History in Crisi(e)s? - OHTE Annual Conference 2024

Wednesday, 4 December

14:00 - 16:00

Pre-conference workshop

Fighting against fake news and manipulation of history: a democratic challenge for young people

Room 8 (Offline)

In the era of rapid technological advancement and the pervasive influence of social media, the proliferation of misinformation and deliberate historical distortions has become increasingly prevalent and often used for political ends. While no age or socio-professional category is exempt from these worrying phenomena, which undermine critical thinking and reason, the younger generations are particularly exposed to these abuses. Any educational shortcomings in this area can contribute to the abandonment of the democratic and humanist values defended by the Council of Europe. Fake news and the manipulation of history are a major challenge facing the future of democracy but how can we help young people to combat these phenomena?

MODERATION

Tobias FLESSENKEMPER,
Head of Youth Department,
Council of Europe

PANEL

Vincent FLIBUSTIER,
Media Trainer on digital citizenship and disinformation, Belgium

Ana MOCANU,
Researcher in disinformation and media trainer, Funky Citizens, Romania

María SABIOTE,
Secondary Education teacher and member of DICSO research group (University of Murcia), IES Foramontanos, Spain

Lauren PRAY,
Executive Committee Member, European Students’ Union, Prague (Czech Republic), member of the History Working Group (GT-HIST), Council of Europe

Presentation of the HISTOLAB Toolkit for History Classes: Debunking Fake News and Fostering Critical Thinking by Eve RYAN, Project Officer, History Education Division, Council of Europe

Thursday, 5 December

9:15

Opening

Opening of the conference

MODERATION

Alex TAYLOR,
European journalist

OPENING WORDS

Bjørn BERGE (video message),
Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Claude MEISCH,
Minister of National Education, Representative of the Luxembourg
Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Luxembourg

OPENING SESSION

Andela JAKSIC-STOJANOVIC,
Minister of Education, Science and
Innovation, Montenegro

Tomáš DRUCKER,
Minister of Education, Research,
Development and Youth, Slovak
Republic

Artur MARTIROSYAN,
Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Armenia

Mychailo WYNNYCKYJ,
Deputy Minister of Education and
Science, Ukraine

Alain LAMASSOURE,
Chair of the OHTE Governing Board,
France

Thursday, 5 December

10:00

OHTE Talk 1

The return of history in the present

MODERATION

Matjaž GRUDEN,
Director for Democracy, Council of Europe

PANEL

Luuk VAN MIDDELAAR,
Founding director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics and Professor at Leiden University, Belgium
‍
In dialogue with
‍
Pap NDIAYE,
Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the Council of Europe

Thursday, 5 December

11:45

Plenary session 1

Ukraine in Europe: a gap in historical narratives?

MODERATION

Alex TAYLOR,
European journalist

PANEL

Mychailo WYNNYCKYJ,
Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Ukraine

Yaroslav HRYTSAK,
Director of the Institute for Historical Studies, National University of Lviv, Ukraine

Serhii PLOKHIY,
Professor of Ukrainian history, Director of Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University (HURI), USA

Thursday, 5 December

14:30

Plenary session 2

Crises in Europe - What can history teach us?

It goes without saying that human history is punctuated by a variety of crises, each with distinct consequences, studied at all levels of education and in all member states of the Council of Europe. Despite our theoretical knowledge of past crises, current and future crises share a common obstacle: their occurrence is often difficult, if not impossible, to predict regardless of their nature. Consequently, studying historical crises in order to identify the strategies that were used to overcome them seems a promising approach in the effort to avoid repeating past mistakes and, ideally, preventing them altogether. In recent years however, the fact is clear: Europe has gone through and continues to grapple with economic and health crises, all while experiencing major conflicts and total humanitarian crises. Is this symptomatic of an inability to draw inspiration from the past to manage and protect against these crises, or are crises an enduring challenge for humanity?

MODERATION

Alex TAYLOR,
European journalist

PANEL

Bilgin AYATA,
Professor for Migration and Transnational Studies, Center for Southeastern European Studies, University of Graz, Austria

Harold J. COOK,
John F. Nickoll Professor of History, Brown University, USA

Tal BRUTTMANN,
Historian, attached to Cergy Paris University, France

Peter GAUTSCHI,
Professor of History Education, University of Teacher Education
Lucerne, Switzerland

Caitríona Ní CASSAITHE,
Assistant Professor of History Education at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland

Thursday, 5 December

16:30

Plenary session 3

History, a subject in danger?

