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Department of History

253.879.3166

Administrative Assistant

Charlotte Nabors

Program Description

Far from being dead and gone, history continues to shape our world in ways large and small. Understanding this means opening up a conversation about how human beings have lived their lives in many places and times around the world—how they have understood themselves, their relationships to one another, and their place on the planet. History courses invite students to engage in the practice of doing history alongside faculty—discovering and assessing sources, considering controversies, forming interpretations, building arguments and ultimately creating their own narratives about the past.

As creative thinkers, skillful analysts, and expert researchers and writers, history students possess the skills needed to succeed in a wide range of careers. Whether they work in schools, high-tech or government offices, courtrooms, libraries, nonprofit organizations, or academia, our students stand out for their ability to tackle difficult problems, evaluate evidence, and work collaboratively, all skills at a premium in our changing economy.

 

Who You Could Be

  • Attorney
  • Educator
  • Policy Analyst
  • Nonprofit Director
  • Digital Project Manager
  • Civilian or Foreign Service Officer
  • Archivist, Librarian, Public or Research Historian
Graham Taylor '07
Alumni
Graham Taylor '07

"[Studying history] helped me understand multiple perspectives on many issues, which has proved critically important as I work to engage people on controversial issues, improved my writing skills, and also helped me determine the authenticity of information that I encounter."

What You'll Learn

  • To find and critically analyze information drawn from the widest range of formats and cultures
  • To work collaboratively and to communicate in a range of mediums
  • To continue building cultural competence and emotional intelligence
  • To recognize the processes by which narratives of the past are created
  • To approach the worlds of the past using multiple lenses
  • To recognize the powerful impact of the past on contemporary issues and problems
Sample Courses

This course examines the construction of gender in European contexts from Late Antiquity through the medieval and early modern period, addressing historical continuity and change in understandings of femininities, masculinities, and gender nonconformity, as well as in related ideas about sexuality, marriage, family, and romantic love. Students gain an understanding of how gender intersected with social, economic, political, educational, and religious structures in premodern Europe, and consider the merits of various historical approaches to gender. Special topics to be considered include: gendered concerns with virginity and celibacy; marriage and domestic life; reproductive health; the location of LGBTQI+ identities in premodernity; courtly love and its paradoxes; gender and labor in preindustrial economies; and the gendering of educational institutions.

Code
Knowledge, Identity, and PowerSocial Scientific and Historical Perspectives

This course examines the history of the activities of intelligence services, with a focus on Europe and North America from the end of WWI to the present day. In today's world, few figures fascinate us (or disgust us) as much as the spy, a figure whose profession poses difficult questions about truth and deception, morality and deviance, personal and national betrayal, and the power of the modern state. Beyond the popular cult of spies, however, espionage has played a crucial role in the shaping of the twentieth-century world in a number of ways: spurring the fighting (or avoidance) of wars, shaping diplomatic and military policies, propelling and exploiting technological advancements, and creating political and mass cultures.

Code
Social Scientific and Historical Perspectives

An international spotlight has fallen on the Chinese justice system in recent years due to a series of high-profile trials, detentions, and imprisonments. The names and images of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, "Barefoot Lawyer" Chen Guangcheng, and Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai have graced the cover pages of newspapers and magazines around the world, and their journeys have been fodder for extended discussions and debates over the current state of the Chinese legal system. This course examines the history of law, society, and justice in China from the early imperial era to the present. During the first part of the semester students explore the philosophical underpinnings of traditional Chinese law and the late imperial civil and criminal justice systems. The second part of the course examines the evolution of law during the Republican period as well as the legal system established during the Mao era. The course concludes by using a series of high-profile cases to unpack post-Mao legal reforms, matters of human rights, and the contemporary state of Chinese justice.

Code
Social Scientific and Historical Perspectives

The course explores the complex relationship between the natural world and human societies and cultures in what is now the United States, with an emphasis on environmental justice, race, gender, and capitalism. We consider both the power of nature in shaping human societies and cultures and in turn how those societies and cultures have constructed nature in ways that reflect their interests, values, visions, and divisions.

