THE USE OF PROPAGANDA POSTERS IN HISTORY CLASSES
THE USE OF PROPAGANDA POSTERS IN HISTORY CLASSES

Author(s): Nicolae Hurduzeu
Subject(s): Education, Media studies, Communication studies, Theory of Communication, Higher Education
Published by: Editura Eikon
Keywords: propaganda; teaching aid; history; manipulation; stereotype;
Summary/Abstract: We live in a period when the majority of the important messages about the social issues and events are sent by different media channels such as the television, written press or the internet. For the success of democracy, it is essential that the students, the future adults of our society, should have the ability to analyse and evaluate the messages received through various means of communication. Even since school, students should have the capacity to understand the influence of mass media messages on the way in which they understand the world they live in. Students need to be trained to identify and use various communication techniques of messages in different media forms. In order to do this, history classes may be the perfect setting for the analysis of some primary historic sources. The image, the picture and the propaganda poster are primary historic sources each having their own code of communication. These involve symbols, colour schemes, they may even involve sounds. The analysis of images, photos, is that more important today as the cultural life of the younger generations is rather visual that written. Without these critical abilities we risk losing the diversity and freedom of thinking which form the foundation of a truly democratic society.

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