Entwicklung und Beharrung

Abstract

Abstract The article contributes to the history of education and the humanities from the 1950s to the 1980s. It focuses primarily on literary and cultural studies (especially German studies), both of which it explores from the perspective of university students. In order to examine the views of students, this article analyzes several hundred so-called .semester reports. from the ›Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes‹, West Germanyʼs largest scholarship-awarding institution for high performing students. In the largely unexplored reports students reflect on their academic development, university courses and interests. Presenting results from an ongoing research project, the article discusses the problems and benefits that derive from analyzing the reports. The reports show the special profile of the humanities with their affinity with everyday discourse and their horizontal arrangement of knowledge, reflect the development of paradigms in the field of literary studies, and, finally, provoke the question to what extent we can speak of a history of the humanities.