Välkommen till Arbetarhistorikernas dag!
Är du student eller forskare med intresse för arbetarhistoria? Har du en idé om ett framtida arbetarhistoriskt projekt och vill prata med andra om din idé? Är du mitt i en studie och skulle vilja dela med dig av dina funderingar? Eller har du nyss avslutat ett projekt och vill dela med dig av dina resultat? Kom till Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek för en nätverksträff den 15 april kl 9 – 16.
Mötet är kostnadsfritt och vi bjuder på en lunchmacka och fika. Allt du behöver göra är att anmäla dig och skicka ett abstract (1500 tecken) till oss senast den 30 mars: event(a)arbark.se<mailto:event@arbark.se>
Varmt välkomna
Silke Neunsinger
Call for Papers
Merit, Worth, and Social Advancement in the Early Modern World: Rethinking Meritocracy as a Category of Historical Analysis
University of Hamburg, 7–8 September 2026
Organised by Carolin Gluchowski (Universität Hamburg) and Asger Wienberg (Lund University)
Conceptual Framework
The term meritocracy is a modern one. Coined in the twentieth century and shaped by debates about education, social mobility, expertise, and competition, it names a social order in which offices, rewards, and opportunities are supposedly distributed according to individual merit rather than inherited status or privilege. At the same time, the problems to which the term speaks are much older. Long before “meritocracy” existed as a word or political ideal, societies developed languages and practices for identifying, displaying, rewarding, and contesting merit, worth, desert, deservingness, qualification, and fitness for office.
Why the Early Modern Period?
This conference starts from the premise that the early modern period is a particularly productive site from which to reconsider these questions. Between roughly 1500 and 1800, older structures of lineage, privilege, corporate belonging, and inherited rank did not simply disappear, but increasingly interacted with other criteria for advancement: learning, service, confessional discipline, civility, usefulness, competence, performance, and examinable skill. In many spheres of life, claims to social position, office, education, patronage, and recognition had to be formulated, justified, assessed, and made visible in new ways. The early modern world was therefore not “meritocratic” in any straightforward modern sense. Yet it was deeply concerned with the problem of how worth should be recognised, by whom, and according to which criteria.
Questions and Themes
The conference asks what historians gain by using meritocracy as an analytical category for the study of the early modern world. Under what conditions does the concept help us identify historical forms of valuation, selection, and advancement? Where does it obscure more than it reveals? How can it be used without collapsing historically specific vocabularies of virtue, honour, service, talent, discipline, or desert into a single modern framework? And how did claims to merit relate to other principles of stratification such as birth, patronage, wealth, confession, gender, race, and legal status?
We invite proposals that address these questions through close engagement with historical sources and with the conceptual stakes of the topic. We are especially interested in papers that examine how merit and worth were defined, narrated, institutionalised, measured, or challenged in the early modern period. Relevant topics might include the languages of merit, virtue, talent, qualification, and deservingness; practices of recruitment, promotion, exclusion, and reward in courts, churches, schools, universities, convents, guilds, academies, armies, charitable institutions, and bureaucracies; and the documentary forms through which claims to advancement were articulated and evaluated, including petitions, supplications, recommendations, examinations, testimonials, service records, and applications. We also welcome work on the visual, material, and spatial cultures of merit, such as portraits, inscriptions, monuments, honours, ceremonial display, architecture, and other media through which worth was rendered legible and socially effective.
Merit and Inequality
A central aim of the conference is to explore how supposedly universal claims to worth were always shaped by structures of inclusion and exclusion. We are therefore particularly interested in contributions that address the tension between merit and inequality: how access to recognition depended on social origin, gender, confessional belonging, economic resources, or imperial and colonial power; how institutions defined and regulated “deserving” subjects; and how actors navigated, appropriated, or resisted such frameworks. We also welcome papers that trace the interplay between older languages of virtue and service and newer logics of competition, credentials, comparison, and performance.
Chronological and Geographical Scope
While the conference is centered firmly on the early modern period, contributions on medieval antecedents or modern afterlives are welcome where they clearly illuminate early modern formations or trace longer genealogies of merit and social advancement. Comparative and global perspectives are likewise very welcome, especially where they complicate or provincialise familiar European narratives. At the same time, we are not primarily seeking papers that use “meritocracy” simply as a loose synonym for fairness, competition, or qualification without engaging the concept’s historical and analytical specificity.
