Historiemedvetande och identitet : Om historiens närvaro i några estniska ungdomars liv

Sammanfattning: The issues that I deal with in this study arose as a result of a specific event in the Estonian capital Tallinn in the spring of 2007, when authorities removed from the city center the Soviet monument which shows a Soviet soldier during World War II. When the monument was moved to the war cemetery in another part of Tallinn, anger and frustration quickly spread among the Russian-speaking population and less than one day after the move Tallinn's streets filled with young Russian-speaking protesters. Two years later, a new war memorial was inaugurated by the Estonian authorities in the central part of town. This new memorial was Estonia's own Freedom Monument.In this study, the two concepts that I am focusing on are historical consciousness and identity. Historical consciousness is a key concept of the teaching of history. Identity is also one of the terms used often and in different contexts within the field of history teaching. The overall aim of this study is to highlight the relation between historical consciousness and identity among high school students in Estonia. I have focused on two groups of students in Estonian schools with two different languages of instruction.The collected materials for the study consist of surveys, the young people's own life stories in text form as well as interviews. This was supplemented subsequently with the relevant content of education, including curriculum, including both national and local curricula, especially in the subject of history. To illustrate the study´s problem, I have put together various stories, where I analyze and interpret the collected material. These stories are based on different parts of the data material and the stories reflected and illuminated by my research questions.