Tertium Comparationis: Issue 2/2025, 31. Volume History and Historiography (in) International and Comparative Education: Prerequisites and Conditions

The systematic and reflexive recourse to the historical development of an academic field is a central component of its epistemic and methodological self-assurance. It is also essential for its reproduction and advance since the history of academic fields fulfils the function of familiarizing newcomers and providing context, understanding, and perspectives by examining the evolution of ideas, concepts, and practices over time. It allows for recurring self-observation and reflection and an understanding of the present by exploring and analyzing change and continuity from the past. Also the systematic handling of historical developments fulfils a propaedeutic function in scholarship itself since it helps students to develop more nuanced interpretations of complex phenomena. The article discusses requirements and conditions for a systematic and comparative history of International and Comparative Education. By looking into extant historiographic approaches in the field, the paper examines the (dis)advantages of the respective narratives and representations they (re-)produce and elaborates on (potential) barriers, basic prerequisites and requirements of systematic historiography. In other words, the paper (re-)visits the past to reflect on the future of International and Comparative Education.

Keywords
history of IVE, self-reflection, narratives, representation, systematic historiography