We offer graduate training leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. in a wide range of fields, including Early America, Modern America, African-American, Colonial and Modern Latin America, Military, Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Modern Europe, British and British Empire, South Asia, Imperial and Soviet Russia, Traditional and Modern China, Modern Japan, Africa, History of Medicine, and History of Science and Technology.
Upcoming Events
Wed
13
Nov
2019-2020 History Department Colloquium
11:30 AM @ Classroom Building, Room 229, Boyd Seminar Room
Wed
13
Nov
¿Julius Szekf¿ and the Books of Ezekiel; Patriarch Joseph used as an...
5:00 PM @ Classroom Building, Room 101
Wed
13
Nov
Julius Szekfu and the Books of Ezekiel: Patriarch Joseph used as an...
5:00 PM @ Classroom Building, Room 101
About Us
Duke’s History Department — among the top programs in the country — regard the creation of knowledge as one of the fundamental missions of a research university. Our world-renowned faculty, who work closely with our students and collaborate with colleagues across disciplines, are at the cutting edge of research in their fields as they address society’s greatest challenges. And our graduate and undergraduate academic programs — designed to help students critically think about the world around them — successfully prepare students for a wide range of careers.
Latest News
Mikael Chukwuma Owunna's ('12) new book...
Duke University alum, Mikael Chukwuma Owunna's new book "Limitless Africans", is featured in The Guardian. Mikael double majored in Biomedical Engineering and History (Duke... read more about Mikael Chukwuma Owunna's ('12) new book "Limitless Africans", is featured in The Guardian »
Adriane Lentz-Smith featured in veterans episode...
On Sunday, November 10 at 7:00 PM, Adriane Lentz-Smith will be featured on the veterans episode of the Legal Eagles Review on WNCU 90.7 FM. The show will air this Sunday,... read more about Adriane Lentz-Smith featured in veterans episode on WNCU 90.7 FM »
Ayanna Legros Receives Emerging Scholars Award...
Graduate student, Ayanna Legros was awarded the Emerging Scholars Award by the Haitian Studies Association and was granted an NSF travel grant from the Society for the History of... read more about Ayanna Legros Receives Emerging Scholars Award and NSF Travel Grant »
"Uneven Ground: The Foundations of Housing...
Uneven Ground: The Foundations of Housing Inequality in Durham, NC Uneven Ground is a traveling public exhibition by Bull City 150 that tells the story of the historical roots... read more about "Uneven Ground: The Foundations of Housing Inequality in Durham" Franklin Gallery Exhibit Opening Monday, October 28, 2019 »
Veronica Niamba receives Lowell Aptman Prize
History major, Veronica Niamba T'21, received the Lowell Aptman Prize for the paper she wrote in HIST 160S - GTWY SEM: THE GLOBAL SIXTIES. This course was taught by Ph.D student... read more about Veronica Niamba receives Lowell Aptman Prize »
Cecilia Marquez's article “Juan Crow and the...
The roundtable on the Latino/a South in Labor, which featured Cecilia Marquez, was selected to be open-access. Her article,“Juan Crow and the Erasure of Blackness in the Latina/o... read more about Cecilia Marquez's article “Juan Crow and the Erasure of Blackness in the Latina/o South” is available for open access »
Nicole Barnes awarded the Joan Kelly Memorial...
Nicole Barnes, Assistant Professor of History at Duke University, has been awarded the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize for her recent book, Intimate Communities: Wartime Healthcare and... read more about Nicole Barnes awarded the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize »
Nancy MacLean Interviewed on MSNBC's AMJoy
Watch Nancy MacLean's interview on MSNBC's AM Joy with Joy Reid! The interview aired on Sunday, 9/22/19. It starts at 16:30 with the clip from Paul Weyrich on not wanting people... read more about Nancy MacLean Interviewed on MSNBC's AMJoy »
Prof. Mestyan co-directs project "La...
Prof. Mestyan co-directs with Prof. Mercedes Volait (CNRS) a project on the modern urban history of Cairo, Egypt. “La fabrique du Caire moderne” (Twitter: @cairemoderne) is a... read more about Prof. Mestyan co-directs project "La fabrique du Caire moderne" »
Academics
Graduate Program
Undergraduate Program
We offer a Bachelor of Arts major where students can focus their studies in two ways: Thematic Concentrations to explore contemporary issue and themes from historical perspectives, and Geographic Concentrations to explore issues present in specific parts of the globe. A minor is also available.
Featured Courses
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Gender and Slavery in the Americas
HISTORY 213SAtlantic slave systems were gendered systems. Across lines of nation and empire, African-descended women and their reproductive labor were crucial to the formation of New World slave systems and the racial ideology that underwrote them....
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Intro to Global History
HISTORY 101Explore problems in the history of globalization. Learn how contemporary problems and opportunities of globalization reflect long-term processes marked by patterns, interruptions, and continuities even within radical change. Asia, Europe...
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Introduction to Contemporary Latin America
HISTORY 121Introduction to Contemporary Latin America. Interdisciplinary introduction to the peoples, cultures, and burning issues of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. Required course for students seeking the certificate in Latin...
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China And The Silk Roads
HISTORY 135Introduces the rich and diverse world of trade, religions, and cultures that connected the two ends of the Eurasian world. Starts with survey of Han and Roman trade contacts, and Chinese connections with India via Buddhism, focusing on...
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Gateway Seminar: The Global Sixties: Race,...
HISTORY 160SThe 1960s in global context, focusing particularly on Europe, Latin America, and the United States. The rise of mass movements dedicated to racial, economic, and sexual justice, against the backdrop of Cold War and decolonization. The...
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PUBLISHING & MKTG POP FICTION: Book...
HISTORY 248SA case study of the US romance fiction industry and its global reach. The romance novel is the most popular form of fiction in the world. Its industry is powered by women, produces a product consumed by women, and exports to global...
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Latin American Wars of Independence
HISTORY 264This course covers the conspiracies, uprisings, and wars that led to the independence of Haiti and the Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal between 1780 and the 1898 withdrawal of Spain from Cuba. It focuses on the key military...
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Colonial Latin America
HISTORY 326Course explores cultures of indigenous peoples before the Age of European exploration, and it takes up European conquest and its effects on the Amerindian peoples. Students will study Latin American history from the development of the...
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RACISM AND AMERICAN PSYCHIATRY
HISTORY 390S.02Lunatic asylums in the US South offer a fertile context to explore the impact of white settler colonialism on the development of psychiatry in the United States. This haunting affects us today, when ninety percent of psychiatric beds...
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Histories of Science and Technology
HISTORY 549SThis course introduces students to methods in the history of science and technology, with attention to global and interdisciplinary perspectives. In addition to various historical approaches, readings may also include work in ethnography...
People
Associate Professor in the Department of History
I am a historian of the United States and Germany, who focuses on questions of militarism, warfare, and empire in the long twentieth century. In... read more »
Professor with Tenure
Dr. Gaspar concentrates on comparative slave systems, with a special interest in the development of slave society and the evolution of slave... read more »
Professor of History
My work engages issues of difference, particularly racial, gender, class, and spatial formations. My current book project is “Making a Modern U.... read more »
