Head of department: Professor Barbara Caine
Director of research and graduate studies: Professor Graeme Davison
Coordinator of graduate studies: Dr Mark Peel
The Department of History offers postgraduate supervision across a broad range of fields and interests, along with coursework subjects 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 department also aims to provide a supportive environment for postgraduate scholarship. Inquiries should be directed in the first instance to the administrative officer, Ms Val Campbell, 9905 2199, or to the coordinator, Dr Mark Peel, 9905 2178.
The Department of History can provide supervision for research students in the following areas, but this list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive. Staff members' interests range widely, and students who wish to work on topics not covered below can possibly be accommodated. Dissertation topics may be discussed by interview with the head of department or graduate studies coordinator.
Bain Attwood Indigenous history; the history of gender and sexuality in the 19th and 20th centuries; public history; history and theory.
Barbara Caine Nineteenth and twentieth-century cultural history, with emphases on Europe and Australia; women's history.
Ian Copland British Imperial history, in particular the history of indirect rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; comparative colonialism; post-colonialism; modern South Asian history.
Ian Cummins Nineteenth and twentieth-century Russian and Soviet history, in particular the national question in Tsarist Russia and the USSR; Marxism and nationalism. (Note: In normal circumstances, students wishing to write a dissertation in Russian history should have, or be willing to acquire, some working knowledge of Russian.)
Graeme Davison Australian urban and social history; the history of sociology in Britain and the United States; heritage and public history.
Jane Drakard Southeast Asian history; Indonesian history; Indonesian and Malay cultural history and textual traditions.
Esther Faye Twentieth-century Australian history; histories of subjectivity and gender; psychoanalysis and history.
David Garrioch European urban history, 1600-1900; social and cultural history of eighteenth-century France; French Revolution.
Eleanor Hancock German history in the nineteenth and twentieth century, particularly the interwar period and national socialism; fascism in Britain; aspects of World War I and II.
Peter Howard Medieval European history; Renaissance Italy; intellectual history of Christianity.
Bill Kent Italian Renaissance social and cultural history; Florence in the time of Lorenzo de' Medici.
Bruce Knox Nineteenth-century British history: political and administrative; British Empire and colonies.
Lincoln Li Modern Chinese and Japanese history, including Sino-Japanese relations; Dr Li expects students to be fluent, or to acquire fluency, in the languages necessary for their research.
Ian Mabbett Traditional Asian culture; precolonial history of India and Southeast Asia, especially anything connected with Indian religions; the `Indianised' culture of Southeast Asia.
Andrew Markus Australian political and social history from 1850 to the present, particularly racial and ethnic relations. History of racial thought.
Constant Mews Cultural, religious and intellectual history of Europe, fourth to thirteenth century; social and political change in twelfth-century France.
Ian Mylchreest Intellectual, cultural and legal history of the United States.
Mark Peel Social and cultural history of Australia; history of gender and sexuality; history of work and education; national history; history of welfare, social justice and disadvantage.
Claudia Prestel Modern Jewish history, with particular reference to Germany.
John Rickard Australian political, social and cultural history from 1880 to the present day; biography.
Tony Wood The social, intellectual and political history of the United States of America, especially the south, and US foreign relations; also military history.
The Monash University library has good collections in the fields of Australian, North American and South-East Asian history; Renaissance and eighteenth-century European history; early modern European history, and nineteenth-and twentieth-century British and imperial history. The Rare Book Library includes an extensive collection of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century medical and scientific textbooks, and excelling holdings of schoolbooks and Australian popular literature. The Monash Centre of Southeast Asian Studies coordinates research work in its field; it has built up an extensive collection of sources on microfilm and microfiche in addition to other documentary material.
Course code: 0020
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
The degree of PhD in history is taken by the submission of a major thesis (the normal length is 60,000-90,000 words), on a topic approved by the head of the department, at the end of a period of supervised study and research. Candidates for this degree must have obtained a Master of Arts in history, or an overall result of H2A or higher in a history honours course or a Masters Qualifying in history with a research component.
The PhD normally may take up to five years full-time or a period not exceeding eight years for part-time study.
