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»Starting with the topic of the Mediterranean in history teaching, the workshop brought about high-level and heated debates on the role of historical research and history education in today’s rapidly changing world, in which the geographical, political, and cultural positions of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are being fundamentally redefined. Drawing on the diverse horizons of its participants, it clearly exemplified the powerful heuristic potential of a Mediterranean dialogue on history teaching.

Historians from Berlin, Cairo, Istanbul, The Hague, Paris, Tel Aviv, Rabat, Skopje, Tunis, and elsewhere had accepted the invitation from Romain Faure and Leyla Dakhli to discuss the possibilities of integrating Mediterranean perspectives in school history teaching. The starting point of the workshop was a current paradox: on the one hand, historical research on the modern and contemporary history of the Mediterranean is vivid and deals with a range of issues of great public interest, like the unfolding and aftermath of colonialism and decolonization, the Ottoman hegemony and legacy in the Middle East and North Africa, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. On the other hand, in countries from both north and south of the Mediterranean, the teaching of 19th- and 20th-century history in school is often silent about these topics and hardly refers to the history of social, cultural, religious, political, and economic connections in the Mediterranean. This appears to be a serious shortcoming, since history is key to understanding the major conflicts and migrations currently affecting the countries on the Mediterranean shores and well beyond. History teaching remains parochial within the boundaries of national or culturalistic frames.«

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