2021-10-15 - Hampus Östh Gustafsson - The complex issue of legitimacy
Hampus Östh Gustafsson is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University. In 2021, he defended his doctoral thesis on the legitimacy of the 20-century humanities in Swedish politics of knowledge. In a new research project, he investigates the shifting state of collegiality in the context of major reforms in the history of research and higher education. He is particularly interested in the role played by conflicting temporalities in modern university politics.
The complex issue of legitimacy: the history of humanities and universities
In this seminar, I wish to highlight the complex issue of legitimacy in the context of modern politics of knowledge with particular reference to my research on the history of the humanities and universities, respectively. It is frequently claimed that the humanities – and universities in general – are facing a legitimacy crisis, on the national as well as the global stage, as their roles in society are being questioned. But what do such claims of crisis actually mean?
In my presentation, I will historicize current debates on the state of knowledge by displaying how various strategies of legitimization have been employed in the past. A crucial aspect to take into account in such an analysis is how subsequent regimes of legitimacy have characterized the modern politics of knowledge. Mid 20-century Sweden, for instance, saw the emergence of a particular regime based on rational planning and an egalitarian ethos that seemed less compatible with certain branches of knowledge, such as the humanities. These disciplines were instead struggling to get fully incorporated into the legitimizing narratives of the welfare state. Approached from a longer historical perspective, the boundaries of various fields of knowledge have evidently been in flux, and the coalitions between scholarship and specific political strands have also shifted. Therefore, it is imperative to consider this history of shifting regimes of legitimacy in order to better grasp the conditions that enable knowledge to get a certain impact and value in the eyes of the public.
The summary of my doctoral dissertation, Folkhemmets styvbarn: Humanioras legitimitet i svensk kunskapspolitik, will be circulated ahead of the seminar.