Interview with Doctoral Visiting Fellow Jonathan Schlunck

Jonathan Schlunck is a PhD student in the History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University, Sweden. He’ll be with us at the GHI from January through April 2025. Before attaining his PhD, Jonathan studied history and sociology at the University of Münster and Karl-Franzens University Graz from 2017 to 2021. He then pursued his master’s degree in history at the University of Bielefeld, which he completed in the spring of 2023. His research interests lie at the intersection of disability history, the history of childhood, materiality and spatiality, and 20th-century Sweden. Through his work, he explores how historical perceptions of disability and childhood were shaped by physical environments, social structures, and cultural narratives. I’m excited to learn more about your research, your experience at the GHI, and your time in Washington, D.C.

Jonathan, thank you for joining me today. Please tell us a little about your academic career and your work

I am a second year PhD student, studying and living in Sweden. Before moving to Sweden, I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degree in history in Germany. Alongside my studies, I was a student assistant at the LWL-Institute for Westphalian Regional History in Münster. These years and this environment were very formative for me. The team of the institute definitively has influenced my thinking, shaped my understanding of academia, and ways of doing research. And now I profit from those experiences in my PhD journey.

The history of people with disabilities is often overlooked, what drew you to this field?

Looking back, I have actually been interested in studying the sources and histories of marginalised groups. For example, during my undergraduate studies, I worked on a project on the history of cross-dressing and the early trans community in the US. Through my job at the LWL-Institute, I became involved in a project about the history of deaf children in Westphalia. I wrote my bachelor's thesis as a part of this project on the Bielefeld School for the Deaf exploring the connection between the building process, the meaning of the school space, and educational concepts. At first, when I started my PhD, I wanted to continue studying deaf history, but the archival work changed my focus. Now the Swedish scout movement is at the centre of in my project and the impact of scouting in shaping the lives of children with disabilities.

What are some of the biggest challenges in researching disability history? How do you work with sources that may be biased or incomplete?

As you mentioned, many of the sources I work with were written in institutional contexts by organisations or adults. But by reading against the grain, institutional sources can also provide information about life in schools, for example. What I find particularly interesting are moments when the sources reveal cracks in worldviews or institutional systems; when people correct themselves in minutes or emphasise certain processes. I also try to find sources that offer a different perspective – for example, scout group logbooks written from the perspective of the group leaders. There are also sources that might not seem so important at first glance. By this I mean, for example, objects used for teaching, architectural plans, and plans for the renovation of school rooms, which show us, among other things, how pedagogical ideas changed.

Can you tell us a little more about your project "The Making of Swedish Disabled Childhoods"?

My project is shedding light on the early engagement of parents for children with disabilities in Sweden and how knowledge about disabilities spatialized within Swedish society. I explore the intersection between the history of childhood and disability history. How can we historize the childhood of children with disabilities? What normative implications do we face when working with concepts of childhood in disability history? How were places for children with disabilities shaped in Sweden during the second half of the 20th century? And who created these places? An important stakeholder in shaping childhood has been the Swedish scout movement; in particular it’s leader Bengt Junker, his wife Karin Stensland Junker and their children with disabilities. The Junkers initiated various formats to engage and change the childhood of children with disabilities. In the 1950s, they promoted the idea that every child with a disability should become a scout and Bengt Junker opened the first scout camp in 1957 in which children using wheelchairs took part in. Parallel through various charity events the scouts financed and ran a school for young deaf adults to prepare them for higher education with Gallaudet as role model in mind. In the early 1960s Karin Stensland Junker initiated the so-called lekotek movement (toy library movement) for children with disabilities and their parents. Karin Stensland Junkers commitment also transcended national boundaries, as operation horseshoe in 1966 demonstrates, in which scouts and guides sold horseshoes to raise money for children with intellectual disabilities. As a prominent supporter, she was able to invite Rose Kennedy to Stockholm to publicly support the event. The Junkers shaped the scout movement while using its organizational structure to create public places for children with disabilities – those places are at center in my project: Scout camps, the classroom of the school and the lekotek. Together they exemplify the relationship between disability, nature, education, and welfare policies.

What are some challenges you have faced regarding your PHD project?

A challenge, but a fun one, is for sure my source material, as it is mainly written in Swedish. I have to read literature and archival material very carefully to avoid mistakes, and it takes a bit more time than working with material in German or English. This way, the archival material I use is not only essential for my thesis but also teaches me Swedish and keeps me on my toes.

Your academic journey has taken you across Germany, Austria, Sweden, and now the U.S. How have these different academic environments influenced your research?

Thanks to the Erasmus programme, I had the opportunity to get to know different university systems, research traditions and lecturers, though moving to Sweden has definitely had the biggest academic impact on me. I appreciate the departmental structure and the variety of different research areas that come together in one department. I am particularly influenced by the different writing traditions – although the Swedish style is very similar to the Anglo-American style. Since I've been in Uppsala and here in DC, I've become more pragmatic in my writing and try to think more schematically as I write: what is the argument in each paragraph and how can I pragmatically get my point across.

How has your time at the GHI shaped your work?

My time at the GHI is offering me the opportunity to visit and access archives to collect relevant material for my thesis. One of the main archives for my thesis, the Gallaudet University Archives, are in DC. Additionally, I already had the chance to go to the JFK archives in Boston for example and I am planning to spend time at the Syracuse University archive. Besides the crucial archival work, I also just have time to rethink my project and pursue many ideas, e.g. to try out different theoretical approaches and to think through the sources I have collected so far in a different way. I particularly appreciate the exchange with the other Fellows over coffee or lunch and at the Fellow Symposium, as their thought-provoking questions, associations, and comments have really helped me to refine my project.

What do you like at Washington DC?
I really enjoy being on the campus of Gallaudet University – firstly because the archival work is very exciting. Secondly it is quite green and I am fascinated by the buildings on campus, as I have seen them again and again on postcards from the beginning of the 20th century in my source material. And suddenly I can just stand in front of them. 

Finally, after a long day of research, what’s your favorite way to relax and unwind?
After work, I've gotten into the habit of walking home instead of taking the Metro. It takes me almost an hour and a half but the walk along the National Mall helps me to clear my head while taking part in the life of the city and enjoying the sunny weather.