Relative Influence: Scholars, institutions and academic diplomacy in post-war Rome. The case of the German libraries (1943–53)

Abstract

This article discusses the heuristic value of the concept of academic diplomacy in the context of the agency of the directors of the so-called foreign academies in Rome, with a focus on the Swedish Institute in Rome. Academic diplomacy is discussed in the context of the return to Italy of four German scholarly libraries in Rome and Florence during and after the Second World War. The article focuses on the role of Erik Sjöqvist (1903–75), director of the Swedish Institute in Rome 1940–8. It illustrates how the practice of academic diplomacy in wartime and post-war Roman scholarly contexts combined elements of the internationale of scholarship with national traditions. Academic diplomacy arguably provides a framework for discussing both individual and national agendas and prestige, as well as ideals of international collaboration. Transnational history is approached and discussed here through networks of individual scholars in the microcosm of foreign (as well as domestic) academies in Rome.