The History Education and Establishment of Multicultural Awareness of Students

This paper aims to analyze how the role of historical education in the establishment of multicultural awareness of students. The research used literature study method. The sources collected were then analyzed. The results show that historical education as one of the important instruments in the nation character building, has a strategic role in shaping multicultural awareness of students. Multicultural awareness referred to in this research is the awareness and recognition about the existence of ethnic, cultural, and so on, so as to strengthen tolerance in the life of the nation and state. Student multicultural awareness is formed from the understanding of past events that have multicultural values. The events referred to existed during the period of the national movement, for in that period the Indonesian nation discovered the concept of national integration and recognition of diversity.