florina region. It deals with the political and ideological impact of the identification and manifestation of local history and cultural diversity in the region. Amongst the events that shaped Florina s history and culture are: the submission of the region, called Lyncestis in ancient times, to the rule of Phillip II, the father of Alexander the Great, whose Macedonian kingdom rose and expanded during the 5 th century B.C.; the foundation of important, although of local scope, towns in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods; the invasion and settlement of the Slavic tribes during the 6 th century A.D.; the establishment in the region of the capital of Tsar Samuel s short-lived Bulgarian kingdom and the warfare with the Byzantine empire; the invasion and occupation of the area by the Serbs in the course of the 14th century; Ottoman rule and subsequent settlement of Muslims and Jews in the town of Florina; the use of the area as a battlefield of the religious, diplomatic, political and finally - military conflict of the emerging Greek and Bulgarian nationalism in the Macedonian Struggle, an antagonism which was later to be rekindled twice with the Bulgarian occupation of the city of Florina during both the First and Second World Wars; the incorporation of the Florina region into the Greek State after the Balkan Wars iii. These historic events had local and occasionally national consequences and gradually, throughout their course, resulted in a population diversified in terms of language, religion and culture. For many centuries the ethnically and culturally diverse area was populated by Muslims (Turks and Albanians), who comprised the dominant ruling and military class, Christians of different descents and social, educational and economic status, namely Greeks (or Greekspeakers), Slavophones (Slavic speakers), Vlachs or Aroumanians (Romanian speakers) and Arvanites (Albanian speakers) with the addition of Gypsies and Jews (Karakasidou, 2002: , Vouri, 1992: 20-25). After the Balkan Wars ( ) and the First World War the demography of the area was affected significantly by the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, which lead to the expulsion of the Turks and the resettlement of Greek refugees coming from various areas of Asia Minor (Pelagidis, 1994, Van Boeschoten, 2000: 36-37). These diversified groups, having different languages, cultures and traditions, were considered incompatible with and even a threat to the national pursuits of Greece, especially in the historic conjecture of the country s acquisition albeit partial of the so-called unredeemed ethnic fatherlands. That political perception of the palimpsest of cultures and identities in the Florina region, common to other areas of the Greek part of Macedonia 40

4 (Clogg, 2002, Empeirikos et al, 2001, Tsitselikis & Christopoulos, 1997), resulted in a policy of excluding the culturally different communities, mainly the Slavic-speaking non-minority groups. According to R. Van Boeschoten those who failed to conform to the prototype of the imagined community were faced with the choice either to assimilate or to stick to the other community, a situation that created a mutual distrust between the State and the cultural minorities (Kostopoulos, 2000, Van Boeschoten, 2000: 36). Furthermore, these policies were further reinforced by a series of political and military events that affected the area, namely the Bulgarian propaganda between the two World Wars, the Second World War, the ensuing Greek civil war, the foundation of the Republic of Macedonia as part of Yugoslavia and the claims for an autonomous Macedonian identity by its citizens (Danforth, 1995, Kofos, 1990, Sfetas, 2003, Veremis, 1997). For a long period ( ) a successful national campaign for converting local people and for Hellenizing the Slavicspeaking population was carried out, with measures and practices that included internal migrations, deportations, exiles and the banning of cultural elements. As Anastasia Karakasidou (1993) comments it was in fact a serious effort to politicize culture by the Greek state institutions and local bureaucrats, who even attempted to control the enculturation processes within the private domain of families by prohibiting the use of the spoken language and the participation in songs, dances and other types of cultural ceremonies. In addition to state institutions, such as the police, army and the local administration, that strived to reorient the social loyalties of the diversified populations, education constituted a critical agent for the homogenization and assimilation goals of the Greek State, and served as a vehicle for achieving the national solidarity of the area 1. Suspiciousness and discrimination towards certain diversified groups continued during the 60 s and 70 s, coming to an end in 1981 when the socialistic Party (PASOK) came to power. As an irony very soon issues of cultural diversity and identities in Florina as well in others areas of North Greece came again to the fore during the 80 s and more intensively in the early 90 s with the emergence of the Macedonian issue, as it is commonly called in Greece. This conflict between Greece and F.Y.R.O.M. concerning the official use of the term Macedonia by the country derived from the break-up of Yugoslavia literally evolved into a political debate for the exclusive inheritance of the history and culture of ancient Macedonia, as well as for the right of the existence in the present of an autonomous Macedonian identity (Veremis, 1997). At the moment