Political History

Historians in the Corcoran Department of History working in political history understand it as an eternal human process of contests, cooperation, collaborations, and compromises over power and rights, broadly defined.  We study many and varied historical means for executing, exerting, and expressing power and rights. Within different temporal, spatial, cultural, and environmental constraints of historically researchable human experiences, political maneuverings occur among individuals, families, clans, tribes, ethnicities, states, cultures, nations, empires, international alliances, interest groups, and social categories based on age, class, ethnic, gender, racial, religious, and sectarian differences. Such maneuverings have sometimes been conceptualized as “elite” or “popular” in domestic settings and in terms of other binaries in global contexts.  We, however, investigate political relations as multi-layered and multi-dimensional phenomena. While we fundamentally value the power of the archives, we also appreciate and take advantage of research methodologies, tools, and theories that have been developed and deployed in other fields of history and branches of social sciences.

Faculty

Zhang
Professor
256 Nau Hall
Office Hours: Tuesdays: 10-11am; Thursdays, 12:30-1:30 pm; and by appointment
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Material Culture, Political History, Women, Gender, & Sexuality
Shulman
Research Professor of History, Editor of The Dolley Madison Digital Edition
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Political History, Women, Gender, & Sexuality
Sessions
Associate Professor of History, Affiliated Faculty, Department of French
Nau 354
Office Hours: TR, 11:00AM-1:00PM; Students should schedule meetings at https://calendly.com/profsessions
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Empire & Colonialism, Legal History, Material Culture, Military & War History, Political History, Race & Ethnicity, Spatial History, Frontiers, & Migration, Transnational and Diplomatic History
Liu
David Dean 21st Century Professor of Asian Studies & Professor of History
Nau 438
Office Hours: M/W, 3:00-4:30PM
Themes: Political History, Race & Ethnicity, Spatial History, Frontiers, & Migration, Transnational and Diplomatic History
Horne
Associate Professor of French
317A Cabell Hall
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Empire & Colonialism, Labor History, Material Culture, Political History
Associate Professor of German and History, Director, European Studies Program, Director, Center for German Studies
NCH 233
Office Hours: M, 10:30AM-12:30PM
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Environmental History, Genocide & Violence, Intellectual History & History of Ideas, Jewish History, Political History, Race & Ethnicity, Transnational and Diplomatic History
Stefan
Office Hours: Wednesday 1:30-3:30 (virtual) and by appointment
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Legal History, Military & War History, Political History

Graduate Student

Alumni