(see www.agrarhistoria.se for Janken Myrdal’s full CV)

Janken Myrdal is professor in Agrarian history at the Section of Agrarian History, Department of Economics, SLU since 1994. His postgraduate academic degrees are docent (Senior research fellow) in Economic History at Stockholm University (SU) 1991 and Doctor in Philosophy (PhD) in Economic history (SU) 1986. Janken’s thesis is entitled “Medieval Arable Farming in Sweden. Technical Change A.D. 1000-1520”.

Key words: medieval agriculture, history of domestic animals, the future of agriculture, change in global agricultural systems.

Research area

Philosophy of history and change in global agricultural systems; the theory focus on the meaning of crisis throughout history, and how expansion has a tendency to lead to exaggeration. The future of agriculture in a historical perspective – production of other values in agricultural beside food and fibre. The history of domestic animals – historical land use, milk production and animal health.

Teaching

Janken has built up a section of agrarian history at SLU. He teaches in Economic History and in Agricultural History at different levels. Janken has supervised 12 PhD-students: Bo Franzen 1998, Iréne Flygare 1999, Ulrich Lange 2000, Håkan Slotte 2000, Lotta Leijonhufvud 2001, Örjan Kardell 2004, Niklas Cserhalmi 2005, Carin Israelsson 2005, Anna Dahlström 2006, Alf Ericsson 2007 lic, Eva-Lotta Päiviö 2008, Jesper Larsson 2009 and Pia Nilsson 2010. He is currently supervising four PhD-students.

Selected publications

- The Dovring Saga. A Story of academic immigration. 2010. KVHAA Handlingar. Historiska serien 24.

- Spelets regler i vetenskapens hantverk. 2009. Natur & Kultur förlag.

- Framtiden - om femtio år. Institutet för framtidsstudier - Framtidens samhälle vol 14. Stockholm. 2008, 263 s

- Att begripa med begrepp - den nya produktionen. Formas fokuserar. 2008, s 37-48

- De medeltida jordvärderingarnas historiografi. Konferenser/Kungl. Vitterhets-, historie- och antikvitetsakademin vol 68. 2008, s 125-137

- Förorden i forskningsfältet - historiker i mitten av 1900-talet. s 437-451

- Kvinnor och kor. Ägande och arbete i medeltidens Sverige. Uppsala Studies in Economic History vol 86. 2008, s 127-144

- Source Pluralism and a Package of Method: Medieval Tending of Livestock as an Example. 2008, s 134-158

- Women and Cows - Ownership and Work in Medieval Sweden. Ethnologia Scandinavica - A Journal for Nordic Ethnology vol 38. 2008, s 61-80

- Att mäta forskning - naturvetenskapen som norm. Kulturella perspektiv - Svensk etnologisk tidskrift vol 17. 2008, s 41-46

Miscellaneous

Janken is a member in the following Academies: The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (Kungl Vitterhetsakademien (2006-), The Royal Patriotic Society (Patriotiska sällskapet) 1996-, The Royal Academy of Agricultural Sciences (KSLA) 1995-, The Royal Gustav Adolf Academy (Gustav Adolfs akademien) 1994-. He is also member of the appointing committee at the faculty (lärarförslagsnämnden) 2007-.