the case of Florina seems to be more complicated considering the existing palimpsest of various population groups that, despite the fact that their vast majority manifest a Greek national consciousness, are still agents of different languages, traditions, customs, music, food and dances and, in fact, of different social and economic status (Van Boeschoten, 2000). In many instances these cultural traits, having their roots in the recent as well 1 For the assimilation policies in Macedonia, see Cowan & Brown, 2000: 11-12, Carabott, 1997, Gounaris, 1997b: , for Florina in particular Karakasidou For the role of education, see Iliadou-Taxou, 2006, Karakasidou, 1993, Karakasidou, 2002: as the distant past, survive partly in the present as part of the invented tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983). For example the transmission of distinct cultural elements is succeeded either via the function of the various cultural societies, as in the case of the descendants of the Asia Minor refugees, or, in the case of the Slavic-speakers, via participation in local festivals where formerly prohibited dances and songs are performed. 5. Discussion: politicizing and negating local history teaching It is a fact that during the 19th and 20th century the Greek State adopted a policy of national integration, imbued with the principles of national romanticism and aimed at the construction of a homogeneous national consciousness. The state s policy and mechanisms, notably education, museums, the church and various societies, aided by history, archaeology and ethnography, managed to control the cultural side effects created by the successive additions of heterogeneous populations to the national body. This national campaign produced and reproduced by means of education a homogeneous society in terms of national identity and religion and, in the context of a totally dominant ethnocentrism, deployed a strong depreciation of cultural diversity (Milios, 1997, Papataxiarchis, 2006: 50-51). The case of Florina is rather indicative of this widespread assimilation campaign which negated cultural otherness and ethnically based diversity. Local teachers appear to have internalized the homogenizing campaign of the Greek State concerning the incorporation of local diversified groups into a supernatural and idealized national entity. The full appreciation of the political uses of the past is in harmony with the - unquestionable to the majority of the Greek society - perception of the national mission of history and history education itself which appears to be powerful enough to counteract educational initiatives, as becomes evident in the case under discussion. In fact, these perceptions are the causal factor behind a series of public debates over history education in Greece, with prominent examples in the withdrawal and replacement of the Primary and Secondary education history textbooks, under the pressure of various interest groups, marginal and not, namely the Greek church, political parties, popular journalists, extreme rightwing groups and various societies (Kokkinos, 2008, Kokkinos & Gatsotis, 2008, Mavroskoufis, 1997: , Repousi, 2007, Repousi, 2009a, Repousi, 2009b). It is not a coincidence that the same interest groups have been very active in the debate over the Macedonian issue during the last twenty years. This negative attitude towards teaching certain aspects of Florina s local history, founded on the concealed perception that the cultural otherness of the area can be misused to challenge national identity and develop anti-national sentiments, is fundamental for interpreting the attitudes and practices of the majority of local teachers, as well as undergraduate students, who disregard, as if invisible, the cultural aspects of the area s local history. On a related point, the negative attitude towards teaching local history on the grounds of the danger that lies in the incompatibility between national history and local 41

5 history has surfaced in the past in a more institutionalised way. During the first attempts at introducing local history in Secondary Education, in the period , after the initial enthusiasm shown by history teachers and the Pedagogic Institute, a series of reservations were expressed by the members of the Institute itself. More specifically, in 1991 some of the members of the Pedagogic Institute voiced their concern that the increasing interest towards local history was suspicious. According to the minutes of the Institute s meeting on the subject with the destabilization in the Balkans and the insidious war declared against our national interests by various circles of enemies, the reckless handling of local history could prove manna from heaven for our conspicuous and inconspicuous enemies. Their critique also emphasized that for local history there were slippery grounds and stressed the danger of deviation with political or national consequences. As a result an Education Circular to Secondary Education schools was distributed, according to which local history should not resuscitate the historical trauma of the recent past but instead promote the students national self-knowledge and to strengthen their solidarity as Greeks. It was also emphasised that as for the sensitive national issues, what is stated in the history textbooks remains valid and any other deviation is out of the question (Mavroskoufis, 2003: 19-20, Mavroskoufis, 1997: ). Needless to say that behind these arguments lay the concern over identity and national consciousnesses in Macedonia, in a period