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- Östh Gustafsson, Hampus, 1989-
(författare)
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Folkhemmets styvbarn : Humanioras legitimitet i svensk kunskapspolitik 1935–1980
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study investigates how the legitimacy of the humanities was renegotiated in the context of Swedish politics of knowledge 1935–1980, a period that saw the establishment of a new regime of legitimacy based on rational planning. While higher education and research in general expanded and were turned into prioritised sectors of the welfare state, the humanities were not successfully integrated into the new regime. Using the perspective of the sociology of expectations, I demonstrate how the humanities were excluded from progressive narratives focused on material welfare. In contrast to other categories of knowledge, such as science, technology, medicine, and the social sciences, the Swedish humanities were described as traditional and elitist, and eventually depicted as exceptionally marginalised from a transnational point of view.Using a diverse range of sources from the borderland between science and politics – such as reports from university commissions, conference proceedings, and programmatic articles in the press – this historicising analysis of shifting alliances, negotiations and contests of legitimacy fills an important gap, since previous work on the history of the humanities lacks comprehensive empirical studies on the formation of the discourse of marginalisation. Transcending common interpretations of the so-called "crisis of the humanities" that either focus on the new left circa 1968, or the rise of neo-liberalism about a decade later, I demonstrate that the humanities encountered severe challenges at an earlier stage than is generally assumed, and also how they were marginalised in a context of increasing prosperity. The study illuminates how crisis rhetorics were eventually included in novel strategies of legitimation in the 1970s, as humanities scholars more actively attempted to improve their positions in contrast to previous generations who rather sought to adapt the humanities to the standards of the predominating regime of legitimacy.One of the most common claims for the value of the humanities in current debates stresses their particular function for democracy. This dissertation problematises this claim by using historical cases which emphasise a strained relationship between the humanities and democracy. Specifically, I show how the Swedish humanities struggled to adapt to the new egalitarian democratic society of the 20th century welfare state. In this way, the dissertation provides much-needed nuances to ongoing debates on the legitimacy of the humanities.
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| 2. |
- Fleischer, Håkan, 1974-
(författare)
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En elev - en dator : kunskapsbildningens kvalitet och villkor i den datoriserade skolan
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Avhandlingen behandlar införande av varsin dator till elever och lärare, här kallat en-till-en. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om hur en-till-en påverkar lärande. Särskilt fokus ligger på kunskapsproduktionens karaktär och kvalitet och på förhållanden i den svenska skolan. En ytterligare ambition är att väcka reflektioner kring och bilda kunskap om hur en-till-en, som en produkt av kunskapssamhället, påverkar såväl kunskapssynen som kunskapsbildningens kvalitet och villkor. Därtill är också ambitionen också att, mot bakgrund av kunskapssamhällets särskilda villkor, bidra till nya insikter kring kunskapsbegreppets utvecklingsmöjligheter i relation till en-till-en.Utgångspunkten tas i kunskapssamhället och villkoren för kunskapsproduktion och i hur Sverige har valt att fokusera på behovet av att ge eleverna digital kompetens. Den teoretiska ansatsen ligger i fenomenologi som ontologiskt ställningstagande och i fenomenografi gällande perspektiv på lärande. Avhandlingen bygger på fyra studier: en narrativ forskningsöversikt med fokus på vad forskning berättar om elever respektive lärare i en-till-en projekt. Vidare ingår en teoretisk artikel med fokus på att utveckla en alternativ förståelse för villkoren för kunskapsbildning på den sociala webben med utgångspunkt från Martin Heideggers fenomenologi. En intervjustudie kring elevers upplevelser av sitt lärande i en-till en ingår också samt en fenomenografisk analys av inlämnade kunskapsuppgifter med fokus på kritiska dimensioner och kunskapsdjup. Resultaten diskuterar huruvida det starka färdighetsfokus som uppstår vid kunskapsbildning i en-till-en är samstämmigt med den performativa kunskap som i kunskapssamhället antas vara av vikt och hur det påverkar kvalitet och karaktär på bildad kunskap. Avhandlingen diskuterar också hur en-till-en påverkar elevers sätt att uppleva sitt lärande i en situation som präglas av flexibilitet och ständigt nya förutsättningar för lärande. Slutligen diskuteras också ett möjligt sätt att utveckla kunskapsbegreppet mot bakgrund av de resultat som framträtt i avhandlingens fyra studier genom att formulera begreppet 'stretchad kunskap'.
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| 3. |
- Rydin, Thor
(författare)
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In the Image of Loss : A new perspective on the works of Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- "I no longer understand it, and I no longer care for it," Johan Huizinga, Professor of General History at Leiden University, said about his own field to his undoubtedly perplexed students at the opening of the academic year in 1919. The Great War had shocked him to the bone: states, traditions, norms and communities that until only recently had seemed part of life’s unquestionable fabric had been torn apart – and though Huizinga did not know at the time, more experiences of loss and upheaval were soon to follow. Other than he announced in 1919, however, Huizinga continued to "care" for and write history after the war; or rather, "history" became a way of "caring" for himself and others in times of rupture. Today, Huizinga is commonly ranked among the most eminent cultural historians of his century.This dissertation examines through the lens of Huizinga’s work how "experiences of loss" mediated not only a different angle on particular historical periods but renegotiated the meaning and purpose of "history" just before and during the interwar period. Against the background of loss, "history" became a way of life to Huizinga – a way of organizing thoughts and passions in unsteady times. By making this argument, this dissertation makes two claims: one historical, the other historiographical. Historically, it offers a new and original perspective on an iconic and celebrated historian and his times. Historiographically, it produces a case in point for an "experiential" approach to authors, and historians in particular, writing in times of great uncertainty.
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