Abstract

This qualitative research attempts to explore Greek high school students’ social representations of the relationship between Greece and Europe as well as the relationship students develop with history. The theoretical framework of the research is based on the concepts of social representations, European ideas, Eurocentrism, and the European dimension in education. The data were collected through interviews with twenty-fivehigh school students and analyzed using the method of thematic analysis. The results showed that students represent their country’s relationship with Europe in three aspects: as a relationship of exploitation, of cooperation, and of exchanging ideas. Echoing other studies, this research highlighted that the construction of social representations is based on the state’s position of power. Regarding students’ relationship with history, the results indicated a connection between past, present, and future in which the past has a dominant role. Students do not treat history as a field of thought and expression; although they look for historical concepts, they do not know or think to apply them when talking about historical events. Moreover, two different things seem to happen simultaneously: students problematize school history but not their representations, and the latter seems to be legitimized from school history as students havenot learned to think historically. Nevertheless, students appear ready to redefine their relationship with history and redetermine their representations and views of the world.