Format and Participation
The event will bring together approximately 10–12 participants for a two-day workshop-style conference at the University of Hamburg. In addition to standard papers of 20–25 minutes, the programme may include a limited number of shorter lightning talks for work in progress or conceptual interventions, as well as extended discussion sessions designed to foster exchange across chronological, regional, and disciplinary boundaries. A short excursion in Hamburg may also be included. Selected contributions may be considered for publication in a themed journal issue. Subject to external funding, we expect to be able to cover accommodation and at least part of participants’ travel and subsistence costs.
Scholars at all career stages are invited to apply, and early-career researchers are especially encouraged. The working language of the conference will be English.
Submission Details
Please submit a single PDF containing an abstract of 300–400 words outlining your argument, sources, period, and engagement with meritocracy as an analytical category, along with a short biographical note of no more than 150 words. Please indicate whether you would prefer to present a full paper or a lightning talk.
Proposals should be sent by 15 April 2026 to
carolin.gluchowski(a)uni-hamburg.de
asger.wienberg(a)hist.lu.se
Hej! <https://su.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:913941/where:4/>
Nu går det att söka ett vikariat som lektor i modevetenskap vid Institutionen för mediestudier, Stockholms universitet. Undervisningen omfattar kurser med ett historiskt perspektiv på textil, kläder och mode.
https://su.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:913941/where:4/
Hälsningar,
Marie Ulväng
Marie Ulväng, Docent/ Associate Professor
Institutionen för mediestudier / Dep. of Media Studies
Stockholms universitet / Stockholm University
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sverige / Sweden
marie.ulvang(a)ims.su.se
This is a call for papers for the Theory and Historiography Network of the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC). The 16th ESSHC will take place in Lyon, France, 21−24 April 2027.
We look forward to receiving your proposals for panels, roundtables and ‘meet the author’ sessions on theoretical and historiographical topics, in particular on the topic of the role of history and historians in times of crisis (upload via the ESSHC-site).
Please see the attached Call for Papers for further information. The submission deadline is April 15, 2026.
--
Victoria Fareld
Professor
Idéhistoria / Intellectual History
Institutionen för kultur och estetik / Department of Culture and Aesthetics
Stockholms universitet / Stockholm University
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Bästa!
Den modernhistoriska podden ”En svensk tiger” har passerat 750.000 lyssningar och firar detta med ett nytt avsnitt:
ÖSTERSJÖN OCH SVERIGE – DRÖMMAR, SKRÄCKSCENARIER, FANTASIER 1914-1939
Vid första världskrigets slut upphörde plötsligt Östersjöregionens stormakter — det tsaristiska Ryssland och det kejserliga Tyskland — att existera. Under samma tid skapades nya länder runt Östersjön, inte minst Finland. Följden blev en enorm, fantasifull och mycket dynamisk svensk geopolitisk debatt om Östersjöregionen; vad skulle hända i framtiden, vilken roll borde Sverige försöka spela samt vilka var de nya möjligheterna och hoten?
Vi samtalar med historikern Oscar Nygren som nyligen disputerade vid Södertörns högskola med avhandlingen ”Östersjöfrågan: En studie av svenskt internationellt tänkande 1914–1945”.
Läs mer — och lyssna på avsnittet — via denna länk:
https://ensvensktiger.org/2026/03/04/ostersjon-och-sverige-drommar-skracksc…
Östersjön och Sverige – drömmar, skräckscenarier, fantasier 1914-1939
ensvensktiger.org
Med förhoppning om en glad vår och givande lyssning!
Vänligen
Henrik Arnstad
---
Henrik Arnstad, fil.mag.
Mail info(a)ensvensktiger.org
Mob 0704-56 22 97
http://ensvensktiger.org
Podden En svensk tiger produceras av Henrik Arnstad och Ola Larsmo, ljudtekniker Per Juhlin/Beppo.
Hej,
Deadline för att skicka papers till TVHD 2026 i Göteborg är förlängd till 15 mars!
