Why would you use a Fascist greeting to celebrate a football victory? Discussing historical revisionism and genocide memory with Danish high school teenagers

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

In the early 21st century Europe experiences increasing far-right tendencies and a general rise in xenophobic nationalism. This seems to be accompanied by a general ignorance or even indifference towards Europe’s dark history of mass violence and genocide inspired by radical ideologies such as Fascism, Communism, and extreme nationalism. This chapter explores the level and nature of indifference among Danish teenagers through three qualitative case studies of how Danish high school youth react to examples of right-wing and Fascist revisionism. Drawing on experiential learning methods, the case studies confront the teenagers with examples of blatant representations of Fascist and extreme nationalist ideology and symbolism within the emotionally and aesthetically appealing world of top football. Observing reactions or lack thereof, we invite the teenagers to explore the examples further and we encourage them to respond if they feel like. We draw on examples from Croatian and Serbian popular culture, something that will be alien to Danish youth, both in order to avoid present national narratives and to explore the extent to which reactions and reflections to revisionism and proud parading of dark history will be able to speak to young people and evoke emotional and moral reactions across cultures.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEngaging with Historical Traumas : Experiential Learning and Pedagogies of Resilience
EditorsNena Močnik, Ger Duijzings, Hanna Meretoja, Bonface Njeresa Beti
Number of pages15
PublisherRoutledge
Publication date2021
Pages17-31
Chapter1
ISBN (Print)9780367496159
ISBN (Electronic)9781003046875
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Humanities - History, Historical empathy, History education, Experiential learning, football, fascism, Genocide, memory

ID: 276906027