MA in History - Comparative History - Comparative Colonialisms in Seattle United States | University of Washington

Welcome to the University of Washington's History Graduate Program. We specialize in educating future historians who contribute to academic knowledge about history while also teaching and connecting with wider audiences. Our program has over 50 students working toward MA and PhD degrees across diverse historical fields, supported by faculty with extensive expertise. We encourage interdisciplinary and comparative historical methods, allowing students to collaborate with faculty both within our department and across other UW programs. Our community actively participates in digital history initiatives that enhance research, education, and public engagement with historical scholarship.

This area of study examines colonialism through critical discussions about modernity's spatial and temporal frameworks, including postmodern perspectives. A key approach involves bringing together cultural theorists and historians from Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and Africa to explore non-Western studies through comparative historical analysis. Building on the social science foundations of comparative studies, this field incorporates literary, historiographical, postcolonial, and psychoanalytic theories to examine nation-building, identity formation, and how modernity, ethnicity, gender, and culture are academically framed.