when the Macedonian issue had emerged and ethnocentrism was at its zenith. Without doubt, it was a clear-cut politicization of local history by the scientific body of the Ministry of Education, which assigned to the teaching of local history the role of reinforcing national roots and of proving the Hellenicity of the Greeks and their country, Macedonia included. Concluding, the case of teaching local history from the perspective of cultural diversity in Florina appears to be rather distinctive. It has become apparent that local history in the Primary schools of Florina is limited, despite the initiatives introduced by the Ministry of Education during recent years. In fact, these developments do not seem to influence teachers practices, nor to differentiate their attitudes towards the subject. Both the research results and the two incidents described at the very beginning of this paper, indicate that the area s cultural diversity and multiculturalism as identified in the past, are considered dangerous for national reasons, mainly related to the Macedonian issue and to a lesser extent to the Albanian and Rumanian claims over minorities in Northern Greece. It seems that the reserve towards cultural otherness has resulted in a peculiar form of self-censorship, namely that of refusal to teach aspects of Florina s local history for fear that the deep cultural diversity of the area will challenge Greek national history. This concealment of the inherent conflicts of the local community under the prescriptions of a linear, selective and fabricated history appears to recur in local history as a scientific endeavour as well (Kokkinos, 2012: 529). In our case the relation and dichotomies between local and national history fundamentally define teachers perceptions and practices. It is generally acknowledged that the detailed study of local history favours the appraisal of aspects that are often generalized and thus simplified in the narratives of national or world history. 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Αθήνα: Gutemberg. Van Boeschoten, R. (2000). When difference matters: sociopolitical dimensions of ethnicity in the district of Florina. Ιn J. K. Cowan (ed.), Macedonia: The politics of identity and difference (pp ). London: Pluto Press. Veremis, Th. (1997). The Revival of the 'Macedonian' Question, In P. Mackridge & E. Yannakakis (eds.), Ourselves and others: The development of a Greek Macedonian cultural identity since 1912 (pp ). Oxford: Berg. Vouri, S. (1992). Εκπαίδευση και εθνικισμός στα Βαλκάνια. Η περίπτωση της Βορειοδυτικής Μακεδονίας Αθήνα: Παρασκήνιο. Kostas Kasvikis is lecturer of history and culture education in the Department of Primary Education, University of Western Macedonia, Greece. After being trained as a teacher, he had studied history and archaeology in the School of Philosophy, A.U.TH. where he received his Master Degree in prehistoric archaeology and his Phd on archaeological education. He has served as a primary education teacher for 20 years and has designed educational material and activities for archaeological sites and museums. His research interests and teaching topics are history education, museum education, politics of the past and public archaeology. (kkasvikis@uowm.gr) Andreas Andreou is Professor of history and culture education in the Department of Primary Education, University of Western Macedonia, Greece. He had studied archaeology, ancient history and byzantine studies (byzantilogy) in the Universities of Mainz and Heidelberg, Germany where he obtained his doctoral thesis in classical archaeology. His research interests are on history education, local history and museum education, topics that he teaches in pre-graduate and post-graduate courses. He is the author of a series of books, edited books and scientific articles on the above research areas. (aandreou@uowm.gr). i The archaeological site of Vergina (Aiges) lies in the Greek part of Macedonia, though further south from the Florina region. The excavations carried out by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Auth), Greece and the local archaeological service yielded very important Geometric, Archaic and Classical antiquities. In 1977 the prominent Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos and his team revealed the unlooted royal tombs, full of rich artifacts, that he attributed to the Macedonian King Philip II, the father of Great Alexander. These important discoveries affected the contemporary archaeological research in the Greek part of Macedonia and signaled new aspects of the political uses of the past concerning the identities of the ethnicities in the region in the past and present. As a matter of fact to the Greek public consciousness the site of Vergina and its finds constitutes undisputable proof of the Hellenicity of Macedonia, monumentalizing the history and legacy of the ancient Macedonia and the ethnic commemoration of Philip II and Alexander the Great and succeeding the reaffirmation of the region in a national context (Kotsakis, 1998, Hamilakis, 2007: ). ii The term Macedonian struggle denotes the multifaceted fight of Greece against the Bulgarian propaganda and military intervention in Macedonia (Dakin, 1966), as it is commonly referred to in Greek historiography (Gounaris, 1997a). iii For these historical events and for further bibliography see Andreou, 2003, Baerentzen, Iatridis & Smith, 1999, Bosworth, 1971, Gounaris, Michailidis &Aggelopoulos, 1999, Kravari, 1989, Kyriakoudis, 2002, Moustakas, 2000, Moutsopoulos, 2003, Tsotsos,