Projects and ongoing research

Researchers

Stefan Backius researches cultural issues in a broad sense, especially in relation to identity formation and societal change.

Hanna Enefalk is specialized in 19th century cultural history in Scandinavia. Among other things, she has studied nationalism, drinking culture, and chapbooks. Her latest publication is the popular history book  Svenskarna och deras kyrkor [The Swedish people and their churches], about the role of the church in society from christianising to the present day.

Anders Forsell completed his doctoral dissertation on local party organisation in 2014. His research interests belong in the field of urban and municipal history as well as education history. Currently, Forsell is working on a project about municipal incorporations. In addition, Forsell conducts research concerning the history of teacher training in Karlstad.

Jenne Iris Fröding Reyes, doctoral student. She studies uses of history in the classroom and intercultural communication. She is also interested in linguistic education and questions of identity.

Hans Hulling, doctoral student. The working title of Hulling’s dissertation is Historia i furstendömet Uddeholm [History in the principality of Uddeholm]. The dissertation project concerns the way in which history has been used for various class-based interests in the mill company in Värmland between 1900 and 1990 and acquired the function of negotiating local and regional identity.

Ramona Ivener defended her doctoral dissertation on masculinity and knowledge traditions (Kunskapens händer [The Hands of Knowledge]) in March 2014. At the moment, Ivener is involved in a project concerned with Sahlströmsgården, focused on artistry, gender, and heritage.

Maria Johansson is a doctoral student specialising in education. In her dissertation project, Johansson investigates intercultural perspectives on History teaching in the later years of elementary school and in upper secondary school.

Åsa Melin is a doctoral student affiliated with the Centre for Regional Studies (CRS). The focus of her dissertation is the development of the school system at a municipal level, 1950-62. The overarching purpose is to investigate how national reforms have been handled at the municipal level. 

Kenneth Nordgren conducts research in history education. He has directed the project Historieundervisningens processer i det mångkulturella samhället [The processes of teaching History in a multicultural society], funded by the Swedish Research Council. Starting in 2017, he runs a project funded by the Swedish National Heritage Board in cooperation with the Swedish History Museum and the Swedish Migration Centre, among others. The purpose of the research project is to develop theoretical and practical knowledge aimed at integrating a diversity perspective in history teaching through the use of historical sources. The material produced is meant for middle school and newly-arrived students in upper-secondary school.

Peter Olausson's research interests involve fields such as archival science, local history, migration, and use of history. He is currently involved in a project concerned with Sahlströmsgården in the vicinity of Torsby, focused on letter research. Other current areas of interest concern cities' use of history with Karlstad as the object of study, the span between poor and rich in folk society, as well as international archival traditions, with India in focus.  

Hans Olofsson is a doctoral student specialising in education. The title of his dissertation is "Historia på högstadiet – kunskaper i, om och av det förflutna i klassrum, kursplaner och nationella prov" [History in lower-secondary school: Knowledge in, on and from the past in the classroom, syllabi and national tests]. The dissertation project investigates how the subject of history in secondary school, seen as an expression of historical culture, has been construed and changed over time.

Johan Samuelsson defended his doctoral thesis Kommunen gör historia [The Municipality invents history] in 2005. His main research interests are developmental processes of history and its societal role, and questions concerning educational history and history education. Currently, he is project manager for the project "Lärare i gränslandet mellan folkskola, läroverk och enhetsskola" [Teachers in the borderlands between elementary, high, and comprehensive primary schools], funded by the Swedish Research Council. The project is based on historical records, collected in the 1940s, consisting of 850 accounts by teachers about their teaching practices.

Kenneth Sandelin is a doctoral student who conducts research in subject-specific education, specifically history teaching and the multicultural classroom.

Martin Stolare’s research concerns history education. His main research interest is history teaching in the early years of school, especially middle school (grades 4-6). He manages a project funded by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research between 2017 and 2020. The project is focused on the development of teaching models for grades 4-6.

Mikael Svanberg conducts research on political democracy in Sweden between 1950 and 1980, with a particular focus on the constitutional reforms implemented during the latter half of this period.

Joakim Wendell is a doctoral student in history, specialising in education. He wrote his licentiate thesis on the way in which teachers understand and use causal reasoning in history teaching. His current research project expands the licentiate thesis to a doctoral thesis.

Martin Åberg is Professor of History. He defended his doctoral thesis En fråga om klass? Borgarklass och industriellt företagande i Göteborg 1850-1914 [A matter of class? Bourgeoisie and industrial entrepreneurship in Gothenburg, 1850-1914] in 1991. For the last twenty years, his research has mainly focused on political organisation and mobilisation in a comparative perspective. He has conducted reasearch projects funded by The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, The Foundation for Baltic and east European Studies, and the Swedish Research Council. International experience includes a Fulbright Stipend as post doc at Harvard, ERASMUS lectures in Germany, and Linnaeus Palme Lecturer in Kenya.