Topoi and topology of German-language history of education: Semantic network analysis based on textbooks (1779–1934)

Abstract The history of education, as a framework for organizing educational knowledge, has played a crucial role in shaping the production and communication of pedagogical ideas. However, its discursive structure has yet to be systematically examined through empirical analysis. This study combines Foucauldian approaches to the history of knowledge with digital history methods to reconstruct the discursive system embedded in German-language educational history textbooks. Focusing on a corpus of 143 textbooks published between 1779 and 1934, the study builds a machine-readable dataset comprising approximately 22 mio. words. By employing a distribution-based semantic metric, the study models the discursive system as a semantic network among the most frequently used nouns in the corpus. It is revealed that the system is organized around seven interconnected Topoi , with certain topological paths linking them. Furthermore, the study traces the historical evolution of this semantic structure, identifying distinct chronological phases that reflect shifts in the relative importance of different Topoi . These transformations are shown to be closely tied to the institutional settings of knowledge production. The methodological approach outlined in this research provides a flexible framework for studying educational discourse within broader social and transnational historical contexts.