History at NYU Abu Dhabi
History is the study of human experience, considered in relation to time and place. It is also a method of thinking characterized by its attention to the contexts in which people live and work. Students of history enter into an exciting world of debates about how best to understand past human experience – cultural, social, economic, and political – and the implications of different historical understandings for the present. Rethinking and revising accepted historical conclusions is one of the most important and compelling tasks of the historian.
The History major at NYUAD is itself designed to rethink and revise conventional features of the discipline. Students select from a range of courses that are roughly commensurate with global human experience. They also pursue historical study across a range of chronological and geographical scales – from short to long durées; and from globally thematic courses that explore connections and comparisons among world regions, to regionally focused courses that offer an in-depth exploration of four long-standing zones of human interaction and imagination:
Indian Ocean World, which includes not just the areas and countries bordering the ocean basin but also the areas corresponding to the historic scope of the Ottoman and Mughal empires, Persia, parts of Central Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and parts of the South Pacific.
Asia-Pacific World, which includes areas corresponding to the historic scope of the Mongol, Qing, and Russian empires, Northeast Asia, parts of Central and Inner Asia, parts of Southeast Asia, Australasia, and the Americas.
Atlantic World, which encompasses Europe (including Russia and the USSR), the Americas, West Africa, and the Caribbean.
Mediterranean World, which encompasses all those areas adjacent to the Mediterranean and contiguous seas, including the historic scope of the Habsburg, Venetian, and Ottoman empires, parts of southern and central Europe, North Africa, and the Near East.
Students wishing to develop regional expertise with regard to the history of Abu Dhabi and the UAE can do so by taking courses in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean World categories; many of these regional courses also include experiential learning opportunities in the form of class trips.
All History majors develop a foundation of knowledge that is both genuinely globally comparative and genuinely regionally grounded. They also acquire the theoretical and methodological tools necessary to undertake their own historical research, using primary documents, in ways that meet the highest intellectual standards. They learn to find, analyze, and interpret many different kinds of evidence; to organize it into a coherent whole
History majors are required to take The Theory and Practice of History (offered every fall semester) and a minimum of seven elective courses distributed as follows: at least one global thematic course; at least two courses in two different regional areas (Indian Ocean, Asia-Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean); at least one course that primarily covers a period before 1800; and at least one course from Arts and Humanities Colloquia.
Certain History courses may count towards more than one regional field within the major, but a single course can only fill one field. Courses in the Core Curriculum or other concentrations may also count toward the major if approved by the student’s mentor.
Requirements for the major are 10 courses, distributed as follows:
- 1 Required Course: Theory and Practice of History
- 7 Electives: one Global thematic course; two courses in two different regional areas; one course in a period before 1800; and one Arts and Humanities Colloquium
- Capstone Project Research Seminar (2-semester sequence during senior year; double majors writing their capstone project in a different program are required instead to take 2 additional history electives)
All NYUAD History majors develop a foundation of knowledge that is both genuinely globally comparative and genuinely regionally grounded. For the list of approved undergraduate History courses offered at NYUAD, please click here. For additional information regarding the History major at NYU Abu Dhabi, please click here.
Faculty
Associate Professors
Associate Professor of History Email: klimke@nyu.edu Field: United States Research Interests:
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Associate Professor of History Email: mark.swislocki@nyu.edu Field: East Asia Research Interests: China; Cultural History, Environmental history, Minority Peoples of China
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Assistant Professors
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Assistant Professor of History Field: Atlantic World Research Interests: Latin America; History of Emotions; Communication and Politics; History of the Body; Connected Histories
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Assistant Professor of History and Art History Email: fjk3@nyu.edu Research Interests: Central Asia; Archaeology; Mobile-Sedentary Interactions; Craft Production; Images and the Built Environment; Rank and Status
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Assistant Professor of History Email: amir.minsky@nyu.edu Field: Atlantic World Research Interests: Germany; Modern European Intellectual History; Global French Revolution; History of Emotions
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Assistant Professor of History Email: lauren.minsky@nyu.edu Field: South Asia Research Interests: South Asia; Indian Ocean; World; Agrarian Environments; Global Public Health; History of Science, Technology
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Assistant Professor of History Field: Atlantic World Research Interests: History of Africa; Slavery; Race; Colonialism; Social History of West Africa and the Sahara; Islam; Health and Healing
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Assistant Professors/Faculty Fellows
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Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow of History Email: masha.kirasirova@nyu.edu Research Interests: Mediterranean World / Atlantic World; 20th-Century Middle East; Socialist Internationalism; Soviet Cultural and Political History; Central Asia; Cold War; Orientalism; Transnational History
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Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow of History Email: nadine.roth@nyu.edu Field: Atlantic World Research Interests: Mediterranean World; Modern Europe; Urbanism
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Other
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Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Email: pm97@nyu.edu Research Interests: Mediterranean and Indian Ocean World; Modern Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Urbanism; Social Anthropology; Resistance and Protest Movements
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Associate Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies Email: jstearns@nyu.edu Research Interests: Medieval and Early Modern |