Proportions or Perspectives? Didactic Medievalism – Moving the Body to the Fore in Czech History Textbooks

This paper analyses history textbooks currently used in the Czech Republic; it focuseson how they deal with the issue of the historicity of the body and its related functions, and relations in pre‑modern history. It shows that the medieval body is surprisingly present in primary and secondary education, at least through history textbooks. The ways in which it is presented, however, are problematic: it remains at the margins of the canonical narrative and is not used to develop key competencies associated with historical thinking (unlike some topics in political history). In explanatory texts the history of the body is incorporated mostly in apparently unreflective ways. The author argues that a rearrangement of information and changes of perspective (which would make the historicity of the body the focus of the interpretation) would be enough to offer a more complex view of the historicity of the human body in pre‑modern societies. He also expresses hope for more research‑oriented (thus not just transmissive) teaching materials.