The Roles of Historical Imagination in History Learning: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

This review examines the concept of historical imagination and the roles it plays in history learning according to the literature. Imagination is essential when addressing historical topics because we cannot experience the past directly through our senses. However, history education literature has adopted a more comprehensive approach, and a wide range of roles have been attributed to this concept. Despite the extensive literature that has addressed historical imagination, there continues to be widespread ambiguity about it. This systematic literature review analyzes 473 publications in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, from 1962 to 2020. Ten roles of historical imagination in history learning are identified, as well as the theoretical grounding underpinning each role. These findings are necessary to bring clarity to the concept, and two recommendations are made to suggest ways that future research on this topic can provide insights into how historical imagination contributes to historical understanding.