You are cordially invited to the next
(online) meeting of the History
of Knowledge Seminar Series @ Utrecht University.
> JOHAN ÖSTLING (Lund)
Circulation, Arenas, and the Quest for Public
Knowledge'
Date: Thursday 15
April 2021
Time: 15:30-17:00
(CET)
Location: Online
(Microsoft Teams) *Please
find the link below*
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
presentation, Östling discerns 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, he focuses 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 he
focuses on and develops the concept of public arenas of
knowledge, which might be virtual, physica, or hybrid
spaces. Drawing on several new studies, he demonstrates how
different public arenas of knowledge functioned during the
postwar period and how they were part of a larger
infrastructure of knowledge.
Bio
Johan Östling is the director of the Lund Centre
for the History of Knowledge (LUCK) and a Wallenberg Academy
Fellow at Lund University. His research encompasses the
history of knowledge, the history of universities and modern
European history. Östling's recent publications include Humboldt
and the Modern German University (2018), Circulation
of Knowledge (2018), Forms
of Knowledge (2020)
and Histories
of Knowledge in Postwar Scandinavia (2020).
Program
15:30-15:35 Introduction: Lukas
M. Verburgt (UU)
15:35-16:15 Lecture: Johan Östling (Lund)
16:15-17:00 Discussion
Link to the meeting
Please
visit our website for
more information and the full 2021
program.