The Construction Of Historical Discourse

In this essay, the author analyzes the changes of history textbooks of TaiwanJunior High School and interviewed some renowned scholars and government officersin Taiwan. Thus, in a political communication view, she forms the idea of howtextbooks can be figured as a medium to deliver political information.To discuss from the “communicator”(the writers and censors of historytextbooks),“information”(content of textbooks and political information hided) and“media environment”(political culture and political system), the author shows us howthe history textbooks have changed during the past50years both contently andstructurally, which provides a glimpse of the relationship between education andpolitics in Taiwan. Due to this research, the author concludes democratization andmarketization are two initial factors exerting an impact on education in Taiwan. Andat last, we can imagine how in a larger extent can political system (authoritarian vs.democracy regime), political culture (Greater Chinese nationalism vs. Taiwannationalism) and interest groups (government&market) affect politicalcommunication.