ABSTRACT
The recent surge in publications on the history of knowledge may obscure the fact that there are several parallel understandings of what the field is. In this article, I discern five major ...historiographical directions in contemporary scholarship regarding the history of knowledge. The analytical framework that has so far attracted the most attention is the circulation of knowledge. As productive as it is, the very concept of circulation is in need of both elaboration and theorization. In order to achieve this, I focus on the public circulation of knowledge. This kind of circulation implies that knowledge should be studied as a broad, societal phenomenon. There are a number of possible methodological approaches to study the processes, situations, or contexts where knowledge has or gains public significance. Here I focus on and develop the concept of public arenas of knowledge, which might be virtual, physical, or hybrid spaces. Drawing on several new studies, I demonstrate how different public arenas of knowledge functioned during the postwar period and how they were part of a larger infrastructure of knowledge.
The History of Knowledge Ostling, Johan; Heidenblad, David Larsson; Olsson, Lena
12/2023
eBook, Book
Open access
This Element provides a pedagogical overview of the history of knowledge, including its main currents, distinguishing ideas, and key concepts. However, it is not primarily a state-of-the-art overview ...but rather an argumentative contribution that seeks to push the field in a certain direction – towards studying knowledge in society and knowledge in people's lives. Hence, the history of knowledge envisioned by the authors is not a rebranding of the history of science and intellectual history, but rather a reinvigoration of social and cultural history. This implies that many different forms of knowledge should be objects of study. By drawing on ongoing research from all across the world dealing with different time periods and problems, the authors demonstrate that the history of knowledge can enrich our understanding of past societies. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Historians of the universities have not always belonged to the avantgarde of historical research. On the contrary, many studies of the universities have tended to be rather traditional and ...narrow-minded. In recent years, however, the surge in the history of knowledge has opened up novel perspectives and given new impulses to how to write the history of the universities. In this presentation, Johan Östling, director of the Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge (LUCK), will highlight some of these new trends and approaches. Among other things, he will show how global history, media history and the history of the humanities can enrich the history of universities.
Histories of Knowledge in Postwar Scandinavia uses case studies to explore how knowledge circulated in the different public arenas that shaped politics, economics and cultural life in and across ...postwar Scandinavia, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. This book focuses on a period when the term "knowledge society" was coined and rapidly found traction. In Scandinavia, society’s relationship to rational forms of knowledge became vital to the self-understanding and political ambitions of the era. Taking advantage of contemporary discussions about the circulation, arenas, forms, applications and actors of knowledge, contributors examine various forms of knowledge – economic, environmental, humanistic, religious, political, and sexual – that provide insight into the making and functioning of postwar Scandinavian societies and offer innovative studies that contribute to the development of the history of knowledge at large. The concentration on knowledge rather than the welfare state, the Cold War or the new social and political movements, which to date have attracted the lion’s share of scholarly attention, ensures the book makes a historiographical intervention in postwar Scandinavian historiography. Offering a stimulating point of departure for those interested in the history of knowledge and the circulation of knowledge, this is a vital resource for students and scholars of postwar Scandinavia that provides fresh perspectives and new methodologies for exploration.
This book is about the idea of the university in modern Germany. Its primary focus is how the transformation of the Humboldtian tradition gave direction to debates around higher education. By ...combining approaches from intellectual history, conceptual history and the history of knowledge, the study investigates the ways in which Humboldt’s ideas have been appropriated for various purposes in different historical contexts and epochs. Ultimately, it shows that Humboldt’s ideals are not timeless – they are historical phenomena and have always been determined by the predicaments and issues of the day. Nevertheless, many of the key concepts and fundamental ideas have endured throughout the twentieth century, though they have been interpreted in different ways.
The second issue of the yearbook History of Intellectual Culture (HIC) dedicates a thematic section to modes of publication. This volume addresses recent advances in publication studies and stresses ...the cultural formation of knowledge. By exploring and analyzing layers of presenting, sharing, and circulating knowledge, we invite readers to critically engage with questions of media uses and publishing practices and structures, both historically and in our contemporary digital age. The articles in this volume attest to the great variety of publication modes and perspectives, from the potential and limits of digitizing newspapers such as the New York Times to questions of positionality in building and using Wikipedia, from translation policies and female participation to the genre of university histories. ; The second issue of the yearbook History of Intellectual Culture (HIC) dedicates a thematic section to modes of publication. This volume addresses recent advances in publication studies and stresses the cultural formation of knowledge. By exploring and analyzing layers of presenting, sharing, and circulating knowledge, we invite readers to critically engage with questions of media uses and publishing practices and structures, both historically and in our contemporary digital age. The articles in this volume attest to the great variety of publication modes and perspectives, from the potential and limits of digitizing newspapers such as the New York Times to questions of positionality in building and using Wikipedia, from translation policies and female participation to the genre of university histories.
The theme of the first issue of the yearbook HIC deals with "Participatory Knowledge". It will target the various ways knowledge is rooted in society through the participation of individuals and ...groups. Topics may include different kinds of knowledge harnessed within or through communities, modes of producing, circulating, and recording knowledge content.
The Humboldtian Tradition Josephson, Peter; Karlsohn, Thomas; Östling, Johan
2014, Volume:
12
eBook, Book
In The Humboldtian Tradition, eleven scholars analyse Wilhelm von Humboldt as a historical phenomenon and a contemporary symbol. They put Humboldt's basic academic principles into context and discuss ...their significance for the current debate about the university.
Med våra avslutande reflektioner vill vi rikta blicken framåt och fråga oss vad det kunskapshistoriska fältet kan bli under 2020-talet. För tillfället befinner fältet sig i ett viktigt ...formerande skede. Det mest utmärkande draget är att det i dag fyller en integrativ funktion. Detta temanummer är en manifestation av detta. Men för att kunskapshistoria ska utvecklas till ett verkligt värdefullt historievetenskapligt fält krävs det mer. Det behöver utveckla sin generativa potential. En väg framåt som vi pekat på här är att utforma nya analytiska begrepp, metoder och perspektiv. En annan kan vara att forskningskluster bildas kring speciella teman och fenomen, företrädesvis sådana som inte överlappar med etablerade forskningsfält. En tredje väg är samarbeten mellan olika lokala kunskapshistori- ska forskningsmiljöer och forskargrupper, både inom och utanför Norden.
I samtliga fall menar vi att det bör finnas en genuin strävan att visa hur en kunskapshistorisk ingång påverkar utformning, genomförande och resultat. Det ska betyda något annat att bedriva kunskapshistoria än bokhistoria, idéhistoria, mediehistoria, vetenskapshistoria eller utbildningshistoria. Kan vi lyckas med detta realiseras fältets potential. Det finns det alla möjligheter till under 2020-talet.
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