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ERIC Number: EJ1338932
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2631-9713
EISSN: N/A
Of Dragons and Dinosaurs: How Children's Toys and Games Create Ideas of the Past, of History and of Fiction
Kühberger, Christoph
History Education Research Journal, v18 n2 p183-198 2021
This article outlines a trend in popular historical culture which has seen the increasing replacement of a concept of history that rests on some form of evidence base by visions of fictional pasts, or -- to put it more precisely -- by an ambiguous blend of the past and fictional pasts. Drawing on ethnographic research focused on the contents of Austrian children's rooms, this paper explores traceable manifestations of history and historical fiction, particularly toy dragons and dinosaurs, in their properties as objects and as focuses of their owners' interpretations as ascertained in interviews. The research finds little clear demarcation in the minds of the children interviewed (all between 8 and 12 years old) between imaginings and cognitive attempts to reconstruct the past. The article examines the influence of these factual-fictional representations on historical thinking from a history education perspective.
UCL Press. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT; e-mail: uclpresspublishing@ucl.ac.uk; Web site: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/history-education-research-journal
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Austria
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A