History of Knowledge

The history of knowledge analyzes the production and circulation of knowledge, taking into consideration a broad spectrum of people, practices, and social contexts. Scholars working in the field seek to understand the creation of knowledge orders and systems along with the often highly asymmetrical power relationships upon which they rest. The development of the field has taken distinct paths in Europe and the two American continents. A central objective of the GHI’s program in the history of knowledge is to spur transatlantic and transhemispheric exchange as well as collaboration on thematically related research topics and methodologies.

Beyond its transregional agenda, the GHI takes a broad approach to “knowledge” in its programming. Research at the GHI zeroes in on established actors and institutions of knowledge production, such as individual scholars, scientists, or academia in its entirety. Moreover, researchers here look at actors and spaces not typically associated with knowledge production as well as multidirectional knowledge flows. They focus on the clashes of knowledge orders and seek to historicize the hegemony of distinct types of knowledge and how these have been constructed. And they highlight the social impact of knowledge, revealing how knowledge-producing institutions such as universities function as highly hierarchical social spheres.

The history of knowledge also serves as vehicle for collaboration across the GHI’s core research fields and other subfields of history. Ongoing research combines, for instance, knowledge with the history of mobility, infrastructure, and elitism. The GHI’s “Migrant Knowledge” initiative supports research at the intersection of migration history and the history of knowledge. Emphasizing the many facets of the field, the “History of Knowledge” Blog showcases current projects at the GHI and beyond for both academic and general audiences.

Photo Credit: The Wealth of the Nation, 1938. Seymour Fogel, Social Security Building (Voice of America).

Team


Projects


Innovation through Tradition? Jewish Educational Media and Cultural Transformation in the Face of Modernity Religion, Knowledge, and Education as Key Elements of Socio-Cultural Transformation

German-Israeli cooperative research project bringing that investigates the transformation of Jewish daily life through the prism of its central spaces of teaching, learning and knowledge.

Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements

A project funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (March 2019 – February 2022)

Events & Conferences


Feb 13, 2025

Refugees in Global Transit: Encounters, Knowledge, and Coping Strategies in a Disrupted World, 1930s–50s

Conference in Mumbai, India | Organized by Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington), Sebastian Schwecke (Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies, Delhi), and Swen Steinberg (Queen's University, Kingston). in collaboration with Christoph K. Neumann (OI Istanbul), Maria Framke (Erfurt University), and Jens Hanssen (OI Beirut).

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Feb 27, 2025

Of Fossil Fuels and Families: How the Oil Industry Shaped Ideas of Race and Poverty in Caribbean Europe

Lecture at GHI Washington | Speaker: Chelsea Schields (UC Irvine)

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Mar 27, 2025

Nonprofit Neighborhoods: How the U.S. Privatized the Fight against Urban Inequality

Lecture at GHI Washington | Speaker: Claire Dunning (University of Maryland, College Park)

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May 01, 2025

Credit's Histories: Debt, Loans, and Welfare in the Twentieth-Century United States

Lecture at GHI Washington | Felix Krämer (Universität Erfurt)

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Jun 12, 2025

From the Margins: Poverty in Divided and United Germany

Lecture at GHI Washington | Speaker: Christoph Lorke (LWL-Institut für westfälische Regionalgeschichte)

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Sep 10, 2025

Universities and the Public Good: Research, Education, and Democracy since 1945

Workshop and Young Scholars Forum at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Germany | Conveners: Charles Dorn (Bowdoin College, Maine), Axel Jansen (German Historical Institute Washington), Charlotte Lerg (Amerika-Institut, LMU München), Till van Rahden (Centre canadien d’études allemandes et européennes, Université de Montréal), and Richard F. Wetzell (German Historical Institute Washington)

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Oct 09, 2025

The Campus and Beyond: Higher Education and Social Inequalities in Europe and North America, 1850s-2000s

International Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington | Conveners: Raphael Rössel (GHI Washington), Elizabeth Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago), and Stefanie Coché (Gießen University)

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Publications


Bulletin 72 (Fall 2023)

Forum: The German Treatment of Soviet Prisoners of War During The Second World War

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Bulletin 70 (Fall 2022)

Forum: Rethinking Cross-Border Connections

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Anna Corsten

Unbequeme Erinnerer: Emigrierte Historiker in der westdeutschen und US-amerikanischen NS- und Holocaust-Forschung, 1945–1998

Transatlantische Historische Studien. Band 62. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2022.

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Bulletin 69 (Fall 2021 & Spring 2022)

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Simone Lässig, ed.

Digital History

Special Issue, Geschichte und Gesellschaft 47.1 (2021)

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Sophia Dafinger

Die Lehren des Luftkriegs: Sozialwissenschaftliche Expertise in den USA vom Zweiten Weltkrieg bis Vietnam

Transatlantische Historische Studien. Band 59. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2020.

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Latest News


Fellowship

Visiting Fellowships at the GHI

Deadline: January 10, 2025 (deadline extended) | The GHI is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 visiting fellow program for European and…

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Call for Papers

The Campus and Beyond: Higher Education and Social Inequalities in Europe and North America, 1850s-2000s

Deadline: December 8, 2024 | International Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington, October 9-10, 2025

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Call for Papers

Universities and the Public Good: Research, Education, and Democracy since 1945

Deadline: January 19, 2025| Workshop and Young Scholars Forum at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Germany | Sept. 10–12, 2025

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Video

Watch recording of our event "Democracy in Crisis? Science and Political Decision-making during the Covid-19 Pandemic"

If you were unable to watch our event "Democracy in Crisis? Science and Political Decision-making during the Covid-19 Pandemic" live, it is now…

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Video

Watch recording of our event "Voting Authoritarians into Power"

If you were unable to watch our event "Voting Authoritarians into Power" live, it is now available on our Vimeo channel.

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