History is a science and, like any science, it is based on scientific, factual and verified analysis. However, despite the scientific approach that should be the norm in its teaching, history can be interpreted very differently depending on who you talk to. More worryingly, history can be hijacked and manipulated to serve political discourse and construct narratives that are bellicose, discriminatory and promote values that run counter to democratic ideals. There has been a marked increase in misinformation and distortion of history, fuelled by various sources (political and social debates, conflicts, etc.), especially online, which can leave history teachers at a loss and even in danger. If history is misused in this way, is there a risk that it will become a tool of mistrust rather than of trust? And, to borrow the title of Francis Fukuyama's world-famous essay, we might ask: is this the end of history?

MODERATION

Villano QIRIAZI,
Head of the Education Department, Council of Europe

PANEL

Semih AKTEKIN,
Professor of History Education, Rector of Nevşehir Haci Bektaş Veli
University (Türkiye)
Member of the OHTE Governing Board

Ann-Laure LIÉVAL,
Professeure agrégée of History and Geography, Lycée Fénelon and CPGE ECG (Classe preparatoire Ecole de Commerce), Lycee Gaston Berger), Lille (France)
Member of the OHTE Scientific Advisory Council

Mario CARRETERO,
Emeritus Professor, Autonomous
University of Madrid, Spain

Slobodan G. MARKOVICH,
Professor of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Luke GAUCI,
Graduate Student, University of Malta,
Winner of the 4th Annual Conference call for papers, Malta

Friday, 6 december

9:00

OHTE Talk 2

History at all costs?

MODERATION

Aurora AILINCĂI,
Executive Director of the OHTE, Head of the History Education Division, Council of Europe

PANEL

Kristina SPOHR,
Professor of International History, LSE | London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Friday, 6 december

10:30

Plenary session 4

Why teach the history of economic crises?

The second OHTE Thematic Report to be published in 2025 tackles the theme of “Economic Crisesin History Teaching”. It examines how economic crises are incorporated into history education inthe OHTE member states, including the links made to political, social, and cultural dimensions, aswell as the use of economic history to teach about societal resilience to national and transnationalchallenges. The report analyses how economic crises are approached in both curricula andtextbooks at the secondary level and includes an exploratory survey of teachers across themember states. Given that economic crises represent a fundamental challenge for individual livesand democratic governance, the report aims to investigate how young people can use knowledgeof the past to take on the challenges of the present and future.

MODERATION

Raul CÂRSTOCEA,
Senior Lecturer in European History, University of Maynooth (Ireland) and Chair ad interim of the OHTE Scientific Advisory Council

PANEL

Steffen SAMMLER,
Historian at the Georg-Eckert-Institut (Leibniz Institute for Educational Media) and lecturer at the Technical University of Braunschweig, co-ordinator of the group of experts responsible for drafting the OHTE’s 2nd thematic report, Germany

Marco COKIĆ,
PhD Student in Economic History, LSE | London School of Economics and PoliticalScience, United Kingdom

Marilia GAGO,
Assistant Professor in History Education at the Institute of Education, University of Minho, Portugal

Friday, 6 december

12:00

Closing

Closing session

MODERATION

Aurora AILINCĂI,
Executive Director of the OHTE, Head of the History Education Division, Council of Europe

PANEL

Gerhard ERMISCHER,
President of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe

Mathieu MORI,
Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

CONFERENCE REPORT

Laura DUSHI, Student at the Faculty of Historical Sciences in Strasbourg, France

Adel EIFERT, Student at the Faculty of Historical Sciences in Strasbourg, France

CLOSING WORDS

Alain LAMASSOURE,
Chair of the OHTE Governing Board, France

Friday, 6 December

15:00 - 17:30

Debate

History on A Human Level

Palais Universitaire de Strasbourg, Amphiteatre 119
(Offline)

Yann BOUVIER, a secondary school history and geopolitics teacher, lecturer on a Master 2programme in public history and associate researcher at the CMMC (Université Côte d'Azur), has beenproducing popular history videos under the pseudonym @yanntoutcourt since 2020. With rigour andhumour, he sets out to deconstruct preconceived ideas and pseudo-historical statements.

MODERATION & ANIMATION

Célestin BERTHELOT,
Project Officer at the Observatory in History Teaching in Europe

WELCOMING WORDS

Stéphane PANNEKOUCKE,
History Professor at the historical science faculty of the University of Strasbourg

PROGRAMME

SPEAKERS

OHTE TALKS

LEARNERS FIRST

Teaching History, Grounding Democracy

GLIMPSES FROM THE CONFERENCE

resources

past conferences