All info finns här Teknik- och vetenskapshistoriska dagar 2026 i Göteborg – Nationalkommittén för teknik- och vetenskapshistoria<https://teknikochvetenskapshistoria.se/tvhd2026/>
Vänligen,
Anna
Allt gott / Warm regards
Anna
Anna Åberg
Division of Science, Technology and Society
Department of Technology Management and Economics
Chalmers University of Technology
Phone: 031-772 5178
E:mail: anna.aberg(a)chalmers.se<mailto:anna.aberg@chalmers.se>
Webpage: Chalmers Research: Anna Åberg<https://research.chalmers.se/en/person/abergan>
Call for papers
7th Digital History in Sweden Conference, 5–6 November 2026, Malmö University
The 7th Digital History in Sweden Conference invite paper, panel, roundtable and poster proposals on any aspect of digital history, while we especially encourage presentations related to the conference theme, Hic sunt dracones. Submissions presenting project ideas or sketching emerging work are welcome. Presentations should be circa 10–20 minutes long, in a Scandinavian language or in English. Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference. The conference will be held over two days, 5–6 November 2026, on-site at Malmö University. (The date has had to be changed from our save-the-date announcement. Apologies for any inconvenience.) There is no conference fee.
Keynote speakers:
Prof. Hannu Salmi, University of Turku
Prof. Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Malmö University
Submissions must contain:
• title of paper/panel/poster,
• abstract of 200–300 words,
• your name, affiliation and e-mail address.
Panel proposals must include the titles of all papers and the names of all participants. E-mail abstracts to digitalhistory2026(a)mau.se no later than 15 April 2026. Notification of acceptance will be given within a month.
On behalf of the organising committee,
Patrik Lundell
...........................................................
https://mau.se/personer/patrik.lundell/
Välkomna att lyssna på föreläsningar och panelsamtal på temat Nordic Crossroads: Exploring World War II in the Arctic Region!
Föreläsningarna äger rum den 23 mars kl. 10-16 i Uppsala och utforskar andra världskriget i den arktiska regionen av Sverige, Norge och Danmark, och vilka perspektiv som fortsatt forskning kan bidra med. Dagen arrangeras av det transnationella nätverket NorCross<https://www.oulu.fi/en/news/new-interdisciplinary-research-collaboration-re…>, som ur bland annat historiska, sociologiska, religionsvetenskapliga, konst- och litteraturvetenskapliga perspektiv vill närma sig andra världskriget i detta område utifrån begrepp som resiliens, beredskap, minneskultur, motstånd, solidaritet och miljö.
Se bifogat program eller följ länken till Uppsala Universitets kalender<https://www.uu.se/institution/teologiska/kalendarium/arkiv/2026-03-23-nordi…>.
Varmt välkommen att delta!
Ida Olenius
Teol. dr. i kyrkohistoria
Vik. lektor i kyrkohistoria och missionshistoria
Sekreterare i Svenska kyrkohistoriska föreningen
Teologiska fakulteten
Uppsala universitet
När du har kontakt med oss på Uppsala universitet med e-post så innebär det att vi behandlar dina personuppgifter. För att läsa mer om hur vi gör det kan du läsa här: http://www.uu.se/om-uu/dataskydd-personuppgifter/
E-mailing Uppsala University means that we will process your personal data. For more information on how this is performed, please read here: http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/data-protection-policy
Vänlig påminnelse: Sista dagen för nomineringar till Svenska nationalkommittén för teknik- och vetenskapshistorias pris till Torsten Althins minne 2026 är den 1 mars!
Priset belönar personer, arbeten eller institutioner som på ett förtjänstfullt sätt verkat för att bevara, sprida eller skapa ny kunskap om teknikens och vetenskapens historia och kulturarv i Sverige, till exempel inom forskning, museer, populärvetenskap, undervisning, arkiv och kulturmiljövård.
Pristagaren erhåller, förutom äran, 10 000 kronor och ett diplom. 2026 års pris kommer att delas ut i anslutning till den nationella ämneskonferensen Teknik- och vetenskapshistoriska dagar i Göteborg i slutet av augusti.
Skicka en beskrivning av personen/-erna, arbetet eller institutionen på max 300 ord samt en motivering på max 300 ord till Karin Dirke karin.dirke(a)idehist.su.se senast den 1 mars 2026.
Mer info i bifogad fil. Sprid gärna i dina nätverk. Varmt välkommen med din nominering!
Vänliga hälsningar,
Anna Storm
Professor
[Linköpings universitet]
Department of Thematic Studies
s-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)13 28 11 86
Mobile: +46 (0)760 94 50 98
Visiting address: TEMA-huset, Entrance 37, Room A425, Campus Valla
Please visit us at liu.se<https://liu.se/>
E-mailing Linköping University will result in Linköping University processing your personal data. Find more information on how this is done at https://liu.se/en/article/integritetspolicy-liu
