Outlines of Maltese history and grajjet Malta : an analysis of representations of colonialism in Maltese history textbooks

Abstract

On 26 December 2016, TIle Times of Malta carried an article highlighting how 'O'-level history students thought Napoleon Bonaparte was 'a post-war political Maltese leader and struggled to tell the difference between the Independence and Integration proposals with the UK'. This generated 155 'comments' on the online portal of The Times and the article was repeatedly shared across social media; a general sense of indignation characterised the tone of many of these observations. The teaching of history in schools - its quality, its focus, results in exams - is often a controversial subject that can stir many passions. In part, this is because history is not a neutral subject. It is about recapturing stories and experiences from bygone eras, but not only. These stories and experiences need to be analysed creating a tense interaction between subjectivity and objectivity as one strives to relate and/or understand the past. This paper focuses on the relatively recent British colonial experience as a conduit that has been fundamental in shaping popular perceptions of Malta's more long-term history; in particular, there has often been a tendency to depict pre-British regimes (such as, in reverse chronological order, 'The French', 'The Knights' and so on) as 'colonial' regimes, even if the word itself may not be strictly applicable.