Course code: 0017
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
A candidate wishing to undertake the research degree must hold the honours degree of Bachelor of Arts in history (with results of H2A or better), or the Masters Qualifying with a research component in history (with results of H2A or better). The research degree can be taken by submission of a thesis, 40,000-60,000 words in length, on an approved research topic. The work for this will be supervised and pursued over such period as faculty regulations permit: normally up to three years full-time, and a period not exceeding five years for part-time study.
Course code: 0017
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This course, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, will enable students to study techniques of historical examination of sources: critical appraisal of evidence, particularly documentary evidence, is undertaken. The coursework is designed to broaden knowledge of a number of fields of history and their associated methodological techniques.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should have demonstrated their ability to undertake critical analysis of a range of primary and secondary texts, to develop a coherent historical argument and to arrive at clear conclusions based on a range of evidence. They should have read widely and independently in the areas they have selected for close study, developed advanced conceptual skills and the ability to apply them in a critical way in their analysis of historical problems, acquired an understanding of methodological issues surrounding approaches to the study of history and of theoretical issues, including the nature of history as a form of knowledge and its functions in public discourse, and further developed their ability to present their ideas cogently, in clear prose and at high standards of presentation.
The completion of a BA honours degree in history (results of H2A or better) or the Masters Qualifying in history with a research component (results of H2A or better).
The course comprises two eight-point subjects selected from those offered at fifth-year level, and a thesis of 25,000-35,000 words. The two subjects must be completed in the first year. Students are also expected to commence working on their thesis in the first semester of their enrolment. The following subjects are available in 1998:
* Offered subject to approval.
Program code: 1988Program fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This program, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, seeks to develop those skills in historical analysis, research methods and writing which will help prepare students for a successful transition to graduate study. Coursework subjects will seek to acquaint students with debates concerning the nature and status of historical knowledge and the role of history and with recent historiographical and conceptual debates in fields of history relevant to their research interests. The program is also designed to develop practical skills in planning and implementing a research program, and in writing and oral communication. In the second semester, students will apply these skills and insights in a 9000-word research project supervised by a member of academic staff.
This program may be of particular value to teachers of history, professional historians, librarians, archivists and museum professionals who wish to proceed on to postgraduate research with a stronger grounding in recent developments in history and in relevant research and writing skills, as well as to other qualified people interested in pursuing study in history at postgraduate level.
Upon successful completion of the program, students should have demonstrated an ability to find and employ a range of sources in the interpretation of an historical issue or problem, an awareness of the key theoretical issues which bear on the topics they select for close examination, and a more thorough understanding of methodological and theoretical debates concerning the study of history, including the nature of history as a form of knowledge. Students will also be expected to develop skills in independent reading and the development of bibliographies, research planning and implementation and the application of different research methodologies. They should also demonstrate enhanced writing strategies, including the ability to develop coherent arguments and arrive at clear conclusions based on evidence, with high standards of presentation, in their planning, implementing and completing of a research project
The pass degree of BA, with results at least at credit level in the third part of a major sequence in history or the equivalent. Students who have previously completed fourth-year level subjects in history with grades of credit or above may apply for a maximum of 50 per cent credit at the time of their application. All requests for credit are subject to the approval of the course coordinator and the Faculty. In addition, special admission will be considered for candidates holding a bachelors degree in another discipline or with a different major in the following cases:
The program requires completion of forty-eight points of coursework.
Students are also required to take three subjects chosen from the lists below; at least one of those taken in first semester must be a historiography subject:
Course code: 0017
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This course, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, is designed to equip historians and related professionals to practise in the fields of historic conservation, environmental history, social history, heritage studies, museums, local history, oral history, public policy, publishing, radio, television and film. The focus of the course is primarily Australian, although reference is also made to overseas literature and experience. The emphasis is upon the acquisition of critical perspectives and practical skills in coursework subjects, and their application to a major supervised research project.
Upon successful completion of the course, students should have demonstrated an ability to undertake critical analysis of a range of primary and secondary texts, including the critical evaluation of public heritage and the `public past' and the analysis of key problems in heritage management, cultural heritage, historic conservation and the range of arguments about history and the past. They should also have displayed an ability to develop coherent historical arguments, read widely and independently in the areas they have selected for close study, present their ideas cogently, in clear prose and at high standards of presentation, and acquired an understanding of methodological issues surrounding the particular role of public history in discourses about the past. Students are also expected to develop, plan and implement a major research project which combines skills in critical historical interpretation with awareness of the particular ethical, intellectual and methodological issues raised in public history, develop awareness of the particular issues involved in working as a commissioned historian.
