Adwoa Opong, a PhD student in history at Washington University and the first McDonnell International Scholar from the University of Ghana, researches the history of women’s social welfare work in Ghana after the Second World War, a history that she says became entangled in the politics of decolonization when Ghana declared its independence.
We inhabit electrified spaces. Utility posts and aerial and underground cables surround us. Our horizon is broken down by high voltage towers, transformers, posts and power lines. In her current book-in-progress, “Electrifying Mexico,” Faculty Fellow and historian of modern Latin America Diana Montaño delves into the making of electrified spaces in Mexico City. Her work looks at how ordinary citizens (businessmen, salespersons, inventors, doctors, housewives, maids, and domestic advisors) saw themselves and their city as modern through electricity. Here, she previews how people and power shaped Mexico City’s fate.
An interview with Yael Fuchs (AB, '98), now a lawyer with the New York State Attorney General's office.
We engage our students through the study of the past. We are committed to the idea that the most compelling stories are often the most revealing ones. In addition to teaching students the particular skills of historical inquiry, we provide them with tools that serve them beyond their majors and beyond the university.
The discipline of history poses challenging questions about the ways that human beings have made the worlds they live in. There are many approaches to history. Some historians study politics, whether that means political parties or the ways that people who never held public office nonetheless act to shape public life. Others study the lived experience of everyday Americans or the popular culture that reflects how people understand the world around them. Still others are especially interested in the kinds of stories about the past that we tell ourselves, for those stories reveal a great deal about our own society and about earlier times. While it is not true that history repeats itself, it is true that without knowledge of the past we are unable to understand the present.
Some history majors go on to pursue graduate work in the field and become professional historians, but most find that the knowledge and skills they build through history courses fit them for a wide range of careers. Our graduates have attended law or medical school, and have pursued careers in government, education, research, business, communications, international agencies, publishing, museums and archives, public advocacy and many other fields.
