A/68/296 living in disconnected realities. Such policies tend to have a greater negative impact on the poor, the working class or marginalized sections of society, who are most deprived of opportunities to interact with others and lack access to alternative narratives. 29. The homogenizing of narratives constricts the space for diverse perspectives and debates, foreclosing pupils’ ability to see the complex events in their country, region or the world in a more nuanced manner. The lack of a pluralistic multi-voice narrative of history can lead to the creation of so-called “parallel” narratives, 6 i.e. a single official narrative transmitted in schools, which sometimes only a minority believes to be true, and private narratives, gathered from other sources. This disjuncture creates spaces that can be filled by those promising the triumph of justice and real truth upon assuming power. 30. Acute, chronic or intractable conflicts between States are often supported through historical narratives that present the conflicting peoples in terms of enemies and victims or perpetrators of aggression. Iterated images from the past create the illusion that conflict is the natural state in which the concerned people or groups exist, completely obscuring historical cooperation and good relations. When history is presented as an ever-repeating process, with preordained societal relations, textbooks become the bearers of conflict ideology, helping to create an atmosphere in which new conflicts become possible. 31. Distortions of history teaching are not restricted to post-conflict societies. In many societies, history teaching either altogether ignores or carries, validates or strengthens stereotypes about marginalized groups, especially minorities and indigenous peoples, in addition to women and the poor. The dominant homogenizing narrative blanches out diversity, ignoring the cultural heritage of everyone outside the group in power, simultaneously depriving the majority of the opportunity to understand the complexity of their country. Reported cases include history textbooks failing to refer to women and minorities or to acknowledge renowned historical figures and contributions of a specific group, in addition to imported history books in which sections on specific minorities have been deleted during translation into the national language. 7 The histories of migrant populations are also commonly excluded. 32. History teaching of colonization and slavery continues to be problematic. 8 In former colonizing States, history teaching tends not fully to address the atrocities committed during colonization and through slavery, or acknowledge their contemporary legacies. Colonialism deeply influenced European self-understanding, combining a sense of one’s own superiority with notions of the colonial other’s inferiority. In countries in which a critical stance towards this period is not visible, such as when teachers are required to recognize the positive values of colonialism, it is important to develop competencies such as a multiperspective approach, transnational historical awareness and critical awareness of Eurocentrism. In postcolonial societies, various methods of manipulating history may be deployed: from __________________ 6 7 8 10/27 See Sami Adwan, Dan Bar-On and Eyal Naveh, eds., Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel/Palestine (New York, New Press, 2012). According to the contribution by the Bahá’í International Community to the open consultation, 5 July 2013. See Alicia C. Decker, “Painful pedagogies: teaching about war and violence in African history”, Perspectives on History, vol. 48, No. 5 (May 2010). 13-42291