The major emphasizes breadth and depth. While pursuing a thematic or geographic concentration, all students also complete courses in premodern and modern history and in multiple geographic areas.
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From Accra to Buenos Aires, Shanghai to Dublin, our majors have studied history around the globe.
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Every student conducts independent research in at least one small, writing-intensive seminar. Some students elect to pursue an Honors thesis, in which they explore a historical problem in greater depth, study primary sources and create an original scholarly interpretation.
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Students have many opportunities to attend lectures, panels and symposia.
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Professor Walker's book, Principles in Power: Latin America and the Politics of US Human Rights Diplomacy, has been selected for the William M. LeoGrande Prize for the best book on US-Latin American relations.
William M. LeoGrande PrizeThis introductory course provides a broad overview of China’s long history and major cultural traditions from its very beginnings to the eve of modernity.
This course surveys African-American history from Emancipation through the Trump presidency, exploring topics such as Reconstruction, the age of Jim Crow and the Black Lives Matter movement.
We will read Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, the first and most prestigious Ramayana story written in Sanskrit around 2500 years ago, and move on to explore Ramayana narratives through time.
Our courses provoke independent and creative thought. Through a close evaluation of diverse evidence, students learn to generate and defend original arguments, to evaluate and contribute to scholarly conversations, and to reflect on the relationship between past and present.
The department awards The Alfred F. Havighurst Prize, The Asa J. Davis Prize, The Fredrick L. Cheyette Prize and The John Petropulos Prize.
See photos of Amherst College students, faculty, staff and alumni as part of Memorial Hill 2020, a photography project by Assistant Professor George Qiao, Haoran Tong ’23 and Kalea Ramsey ’23 recording the college community during COVID-19.