University of Southern California

University of Southern California

Doctor of Philosophy in History

The Doctor of Philosophy in History in History is offered by University of Southern California.

The history profession nationwide combines a traditional emphasis on geo-temporal fields (e.g., United States in the 19th century; medieval Europe) with a new emphasis on trans-nationalism, comparative history and interdisciplinary investigation. The USC program is at the forefront of these trends. Following the traditional emphasis, each graduate student must declare a major field in a geo-temporal area at the time of application to the program. Major fields of study include: China, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Middle East, American/United States, medieval Europe, early modern Europe and modern Europe. The purpose of the major field is to prepare students broadly for teaching and research.

By the beginning of the second year in the program, each graduate student must declare a minor field and an area of specialization. The minor field is intended to broaden skills beyond the geo-temporal boundaries of the major field; the area of specialization is intended to deepen the student's scholarly training in the chosen area of the dissertation. The minor field may be chosen from the list of major fields (i.e., a student entering the program with American/United States as a major field might select "modern Europe" as a minor field), or it may be conceived comparatively, thematically or cross-disciplinarily. Possible minor fields include: Latin America; premodern Japan; the colonial Americas; gender and sexuality; visual culture; and anthropology. Possible fields for the area of specialization include: 19th or 20th century U.S. intellectual history; visual culture of the 20th century; modern European cities; and the American West. These lists are not exhaustive and are meant to suggest only possible courses of study.

For the major field, each student must take a minimum of four courses; for the minor field two courses; for the area of specialization three courses. Either the minor field or the area of specialization must be outside the major field of study, transnational or outside the discipline of history. Each student must consult with his or her adviser in putting together these fields of study.



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