Il colonialismo liberale nei manuali scolastici liceali: limiti di una narrazione storica

This research intends to contribute to a better understanding of the nar- rative of Italian colonial history of the liberal age in textbooks adopted in high schools. The choice to focus on this topic is justified considering the 10 Abstracts high interest shown by curricular teachers towards textbooks, which are considered “service book(s)” (Brusa, 2012) helpful in stemming teachers’ anxieties (Cavadi, 2004). Based on Paul Weinbrenner’s heuristic (1992), the paper investigates textbooks «as a medium, studying its contents, langua- ges, and transmission techniques» (Adorno, 2020, p. 22). The paper thus intends to highlight the main problems connected to the representation of colonialism in the liberal age. The criticalities found in school textbooks seem to support Grendi’s claim that textbooks are «marked by a common historiographical sense, made up of a series of simplifications and clichés now superseded by historical research» (Cajani, 2019, p. 126).