The completion of a BA honours degree in history (results of H2A or better) or the Masters Qualifying in history with a research component. Candidates with a BA Honours degree or a Masters Qualifying in visual arts, geography, English, Australian studies or other approved subjects (with results of H2A or better) may be admitted to the course at the discretion of the course coordinator and the approval of the faculty.
The course requires completion of two eight-point subjects and a thesis of 25,000-35,000 words.
Students are expected to begin work on their thesis in the first semester of their enrolment. The public history thesis has the unusual requirement that it must be commissioned by a public agency. In the first semester, students are introduced to potential commissioning agencies and invited to negotiate a study brief with their chosen agency. Some examples of commissioning agencies are the Australian Heritage Commission, the Museum of Victoria, The Ministry for Planning and Housing, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, The National Trust of Australia (Victoria), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, local councils, churches, and various business and community groups.
Course code: 0017
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This course, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, seeks to develop a high degree of conceptual and analytical ability in the study of history and to acquaint students with debates in specific fields of historical scholarship, especially those concerning the nature of history and historical knowledge.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should have demonstrated their ability to undertake critical analysis of a range of primary and secondary texts, to develop a coherent historical argument and to arrive at clear conclusions based on a range of evidence. They should have read widely and independently in the areas they have selected for close study, displayed advanced conceptual skills in their analysis of historical problems and the ability to reflect upon key methodological and theoretical issues, especially concerning the nature of history as a form of knowledge and its functions in public discourse, and further developed their ability to present their ideas cogently, in clear prose and at high standards of presentation.
The honours degree of BA in history or (with the approval of the coordinator) in a related discipline with results at least at H2B level, or the equivalent; Masters Qualifying in history by coursework or Masters Qualifying in history with a research component (with results at least at H2B level); or a Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (History) with results at least at credit. Candidates with a Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (H2B or better) or a Masters Qualifying in visual arts, geography, English, Australian studies or other approved subjects (with results at least at H2B level) may be admitted at the discretion of the coordinator. Students who have previously completed fifth-year level subjects in history with grades of credit or above may apply for a maximum of 50 per cent credit at the time of their application. All requests for credit are subject to the approval of the course coordinator and the faculty.
Students are required to complete four twelve-point subjects (for a total of forty-eight points) chosen from the list below; at least one must be a historiography subject:
* Offered subject to approval.
Program code: 1987Program fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This program, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, seeks to develop skills in historical analysis and writing and to acquaint students with historiographical and conceptual debates in specific fields of history, especially those concerning the nature of history. It will enable students to study techniques of historical examination of sources and to broaden knowledge of a number of fields of history and their associated methodological techniques.
Upon successful completion of this program, students should have demonstrated their ability to undertake critical analysis of a range of primary and secondary texts, to develop a coherent historical argument and to arrive at clear conclusions based on a range of evidence. They should have read widely and independently in the areas they have selected for close study, developed advanced conceptual skills and the ability to apply them in a critical way in their analysis of historical problems, acquired an understanding of methodological issues surrounding approaches to the study of history and of theoretical issues, including the nature of history as a form of knowledge and its functions in public discourse, and further developed their ability to present their ideas cogently, in clear prose and at high standards of presentation.
The pass degree of BA, with results at least at credit level in the third part of a major sequence in history or the equivalent. Students who have previously completed fourth-year level subjects in history with grades of Credit or above may apply for a maximum of 50 per cent credit at the time of their application. All requests for credit are subject to the approval of the course coordinator and the Faculty. In addition, special admission will be considered for candidates holding a bachelors degree in another discipline or with a different major in the following cases:
Students are required to complete four twelve-point subjects (for a total of forty-eight points) chosen from the lists below; at least one must be a historiography subject:
Course code: 0876
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa.
