Reconstructing History Learning Through the 1968 South Blitar Event: Integrating Silenced Narratives into High School Classrooms

Wafiyatu  Maslahah; Warto; Hieronymus Purwanta

Authors

Wafiyatu Maslahah Doctoral Program in History Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia
Warto Doctoral Program in History Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia
Hieronymus Purwanta Doctoral Program in History Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia

Keywords:

History Learning, Local History, 1968 South Blitar, Needs Analysis, Digital Textbook

Abstract

The exclusion of local historical events from formal curricula has fragmented students’ understanding of the past. One such event, the 1968 South Blitar incident closely linked to the 1965 political turmoil remains absent from classroom discourse despite its regional significance. This study aims to reconstruct high school history learning by identifying pedagogical needs for integrating this local event into instructional materials. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, data were collected from six history teachers through interviews and 118 students through questionnaires, complemented by classroom observations and document analysis in public high schools across Blitar Regency. Findings reveal a substantial gap between the national curriculum and students’ lived historical context. Teachers and students expressed the need for materials that reflect local experiences, encourage critical engagement, and include marginalized narratives. Incorporating the 1968 South Blitar event into digital history resources can enhance historical literacy and democratize historical knowledge among high school learners.

References

Agamben, G., & Sacer, H. (1998). Sovereign power and bare life. Homo sacer, 1.

Agostini, A., De Michelis, G., Divitini, M., Grasso, M. A., & Snowdon, D. (2002). Design and deployment of community systems: reflections on the Campiello experience. Interacting with computers, 14(6), 689-712.

Annet, K. A. (2025). Reimagining History: The Role of Digital Archives in Education.

Assmann, J. (2011). Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge University Press.

Barton, K. C., & Avery, P. G. (2016). Research on social studies education: Diverse students, settings, and methods. Handbook of research on teaching, 5(1), 985-1038.

Brown, A. L., & Au, W. (2014). Race, memory, and master narratives: A critical essay on US curriculum history. Curriculum Inquiry, 44(3), 358-389.

Carretero, M., Berger, S., & Grever, M. (2017). Introduction: Historical cultures and education in transition. In Palgrave handbook of research in historical culture and education (pp. 1-35). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Cribb, R. (2002). Unresolved problems in the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966. Asian Survey, 42(4), 550-563.

Claravall, E. B., & Irey, R. (2022). Fostering historical thinking: The use of document based instruction for students with learning differences. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 46(3), 249-264.

Gomez, K., & Lee, U. S. (2015). Situated cognition and learning environments: Implications for teachers on-and offline in the new digital media age. Interactive Learning Environments, 23(5), 634-652.

Herrera, L. J. P. (2025). The politicization of and misinformation about social-emotional learning. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 100141.

Lévesque, S. (2008). Thinking historically: Educating students for the twenty-first century. University of Toronto Press.

Lee, J. F. (2014). A hidden curriculum in Japanese EFL textbooks: Gender representation. Linguistics and Education, 27, 39-53.

Melvin, J. (2018). The army and the Indonesian genocide: Mechanics of mass murder. Routledge.

Pattuelli, M. C. (2008). Teachers’ perspectives and contextual dimensions to guide the design of NC history learning objects and ontology. Information processing & management, 44(2), 635-646.

Robinson, G. (2018). The killing season: A history of the Indonesian massacres, 1965-66. Princeton University Press.

Rahmawati, Y., Ridwan, A., Cahyana, U., & Wuryaningsih, T. (2020). The integration of ethnopedagogy in science learning to improve student engagement and cultural awareness. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(2), 662-671.

Sato, M. (2015). Historical Thought and Historiography: East Asia.

Seixas, P., & Morton, T. (2012). The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts.

Saurombe, N. (2018). Decolonising higher education curricula in South Africa: Factoring in archives through public programming initiatives. Archival Science, 18(2), 119-141.

Suryani, N. (2016). Utilization of digital media to improve the quality and attractiveness of the teaching of history. In Proceeding of the International Conference on Teacher Training and Education (Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 131-144).

Veit, A. (2022). Class-based communities: The postcolonial reform of school education in South Africa. In International Impacts on Social Policy: Short Histories in Global Perspective (pp. 131-144). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Zajda, J. (2015). Globalisation and the politics of education reforms: History education. In Nation-building and history education in a global culture (pp. 1-14). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.