Research projects on History
Below, research projects currently being carried out at the History unit at LTU are listed. For more information about the projects, please contact our researchers and PhD students.
The history unit is characterized by the subject's participation in research and educational initiatives that aim to solve important societal challenges in our time. One example is in polar research. Today, the Arctic region is characterized by pressure from rapid climate change, along with business interests in raw material extraction, tourism, and shipping. This creates challenges for people who live and work there as well as for efforts to achieve the global sustainability goals. By producing knowledge about how actors in the north have handled similar change processes in the past, we at the unit for history, together with researchers in other disciplines, contribute to producing new knowledge about how we can best handle change and to teach future decision-makers about the complexity of these problems.
Employees at the unit for history have also contributed to the investigation appointed by the Swedish government on the Swedish state's abuse of Tornedalians, Meänkieli-speaking and Kvens. Here, we produce knowledge about actions in the past to create conditions enabling future reconciliation. This research is linked to a broader field of research on how history and cultural heritage are constructed and used in our time, to which the unit for history contributes. Today, there is a growth of anti-democratic movements that use stories about the past in order to pave the way for another society. History and cultural heritage have also been used to legitimize abuses and violations of human rights, today as well as in the past. Historians have a special responsibility here - not only to contribute to a diverse knowledge of history, but also to shed light on the consequences of destructive uses of history, and thus contribute to critical thinking.
Current projects
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Pathways to the archives
In an era when digitalisation imprint schools and history teaching is surrounded by the grand narratives: what can visits to an archive bring to pupils and students?
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Visions in the North
Visions in the North is a project that - in light of the large investments in green transition, technology and infrastructure currently being made in northern Sweden - aims to create sustainable, beautiful and inclusive living environments in the short and long term. To explore how this can be achie...
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Peripheral Visions: When global agendas meet Nordic energy peripheries
This research projects examines how visions of renewable energy are produced, contested and materialized in local contexts in northern Sweden, Finland and Greenland, and how the encounter between global agendas and local places, communities and people creates new perspectives from the periphery with...
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A promised land?
Drivers, challenges and opportunities related to the (green) industrialization of Northern Sweden
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Ironworking in a hunting environment
REXSAC - Resource extraction and sustainable Arctic communities
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Comparing experiences of hydropower - history and memorymaking in southern and northern Sweden
Almost all Swedish rivers are today integrated into a large-scale hydroelectric production system. This is a consequence of extensive hydropower development during the 20th century.
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Lost salmon
Lost salmon: An environmental history of declining and extinct populations of the Swedish north
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Mining legacies and land use
In the Swedish Arctic, mining has been ongoing since the 17th century, and fast growing from the late 19th century.
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Bothnia Business Heritage
The project highlights and investigates maritime and industrial cultural heritage in the Gulf of Bothnia.
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Norrland's water-related cultural environments
This project examines how the development of hydropower in Norrland has affected ancient and cultural heritage remains, as well as people and communities.
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Conflict of goals as opportunity
Learning in the north when green industry meets cultural heritage and circular economy.
Completed projects
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Thematic series on the cultural heritage in Gammelstad
Luleå Municipality celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2021. Just in time for the celebration, the c...
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CHAQ – cultural heritage in the Antarctic
Syftet med CHAQ är att förklara hur och varför kulturarvsprocesser äger rum i Antarktis. Projektet u...
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Mining industrial heritage as a resource for sustainable societies
Mining industrial heritage as a resource for sustainable societies: lessons for Sweden from the Arct...
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Mining as a resource for sustainable societies
With the aim to contribute to sustainable development in the Arctic, this project examines how legac...
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Energy conversion in industry: 40 years of collaboration between state and industry
Realizing a radical energy transition in industry: R&D and government-industry interactions over fou...
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REXSAC – Resource extraction and sustainable Arctic communities
REXSAC – Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities
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Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalais
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset is a governmental in...
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Iron in the North
Since 2016, Luleå University of Technology and the Museum of Norrbotten have been running the interd...
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Luleå 400 years
On July 12, 2021, the city of Luleå will mark 400 years. In addition to celebrating the anniversary ...
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