Main navigation
- Programs
- Subjects
- Universities
- Destinations
- Advice
The Department excels in studying imperialism and colonialism, with a focus on European empires, while highlighting gender studies, environmental history, religion, slavery, the history of science and medicine, and Indigenous histories (including native populations in Mexico and South America). From the European Middle Ages to the modern post-colonial period, global colonial regimes emerged and solidified through European expansion. Colonial powers aimed to reshape societies by altering how people perceived themselves, their families, territories, scientific knowledge, and even their destinies. The far-reaching and subtle effects of colonialism—through its technologies and violence—left deep imprints on minds, bodies, landscapes, and cultural expressions, from governance to everyday objects. However, colonial rule also sparked resistance. Confronting often rigid colonial hierarchies, people across the Americas, Africa, and Asia fought to maintain autonomy over their lives. Their struggles ensured that as Western concepts of gender, race, science, technology, and the environment spread globally, they were also reinterpreted and transformed.