The Humanities

U. Pawlicka, Humanistyka: pracownia, centrum czy laboratorium? [The Humanities: Office, Centre or Laboratory?], “Teksty Drugie”, IBL PAN, 1 (2017), 314-333.The fact that laboratories are becoming increasingly popular in the humanities forces us to think about the field's structural transformation - its sources, meaning and consequences. Pawlicka examines how functional and methodological changes relate to the sites where research is undertaken. She proposes that throughout the history of the humanities, a change of site is always an institutional strategy and a response to the challenges of the time. The goal is, therefore, to examine the situation and the factors that motivated the creation of laboratories in the humanities, such as the remodelling of the university as a corporation, the crisis of the humanities, as well as the development of the digital humanities. Having looked at intemal factors, Pawlicka analyses and compares three sites oft he humanities: the workshop, the centre and the laboratory. A change of site, she concludes. signifies the construction of new structures and new hierarchies. Thus the creation of laboratories is presented as part of the tactical turn in the humanities.Peer reviewe