معرفی
Ellen Marie Krefting is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas (IFIKK) at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Humanities. Specializing in early modern intellectual history, she focuses on European and Denmark-Norway contexts with particular expertise in the history of knowledge, genres and communication forms, periodicals, and the emergence of public debate and freedom of speech concepts.
Professor Krefting's research spans multiple interconnected fields including early modern intellectual history, history of knowledge, public sphere development, gender studies, historiography, and cultural history of the ocean. She has particular expertise in 17th-18th century French philosophy and literature, Denmark-Norway intellectual history, and book history. Her work examines how knowledge was formatted and communicated through various media including periodicals, catechisms, and ship logs, with attention to how these formats shaped intellectual discourse and public opinion during the Enlightenment.
Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on Scandinavian and European Enlightenment periodicals, political literature, and the development of public debate. Krefting has produced significant scholarship on La Spectatrice danoise, Den patriotiske Tilskuer, and other "spectator"-type journals, examining how these publications navigated censorship while promoting Enlightenment ideals. Her 2024 work with Paulsen on nautical charts as knowledge formats extends her research into maritime modernities.
Professor Krefting leads the research project "Maritime Modernities: Formats of Oceanic Knowledge" (NFR-funded 2021-2025) and serves as the roving head of the master's program in European Culture. She has been an editorial member of Arr - Idéhistorisk tidsskrift since 1996 and has served on the Institute Board at IFIKK from 2017-2025. Her teaching includes courses IDE1105, IDE2001, EKUL4000-4002, and specialized courses on the public sphere and freedom of press around 1814.
