History offers postgraduate supervision across a broad range of fields,
along with coursework units and degrees which enable students to explore their
own interests as well as key theoretical, interpretive and methodological
questions about the nature of historical knowledge, research and writing.
Through seminars, conferences and reading groups, the section also aims to
provide a supportive environment for all postgraduate students. Historical
research is primarily concerned with interpretations of the past based upon the
careful analysis of evidence and the critical assessment of other perspectives.
Our courses also focus upon different approaches to the tasks of research,
interpretation and writing, and encourage students to address questions such as
the nature and status of different forms of historical evidence, the 'uses' of
history in public debate, and the relationships between history and other ways
of recording and remembering the past. History's questions are intrinsically
fascinating: how can we know about the past? What can we know? Who speaks in
the historical record, and who does not? If the past is written about in this
way or that way, what are its consequences for interpretations of the present
and the future? Our aim is to provide research and coursework students with the
critical tools to undertake their own investigations of past worlds and to
explore their own answers to those questions.
While History at Monash covers a broad span of fields, specific research
strengths include indigenous history and the history of racial and ethnic
relations; the history of gender and sexuality, especially in Australia,
Britain and Europe during the 18th, 19th and
20th centuries; Australian social and cultural history, especially
urban history, local history and social welfare; South and Southeast Asian
history, Indonesian history and the history of imperialism, colonialism and
post-colonialism; European social and cultural history, especially French
history, German history, renaissance studies, urban history, family history and
the intellectual history of religion and belief in medieval and early modern
Europe; military history; American history, especially social and cultural
history, Jewish history; and oral history, memory and life stories. Students
with research interests in areas such as public history and heritage should
also refer to the 'Public history' entry. For a full list of staff and research
interests, see http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/history/staff/
History offers PhD and masters by research degrees. Refer to the front of the
Arts research section for further information. See also the entry for
'Humanities, communications and social sciences' (Gippsland campus). The course
listed below can be studied part-time, and mid-year entry is also available.
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