Var kommer vi ifrån? Vilka är vi? Vart är vi på väg?
Humaniorastudenters föreställningar om utbildning och framtid
HumanitiesEducationUniversityIdentitiesDreamsFutureSubjectsHumanioraUtbildningUniversitetetIdentitetsskapandeDrömmarFramtidSubjektspositioner
This paper investigates how students in the humanities in four universities in Sweden reflect on their education and the current view on the humanities as an education and a science. I want to investigate what impact the past few years public debate about the humanities have had on the students. What kind of beliefs and identities do the students of the humanities form and how do they discuss the universities, the choices they made in life and how do they feel about the future.This study is based on interviews with seventeen students in Sweden from four different universities. The research is also based upon a report that The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) published in 2011 and the debate following that report. I have also made participant observations on the four universities to make a broader description for the reader. The paper mainly uses post-structuralistic theory (Foucault and Althusser) to analyze the informants lifes and thoughts about their education and future. This research highlights the complexity involved when students make choices for the future. Idealized views of education and what is important in life exists and creates gaps between what the person want and what is perceived are normative. There is a perceived hierarchy among universities, students and educations. Students of the humanities often feel that their position in this hierarchy is weaker than the idealised student and that makes the interpellation of the subjects harder but not less important.