Constructing historical literacies: navigating new media

This thesis by publication is comprised of an introductory exegetic chapter and five publications concerned with History education in the twenty-first century, specifically in the context of the high school History curriculum in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). Due to the current climate of rapidly emerging new technologies, high school students growing up in this context are immersed in new forms of communication and socialisation, as well as being more likely to be engaged in online networks and social spaces. Acknowledging the vast changes to cultural production and structural understandings in society, the papers of this thesis explore how History (official curriculum) can contribute to the overall development of historical literacies, preparing students for active and informed citizenship in the twenty-first century. Through the Remembering Gallipoli project, Chapters 2 and 3 of the thesis explore high school students’ perceptions of collective memory as related to the Gallipoli campaign, a significant event in Australian national history. Chapter 4 explores the concept of historical empathy, identified as a key aim of History education in Australia although, in the context of the research undertaken in this thesis, this is an important consideration of how particular representations may evoke emotional responses. This is of particular interest due to the importance of the uses of history and collective memory in the creation of national identities and considerations of the emotional elements of such narratives (Grever et al., 2012). The final chapters of this thesis deal directly with the concept of historical literacy. Through a historical perspective on conceptualisations of literacy in official curriculum documents, as well as presenting a preliminary framework working towards a reconceptualisation of historical literacy for the twenty-first century. This thesis advocates for historical cognition and historical consciousness to be placed at the heart of understandings of historical literacy and, more broadly, History education in Australia.