Labor History

The study of labor at the University of Virginia is an interdisciplinary field that brings together many different forms of inquiry, from histories of slavery to environmental history. Labor historians understand that the study of those who work, what they do, and what that work means offers unique insight into the past. Combining the tools of social and cultural history with histories of business and capital, labor historians see work as a defining force in global and US history. Our research also reflects an interest in the politics of place, consumption, and conditions of work. Work and working conditions reflect the way that power and value operate in a society well beyond the factory floor. For this reason, our scholars of labor explore the ways that working conditions and working lives are formed in reference to gender, sexualityrace, and citizenship in workplaces as diverse as Chilean forests and the grounds of the University of Virginia. Labor history at UVA has a particular strength in the history of the US South. The histories of labor and its conditions in the United States have been profoundly determined by issues of slavery, race, and civil rights, and our research and teaching reflects this fact. In dialogue with disciplines such as American and Latin American Studies, as well as the Carter G Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, labor historians at UVA are deeply committed to exploring the cultural and physical worlds inhabited by workers, whether in the United States or in other parts of the globe.

Faculty

Goluboff
Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law and Dean of the School of Law, Professor of History
Law WB 389
Office Hours: F 12:00 - 1:30
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Labor History, Legal History, Race & Ethnicity
Harold
Associate Dean for the Social Sciences, Edward Stettinius Professor of History
NAU 291
Office Hours: TBD
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Labor 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
Klubock
Professor and Chair
NAU 281
Office Hours: M/W, 11:00AM-12:00PM and by appointment
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Environmental History, Labor History, Race & Ethnicity, Women, Gender, & Sexuality
Associate Professor, Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
NAU 385
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Genocide & Violence, Labor History
Photo by Chris Taylor / U.S. Department of the Treasury
Assistant Professor of History and American Studies
NAU 484
Office Hours: By Appointment via Zoom until Oct.17, then M/T, 3:00-4:00PM
Themes: Economic History & History of Capitalism, Empire & Colonialism, Environmental History, Labor History, Science, Medicine, & Technology

Graduate Student

Office Hours: I'm not teaching this semester, so please email me if you want to meet in person or on zoom.
Themes: Cultural and Social History, Economic History & History of Capitalism, History of Slavery, Labor History, Material Culture