Abstract

Based upon the analysis of nationalist narratives in the ancient Korean history chapters of eight official Korean history textbooks published in or after 2014, this study attempts to assess how Korean history textbooks meet their stated objective of “Korean history within and alongside world history” drawn from the global citizenship education point of view. This study presents an analytical inquiry into the nationalist narratives embedded in these textbooks—despite appearances to the contrary—notably in the portions dealing with ancient history. Nationalist narratives found in the treatment of ancient Korean history in these textbooks can be categorized into overstatements on the emergence of a single ethnic group, an earlier timeframe for historical events, territorial exaggerations, and misinformation about neighboring countries. It is important to bring the extended stakeholders, particularly history scholars, into the authorship of textbook-making processes to reflect up-to-date findings for objective narratives in textbooks and to take serious account of issues that transcend borders, regions, and cultures from a global and comprehensive perspective. In history education, a balanced understanding of history among learners can be realized only through global citizenship education that goes beyond nationalism.