A/68/296 and rising above the dominant perception of history as a study of nations. It aims to demonstrate that scientific and cultural achievements result from intense human interactions across time and space. One current pioneering initiative by UNESCO, in close cooperation with the African Union Commission and the ministries of education of African countries, is the elaboration of a common pedagogical content based on the General History of Africa, intended for use in all African primary and secondary schools. 81. The Franco-German joint history textbooks, Histoire/Geschichte, resulted from a cooperative effort of large teams of historians from both countries. 17 The project has developed an identical narrative about the past in both countries; textbooks are in both languages and founded on the highly developed scientific historiography in both countries. French and German historians reached a consensus in their approach and interpretation of even the most controversial events of their common history, 18 overcoming the usual modes of interpretation to reach a common narrative and offer pupils different perspectives. The project has stimulated discussions about producing such books in other countries with similar problems in interpreting shared history. 19 82. In South-East Europe, a regional approach was used by the Joint History Project of the Thessaloniki-based Center for Democracy and Reconciliation. Following parallel analyses of textbooks from 12 countries, 20 four volumes of supplementary teaching material for high schools students were published in nine languages. Entitled Teaching Modern Southeast European History: Alternative Educational Materials, the volumes address the most sensitive issues in the region. The multiperspective approach ensures that every event is shown, by way of historical sources, from the perspectives of the countries involved. Considering that historiographies in those countries are underdeveloped and seen as closely linked to political agendas, publishing the historical sources and supplementary teaching material was a reasonable way of presenting sensitive issues. 83. Another model has been developed by the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East, a non-governmental organization founded in 1998 by Palestinian and Israeli researchers and peace activists, in the form of a binational history textbook. In view of the experts’ assessment that a common or even a bridging narrative cannot be reached at this time, the book relates Palestinian and Israeli historical narratives of the twentieth century in three-columned pages: one column carries the Palestinian narrative, another the Israeli narrative. The third is an empty column for high school students to write down their own ideas, reactions, questions, additional data or conclusions. The book has not, however, been accepted or approved by the __________________ 17 18 19 20 13-42291 L’Europe et le monde de l’Antiquité à 1815, published in 2011; L’Europe et le monde du congrès de Vienne à 1945, published in 2008; and L’Europe et le monde depuis 1945, published in 2006. See www.bpb.de/system/files/pdf/9XFS2N.pdf . See also the current project of a German-Polish textbook, available from www.gei.de/en/ research/europe-narratives-images-spaces/europe-and-the-national-factor/german-polishtextbook-commission.html. See also K. Korostelina and S. Lässig, eds., History Education and Post-Conflict Reconciliation: Reconsidering Joint Textbook Projects (Abingdon/New York, Routledge, 2013). See Christina Koulouri, ed., Teaching the History of Southeastern Europe (Thessaloniki, Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, 2001); Christina Koulouri, ed., Clio in the Balkans: The Politics of History Education (Thessaloniki, Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, 2002). 21/27