ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals how exploring the teaching of slavery and colonialism in Portugal reflects on Eurocentrism and racism and engages with the specific contexts in which history is produced and consumed, particularly in textbooks. It exploits a multidisciplinary research project that aimed at exploring the construction of Eurocentrism in Portuguese history textbooks. The chapter explores the narrative devices that sustain Eurocentrism as the dominant paradigm for the interpretation of the history of slavery in Portuguese textbooks and, most importantly, of its relation with colonialism and racism. It focuses on the location of slavery and colonialism within the dominant views regarding the debates on textbooks and the teaching of history in European contexts. The chapter summarizes the main findings regarding analysis of slavery in Portuguese history textbooks. It investigates the approaches and views of historians, history teachers, university students and textbook publishers on the history/teaching of slavery and its relation to Portuguese colonialism.
