ISCHE 47 – Pre-Conference Seminar
History of Education Perspectives on Knowledge, Ignorance, and Truth
Date and Venue: 14 July 2026 at the School of Philosophy, Athens, Greece
Convenors:
Jona T. Garz, Universität Zürich, Switzerland
Fanny Isensee, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Björn Lundberg, Lund University, Sweden
Daniel Töpper, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Andrea De Vincenti, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Switzerland
For the upcoming ISCHE 47 Conference in Athens, Greece (15–18 July 2026), the organisers of the pre-conference seminar invite papers engaging with questions of knowledge, truth, and their contestation in the history of education. The seminar seeks to examine how knowledge became accepted, problematized, politicized, or emotionalized in educational contexts. We invite contributions that historicize contemporary anxieties about truth from history of education perspectives by examining how schools, universities, and informal educational spaces have shaped and have been shaped by evolving understandings of different knowledges such as scientific and popular, professional and implicit everday-knowledge or expertise, and public knowledge.
Presentation Formats
Individual Research Papers: 20-minute presentations of completed research or work-in-progress (followed by a 10-minute discussion)
Roundtables: 60-minute collaborative discussions featuring short statements from multiple scholars on a history of the present regarding knowledge, ignorance, and truth, focusing on what a history of education perspective can offer
Interactive Sessions: 90-minute sessions exploring methodological approaches to research about knowledge, ignorance and truth, including questions of expertise, scientific authority, and (democratic) education
Requirements: participation in the seminar is only possible for registered ISCHE 47 participants.
Submission deadline: 15 May 2026
Please submit your abstract (250-300 words) to Fanny Isensee: fanny-lynne.isensee(at)hu-berlin.de
