Historiker mellan kritik och norm : En kvalitativ analys av svenska historikers debattvanor iHistorisk Tidskrift 2010–2025

Sammanfattning

Many academics have commented that contemporary academic debate has become tame. Some have even commented that doctoral vivas are too friendly and are no longer an arena for testing and debate. This study examines how Swedish historians debate historical research in the journal Historisk Tidskrift between the years 2010– 2025. The focus of the study is debates that are vertical, that is when one of the participants in the debate is a more established academic historian than the other participant. Using a four-step close reading analysis, six debates in the journal Historisk Tidskrift are analysed. Unexpectedly, the findings show that the majority of the debates were initiated by academic historians with higher rank. The form and content of the debates, however, align with idea that scientific villages with their own norms and traditions form within disciplines, that these norms and traditions increasingly deviate from each other over time, and impact the practice of debate among academic historians.