„Bila sam neznalica, ali sam postala tražiteljica“ – Mirjana Gross i „znanstvene persone“

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to examine the persona of the historian based on the example of Mirjana Gross and using the theoretical framework of scientific personae. The latter was introduced in 2003 in an article by Lorraine Daston and Otto Sibum, who defined scientific personae as mediators between individual biography and social institution, and as a cultural identity that simultaneously shapes the individual and creates a collective with a recognizable and shared physiognomy. Following the work of Daston and Sibum, this paper elaborates of the concept of the persona of the historian by Herman Paul, which defines three approaches. The first approach studies the “scholarly” persona at the micro level, i.e., individual biographies. The second approach refers to the analysis of scientists within the framework of patterns and models of good scholarly conduct, de facto striving to establish an ideal-type model of persona as a universal category. Finally, the third approach is the meso-level approach, which views scientists as individuals whose actions are influenced by the time and place in which they operate, as well as their specific habits, virtues and skills. This framework relies heavily on the concept of “epistemic virtues” as crucial professional and personal characteristics that define the personae and set them apart from other practitioners of a discipline. Thus, the aim of this paper is to establish the persona of the historian Mirjana Gross by analyzing her writing on the theory and methodology of history, her observations of her own work, and her writings on history in general. The paper analyzes the modes in which the tasks and roles of historians and historical science in a society are understood, and how Gross observed her own role as a historian.