Interview with Hugo Engholm

What are you currently working on/with?

I have the luxury of continuing my development as a historian at the department of history. My PhD project focuses on the digital men’s
rights activist movement known as the Manosphere, where I study its member's views and use of history.

How do you look back on your time as a student? What do you miss, and what don't you miss?

In one word - fondly! I miss many things from my time as a master’s student - particularly the coursemates who did the program with me and the fact that I every day got to learn new things and deepen my knowledge on a wide array of topics. I do not miss living on student loans or Zoom-seminars. Graduating during the peak of Covid was quite
anticlimactic.

How has your education influenced your professional life?

My primary plan was to become a secondary school teacher after I graduated, which I also was for a while. While I love teaching, having such a positive experience that I did during my master’s education made me want to return to academia and the field of history. I started my master’s education because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do better than I did during my Bachelor’s eduation. While I began my education with a want to prove to myself that I could do better, it ended up with me realizing that academia was a possible future for someone like me.

Which skills that you developed during your studies do you value the most today. both professionally and in everyday life?

My education at the department really made me the historian that I am today. Without the knowledge and skills I gained from it, I do not think I would ever even consider a career in academia. But it also gave me important skills I have used in other jobs since finishing my degree. Having inside knowledge of how history is produced gave me great insights which I could use when I teached students
on a Gymnasium level. My education also made me a much better writer, which I was able to turn into journalistic work when I got to rewrite my master’s thesis as a popular science article.

If you were to give current master's students one practical piece of advice, what would it be?

See the assignments and classes as ways for you to develop different skills! It might sound obvious, but for me, it was a game changer when I started seeing reading logs not primarily as a must do, but as a writing exercise. Or seminars as a way for you to practice developing your own thoughts and discuss different concepts and texts, not as an examination of if you have read the text or not!

Favorite place in Uppsala?

Anywhere by the river, especially in the city park.

Which student tradition do you miss the most?

A student Valborg hits differently.

Name one thing you shouldn't miss out on during your time as a student in Uppsala:

The nations! They have so many different activities, and cheap prices.