A/68/296 2. Manipulations in textbooks 69. Textbooks require extensive data to be presented in a very limited space, obliging authors to carry out rigorous data selection. That situation can lead to manipulation, especially in junior elementary grades, where the space in books is the most restricted, forcing authors to express themselves in only a few sentences. The constraint makes textbooks for younger children a particularly effective — and thus dangerous — tool for promoting ideological messages among young, more susceptible, minds. Younger children are also most vulnerable to the dissemination of fear and prejudice when history teaching is used to lay the foundations for violence, especially towards so-called “enemy nations” or peoples. 70. Manipulation in textbooks takes place in numerous ways, including: (a) Choice of facts, from a weaker to stronger emphasis on certain events to the complete removal of particular data. While the writing of history always entails selecting facts, intentional misuse is primarily based on a purposeful self-serving selection; (b) Narratives suggesting preferred conclusions. Such messages are found in the text, especially in lesson summaries, and in the questions posed to pupils that directly suggest certain sociopolitically desired conclusions; (c) Choice of the context in which certain peoples or nations are described, typically in cases of conflicts. Excluding periods of peace and cooperation from history lessons impedes pupils’ learning about shared elements of culture, scientific advancements and economic and social structure; (d) Disseminating stereotypes about nations or particular groups. The selective relating of history as moments of conflict between nations or peoples is used to legitimize contemporary standpoints and promote the notion that the (antagonistic) relations between nations are immutable. The attributes of certain nations or people may be presented as predetermined and specific identity markers resorted to so as to naturalize or sacralize historic relationships. For example, the French expression “traite des noirs” (slave trade/trade of blacks) implies that black people were traded because of the colour of their skin, rather than because of social and historical relations in a specific context. Such qualifications, often promoted by those initiating or benefiting from a system of domination, veil the historical and therefore impermanent dimension of the relationship and are so routinely used that no one interrogates their relevance; (e) The use of photographs to transmit specific messages, which can convey stereotypes and also be brutal. When used to create a collective feeling of victimization, this practice relies on evoking emotions instead of applying critical analysis in history teaching. Young children are unprepared to critically process the frightening images imposed; (f) Geographic or historical maps and other visual material can also transmit political messages (e.g. painting neighbouring regions or countries in a uniform grey colour, suggesting that such places are of no significance; historical maps showing the former size of the country; tendentious geographic maps completely ignoring historical events); 18/27 13-42291