Table of contents

The course is connected to the following study programs

Teaching language

English

Prerequisites

Students must be educated to MA level and admitted to a relevant PhD-programme

Recommended previous knowledge

Students should be familiar with archive research and its relevance to their own research questions

Learning outcomes

The candidate identifies a range of theoretical constructions of the archive; understands a range of methodologies that can be used to undertake archive work; and evaluates the suitability of methodologies to his/her/their own projects, adapting and extending these methodologies as necessary.

Contents

While archival work is evidence-based, archives are not neutral repositories of empirical documentation. Political and institutional power shapes what is preserved. The archive is simultaneously a site of possibility - a means of reshaping the prevailing discourse- and of negation, drawing attention to acts of exclusion via the omissions in its catalogue. Such absences shape scholarship on marginalised authors and communities, drawing forth creative responses to the silence of the archives. Reflective of trends in recent scholarship, this PhD workshop assumes a broad understanding of the archive, recognising the archive exists both physically and digitally. Archive material held at physical and digital archival repositories; contextual material that informs analysis of primary sources; and neglected or forgotten texts that have been recovered and which may well constitute the primary texts in a scholarly enquiry. It endeavours to introduce participants to a range of approaches to and types of archive work, theoretical frameworks for understanding the archive, and interpretative approaches to archival material.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures and discussions. Assigned course reading must be read in advance of the course.

Examination requirements

Active participation in the whole course, including a class presentation of doctoral project.

Examinations

Participants submit individual written essay of 6000-8000 words. Approved/Not approved.

Offered as a free-standing course

Yes.
Last updated from FS (Felles studentsystem) Oct. 15, 2026 2:30:51 PM