Examining the coevolution of economy, subjectivity, and knowledge through the lens of economic personae (18th-20th c.)
Philosophers and historians have increasingly come to understand subjectivity as a process of becoming instead of an ahistorical given. Drawing on two examples from German history—the rational farmer vs. the socialist leader—I will use the concept of economic personae as a cultural-historical tool for disentangling and comparing according processes of subject formation in historical perspective. By choosing economic personae, a special emphasis lies on the interrelations between economy and self, and the mediation of both through knowledge production/science. This gives me a chance of drawing together material from two different research foci: the Agricultural Enlightenment in Central Europe and the history of applied psychology in Socialist Germany.
Location: Mike Pettit's