The presentation “Reinterpretation of Croatian-Language School Manuals in the Context of Early Linguistic and Technological Literacy from the Mid-19th Century to the Early Decades of the 20th Century”

Jadranka Mlikota and Vjekoslav Galzina participated in the scientific conference 9th Days of Šime and Ante Starčević: Landscape in Education and Education in the Landscape, held in Gospić from 22 to 23 May 2026. Co-author Vjekoslav Galzina presented the paper entitled Reinterpretation of School Manuals in the Croatian Language in the Context of Early Linguistic and Technological Literacy from the Mid-19th Century to the Early Decades of the 20th Century.

The paper analyzed school manuals from the specified period in order to determine which technical, scientific, and economic knowledge was included in school manuals, how this knowledge was explained and evaluated, how the content was connected to practical life and students’ everyday experiences, which educational goals were associated with its instruction, and in what ways school manuals contributed to the shaping of work ethics, social discipline, and the idea of the useful citizen.

The content analysis of the selected material demonstrated that scientific, technical, and economic knowledge in textbooks was systematically integrated into a unified discourse of usefulness. Natural phenomena, technical instruments, and production processes were not presented as isolated facts, but rather as elements of a rationally ordered world in which nature is subordinated to human labor, measurement, and control. In this way, students were introduced to an epistemological framework in which the world was perceived as entirely explainable, predictable, and technically manageable, corresponding to the broader modernization processes of the 19th century.

Based on the conducted analysis, it can be confirmed that, in addition to their didactic role, the school manuals used in public schools during the second half of the 19th century also served the purpose of shaping citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: rational, disciplined, work-oriented, and socially useful individuals.

More at the link below: https://conference.unizd.hr/dani-sas-9-hr/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExTXhkSjc2VTdtUXJJNWJ4aXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR62Kf_u2Z1w9gun7hzREZxgBwNeqHzk0DQWYR6Xc6KgodeXdYrBxkHWaxVUGA_aem_ils3RWfAv4MiZN8Uxb8lfg

Programme of the Scientific Conference: https://conference.unizd.hr/dani-sas-9-hr/program-2/

Book of Abstracts: https://conference.unizd.hr/dani-sas-9-hr/knjizica-sazetaka/