Lotta Storbacka

Doctoral student in Nordic History. In my doctoral thesis, I study knowledge production around consciousness in the history of emotions and the history of experience in the Nordic countries. History of emotions and history of experience are interrelated fields exploring how emotions and experiences have shaped people’s understanding of themselves and their surrounding world. Theoretically and methodologically, it can be argued that the research fields build upon an epistemological assumption about the subject being conscious of their own subjectivity and bodily existence in the world. This consciousness is thought to be shaped in a historical context. The purpose of my doctoral thesis is therefore to study how knowledge around consciousness is produced in research about the history of emotions and the history of experience – and thereby develop a new theoretical framework for studying knowledge production in historical research.

In my research, I approach the concept of consciousness from a phenomenological point of view, through Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the lived body and Sara Ahmed’s theoretical concept of orientation. My theoretical framework is shaped by Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism. By combining insights from agential realism and phenomenology, I develop a new way of understanding knowledge production in historical research.

My work is funded by a four-year grant from the Kone Foundation. The abstract is available (in Swedish) on the Kone Foundation website.