The history of the humanities is a rapidly evolving research field, dedicated to the study of the historical development, conditions, and epistemologies of the humanities from a wide range of perspectives. In the last two decades, the field has seen significant institutionalization and coordinated activities primarily from the Netherlands, but with an explicit global agenda and reach. At the same time, the history of the humanities in Sweden and Scandinavia has been a strong area of interest for historians of knowledge, with promising synergy effects also developing between the two burgeoning fields internationally.

Over the next couple of years, the history of the humanities will be one of the prioritized research focus areas for LUCK, exploring how knowledge from the humanities in a broad sense have circulated in society at large and impacted both its institutions and knowledge regimes.

This commitment includes hosting the Making of the Humanities Conference together with the Society for the History of Humanities on 9–11 October, 2024. For more information see: https://www.historyofhumanities.org/

Coordinator at LUCK: Isak Hammar

Suggested reading:

Hammar, Isak & Östling, Johan, “Introduction: The Circulation of Knowledge and the History of Humanities”, History of Humanities 6:2 (2021), 595–602. https://doi.org/10.1086/715941

Hammar, Isak & Östh Gustafsson, Hampus, “Futures of the History of the Humanities: Introduction”, History of Humanities, 2023.

Ekström, Anders & Östh Gustafsson, Hampus (eds.), The Humanities and the Modern Politics of Knowledge: The Impact and Organization of the Humanities in Sweden, 1850–2020, Amsterdam University Press 2022. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2svjznh

Östling, Johan, Jansson, Anton & Svensson Stringberg, Ragni (eds.), Humaniora i välfärdssamhället: Kunskapshistorier om efterkrigstiden, Makadam, (2023). https://doi.org/10.22188/kriterium.49