HI-602 Critical Knowledge and Heritage Production in History (Spring 2026)
- ECTS Credits:
- 5
- Responsible department:
- Faculty of Humanities and Education
- Course Leader:
- Christa Santina Wirth
- Lecture Semester:
- Autumn and Spring
- Teaching language:
- English
- Duration:
- ½ year
Table of contents
The course is connected to the following study programs
Teaching language
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
After taking this course, the candidate will
- become familiar with historical trajectories and developments in theory within the humanities
- achieve an understanding of history as an interdisciplinary field of academic study
- be trained in recognizing asymmetries and power structures within current and historical knowledge production
- be able to analyze empirical cases within wider historical contexts
Contents
The history of knowledge has established itself as a fruitful research field in the last ten years. The history of knowledge was able to broaden the scope of the humanities by including more subjects and creating an awareness of social asymmetries and contexts in which different disciplines in the humanities have emerged. Questions of the historical contingencies which made some knowledge fields prevail against other fields, as well as questions of the circulation of knowledge across societies are being asked. Not least, the history of knowledge develops the researchers’ awareness of their own contexts in which they establish knowledge and do science.
This course is open to all PhD students writing a dissertation in the humanities. The training promises to hone critical thinking skills, an awareness of epistemology which ties into questions of methodology:
- What knowledge do I produce when I follow my research plans?
- What kind of images and representations do I produce?
- What kind of power asymmetries am I encountering?
- What theoretical models do I apply and why?
- What archives and collections am I working out of?
- What sources were produced and in which instances were sources not produced and archived?
Developing a course for PhD students in the history of knowledge contributes to their training by enhancing their theoretical, methodological, self-reflective, and ethical competences that they need to acquire in order to complete a doctorate. Discussion about ethics will be closely tied to historical research. Finally, the PhD students will develop their ability to think historically and critically.