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This course, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, seeks to develop skills in historical analysis and writing and to acquaint students with key recent debates in specific fields of history, especially those concerning the nature of history. It will enable students to study techniques of historical examination of sources and to broaden knowledge of a number of fields of history. This diploma may be of particular value to teachers of history, but it is available to any qualified person interested in pursuing study in history at postgraduate level. The program will consist of a specially constructed course of study relevant to the previous experience and future requirements of individual candidates, each of whom will be consulted as to its design.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should have demonstrated an ability to find and employ a range of sources in the interpretation of an historical issue or problem, show an awareness of theoretical issues which bear on the topics they select for close examination, develop coherent arguments and arrive at clear conclusions based on evidence. They will be expected to have displayed the ability to read independently and to deploy different forms of evidence, including primary documentation. Students should also gain a more thorough understanding of methodological and theoretical debates concerning the study of history, including the nature of history as a form of knowledge, and should further develop their ability to present their ideas and arguments clearly and with high standards of presentation.
The pass degree of BA, with results at least at credit level in the third part of a major sequence in history or equivalent. Students completing the Faculty Certificate in history with average results of credit or above may be granted 50 per cent credit towards a Postgraduate Diploma (ie they need complete only two twelve-point subjects to qualify for the Diploma) with the approval of the course coordinator and the Faculty. In addition, special admission will be considered for candidates holding a bachelors degree in another discipline or with a different major in the following cases:
Students are required to complete four twelve-point subjects (for a total of forty-eight points) chosen from the lists below; at least one must be a historiography subject:
Course code: 1355
Course fee: Local students HECS; international students (FT) $A12,000 pa
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This course, which is offered full-time over one year or part-time over two years, seeks to acquaint students with key recent debates in the various fields which make up public history, especially those concerning the contested nature of heritage preservation and definitions of cultural heritage and landscape. It will also enable students to develop skills in historical analysis and writing and broaden their knowledge of a number of other fields of history. This diploma will be of particular value to those students wishing to pursue a wide range of career options in the history and heritage field, or to students with professional experience in relevant fields wishing to further develop their skills.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to show a well-informed and critical understanding of key issues in selected fields of historical endeavour in the public sphere and be able to reflect on some of the key conceptual and methodological issues inherent in the practice of history in the public sphere. Students should also demonstrate an ability to find and employ a range of sources in the interpretation of an historical issue or problem, to develop coherent arguments and to arrive at clear conclusions based on evidence. They will be expected to have displayed the ability to read independently and to deploy different forms of evidence, including primary documentation, and should further develop their ability to present their ideas and arguments clearly and with high standards of presentation.
The pass degree of BA, with results at least at credit level in the third part of a major sequence in history or the equivalent. Students completing the Faculty Certificate in Arts (History) with average results of credit or above may be granted credit towards a postgraduate diploma with the approval of the course coordinator and the faculty. Special admission will be considered for candidates holding a bachelors degree in another discipline or with a different major in the following cases:
Students are required to complete four twelve-point subjects (for a total of forty-eight points): a 9000-word supervised research project (twelve points) in an area relevant to public history; two core subjects and one elective subject chosen from the list below.
* Offered subject to approval.
Program code: To be advisedProgram fee: Local students $3300
Coordinator: Professor Graeme Davison
This program, which is offered full-time over one semester or part-time over one year, seeks to provide suitably qualified people with an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in history and to provide those who wish to proceed into postgraduate diplomas with an introduction to recent debates and changes in the discipline of history. In particular, the program will seek to introduce questions concerning the nature and status of historical knowledge and the role of history, and provide a more general base in conceptual and theoretical knowledge into which people can successfully integrate their specific interests in various fields of history.
Upon successful completion of the program, students should have demonstrated an ability to find and employ a range of sources in the interpretation of an historical issue or problem, an awareness of the key theoretical issues which bear on the topics they select for close examination, and a more thorough understanding of methodological and theoretical debates concerning the study of history, including the nature of history as a form of knowledge. Students will also be expected to develop skills in independent reading and effective writing, including the ability to develop coherent arguments and arrive at clear conclusions based on evidence, with high standards of presentation.
Candidates with a bachelors degree in a field other than Arts and with relevant experience which establishes their capacity for advanced study in history are eligible for admission. The following principles will form the basis for decisions about admission for candidates without a bachelors degree:
Students successfully completing a Faculty Certificate with average grades of credit or above can progress to a Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (History) and receive 50 per cent credit for that course. For the Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (Public History), students need only complete the three core subjects (HYM4001, HYM4120 and HYM4250).
The program requires completion of two twelve-point subjects (a total of twenty-four points). Students must complete one twelve-point historiography subject chosen from the following: