Page - 196 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

196 ♦  Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 with regard to the relations among disciplines was rather similar—apart from the existence of chairs for national historiographies and national lan- guages and literatures, as well as the inclusion of agricultural studies in the philosophical faculty at the Jagiellonian University. Some exceptions can be found, though: anthropology was first institutionalized at the Czech University and then in Galicia, before being introduced at other universities (apart from Vienna, which had such a chair early on). In contrast, until 1910 both Galician universities lacked Hebrew and Jewish history, which were taught at other universities in the empire. This is quite surprising, but also very telling, if the cultural statistics of Galicia are taken into consideration (see also chapter 6). The matter of external experts for habilitations and appointments re- mained prominent with regard to the unity of the imperial space. These experts were asked not only to assess the qualifications of the candidates but also to help faculties decide whether they had qualified specialists. While these experts were mostly Viennese scholars, the Galician university also asked Czech scholars for expertise in disciplines such as anthropology91 and oriental studies.92 Czech scholars could mostly read Polish, which gave them an advantage over specialists from German-language universities. Over the course of the nineteenth century, expert opinions became harder to obtain, especially because scholars’ applications were based on publications in their native language, and experts therefore had be found within Galicia. While until the 1880s the ministry had regularly asked Viennese instructors for their opinions on scholars from Bohemia and Galicia,93 later they could ask only a few who knew Czech or Polish; in this way, such scholars gained political influence over the appointment procedures. Only in formal cases, such as the determination of a habilitation’s scope, could the ministry still ask for the participation of specialized scholars. The issue of expertise also shows the complexity of the Austrian im- perial space, as German-language scholars frequently voiced paternalistic opinions of Slavic scholarship. In 1878 such comments on the habilitation of the geographer Karol Benoni led to a clash between the faculties in L’viv and Vienna. The opinions of three Viennese geographers were rather negative, describing the applicant’s publication as “cunning compilations” based on outdated theories. More critically, they stated that this would not be ade- quate for a habilitation in Vienna but would do for L’viv.94 Unsurprisingly, the Galician faculty took this suggestion as disparaging the standing of the university and accused the Viennese scholars of proposing double standards