Code
Social Scientific and Historical Perspectives

The region referred to as the U.S.-Mexico borderlands has been the subject of wide-ranging popular and scholarly treatment, especially focusing on politics, cultural contact, economic exchange, and violence. Readings cover examples of how the geo-political boundary and socio-cultural space encompassed by the region have produced persistent debate about identity formation, the fluidity of the border, and the inability of governments to restrict the movement of peoples and goods. Through close reading of primary and secondary sources, students explore several questions throughout the semester: How are "borderlands" defined? What role do the historical shifts in political boundaries that have occurred along the U.S.-Mexico border play in defining the geographical limits of "borderlands"? What are the origins of cross-border violence, and how have official approaches to dealing with this violence changed over time? How does the historiography on borderlands contribute to an understanding of the causes of, and popular and official reactions to, the Drug Wars currently underway? This seminar provides students with a general understanding of the scholarship and theoretical foundation of U.S.-Mexican borderlands history.

Code
Knowledge, Identity, and PowerSocial Scientific and Historical Perspectives

Nelson Mandela has become an international symbol of South Africa's twentieth-century tragedies and triumphs, and for good reason; his experience touches on many of the major themes in that country's recent history. This course uses Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, as a starting point for exploring the history and historiography of South Africa. Major topics include rural life and the peasant experience, "tribalism" and the significance of tradition, urbanization and industrialization, the development of apartheid and anti-apartheid ideologies, and the implementation of democratic governance. Students consider the benefits and challenges of using autobiographies as historical sources, analyzing Mandela's account in the context of other South Africans' experiences .

Code
Social Scientific and Historical Perspectives

Experiential Learning

Students make the world their classroom by studying abroad and engaging in independent research projects or internships:

  • Elena Segura '25, student research grant, "Ode to Merike"
  • Walter Stackler '25, student research grant, "Protests and Politics: A Media Analysis of Taiwanese Third Party Electoral Success Post-2014" (Summer 2023) and "Death in the pines: Business, bureaucracy, and power at Wallace Falls, Washington, 1919-2019" (Summer 2024)
  • Patch Gleason '23, student research grant, "Evolution of Urban Sound"
  • Lane Morse '23, student research grant, "Pacific Northwest Poetic History Project"
  • Olive Mullen '20, student research grant, "Preserving LGBTQ: An Oral History Collection"
  • Erin Budrow '20, student research grant, "My American Dream: Marvel Comics and the Captain America Series as Representatives of U.S. Social History from 1964-2016"
  • Fran Leskovar '20, student research grant, "The Setauket Gang: The American Revolutionary Spy Ring You've Never Heard About"
  • Kyra Zapf '20, student research grant, "Succession Anxiety Through Clothing in the Court of Henry VIII"

Where Graduates Work

Our alumni work at:

  • Consulate General, Guadalajara, Mexico (public affairs officer)
  • Cornell University (associate professor, science and technology)
  • Bellevue Art Museum (education coordinator)
  • Seattle Sounders Football Club (general counsel)
  • Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine (project archivist)
  • Accumentra Health (healthcare analyst)

Where Graduates Continue Studying

Our alumni continue their studies at:

  • George Washington University (law school)
  • Oregon Health & Science University (public health)
  • Stanford University (history)
  • University of Puget Sound (Master of Arts in Teaching)
  • University of Washington (museology)
  • University of California, Riverside (public history)

Beyond the Classroom

Oaxaca, Mexico
Study Abroad in Oaxaca

Prof. John Lear helped to found the Oaxaca study program, which establishes a foundation to understand the history of U.S./Mexico relations and the Mexican experience in the U.S.

Adelaide Beeman-White '20
Study Abroad in Copenhagen

Adelaide Beeman-White '20, a History and Environmental Policy & Decision Making double major, studied in Denmark, one of the programs that is especially popular with history majors.

Granada, Spain
Study Abroad in Granada

Lauren Hall '17, a History major and Spanish minor, found that studying in Granada gave her an opportunity to take additional classes on Spanish history beyond her studies at Puget Sound.