Trenger fellesverdiene en historie? - Kulturarv og eierskap som utfordring i KRLE-faget

This article discusses whether and how we should approach the historical dimension of cultural heritage in the Norwegian religious education subject, KRLE. The discussion is based on what can be described as a type of cultural heritage history, namely the narrative of the history of humanism that has dominated Norwegian KRLE textbooks, and which centers around the emergence of rationality, human dignity, and democracy and rights. The article shows how thematizing the historical genealogy of such common values and ideals is challenging, and that a key reason for this has to do with questions of ownership. The article argues that, despite these challenges, the history of these types of values should be thematized in the subject. The reason has to do with the fact that such values and ideals are inevitably understood in the light of historical development, and thus that stories about them are already present in the classroom. The absence of a historical perspective means that the students are not given the opportunity to challenge these narratives. The article argues that such critical reflection requires that the KRLE discipline offers narratives that are richer and more complex, and in a better way account for this development than the existing narratives. We further argue that such a narrative needs a point of orientation that is relevant to the society to be understood, and that it should take place within the framework of a type of history of ideas. Finally, we will give some very brief examples of how to make such narratives more complex. Keywords: cultural heritage, common values, history, narratives, humanism

Art · Humanities · Political science · Balkan and Eastern European Studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Diverse Musicological Studies · Philosophy