DEP. OF EXERCISE > Research > Ongoing research > Sport Politics Welfare > PhD PROJECT > AFJ An investigation

An investigation of the disciplinary and later interdisciplinary development in Danish sports sciences from 1909 to 2009  from a historical and science study perspective

The project will inquire into the following topics and historical periods:

I) The development in the relationship between practical and theoretical disciplines at the times of the scientific founders (J. Lindhart’s era) ca. 1909 – ca. 1940, focusing on 1) the controvercy between J. Lindhart and K. A. Knudsen, 2) the development in the conceptions of science of Lindhart, A. Krogh and their followers in the Laboatory of Gymnastic Theory, 3) Lindhard’s view of practice, 4) his understanding of theoretical foundation of ”lingian” gymnastics and 5) his relation to – and incursion into - the humanities.

II) The development of the relation between the different academic fields (natural science, the humanities and social sciences) in sports sciences at the University of Copenhagen focusing on: 1) the breakthrough of the humanities in sports sciences in the 1970’s, challenging the hegemony of natural science perspectives and 2) the institutionalisation of this development in the ”Department of exercise and sports sciences” in 1997 where the humanities, social and natural sciences in principle was given equal standing.

III) An investigation of the perspectives and possibilities of future interdisciplinary work at ”Department of exercise and sports sciences” in three different scenarios: 1) Status quo conditions, 2) conditions as they may develop in a post academic setting and 3) the conditions of a hypothetical sustainable university.

The outcome of the project will be three articles to be published in peer reviewed periodicals. The first deals with the disciplinary formation and disciplinary maturation and the process of making gymnastics academic in the Lindhard era. The second will address the ”interdisciplinary period” from 1970 to the present where the challenges put forth by the interdisciplinarity is analysed. The third article will reflect upon how the challenges and obstacles which is revealed in the second article can be handled.

Head of project: Anders Frøslev Jensen

Supervisor: Claus Emmeche

Co-supervisor: Hans Bonde