Yale history department now emphasizing global history in undergraduate courses

Beginning this fall, Yale’s History Department is introducing a sequence of undergraduate lecture classes that, instead of focusing on a specific region or event, will develop global history and perspectives around a particular time period.

The offering of classes will be organized chronologically, and the first of these classes, “The World Circa 1000,” is currently being taught by history professors Valerie Hansen and Anders Winroth.

The development of this sequence reflects in part the direction of the academic study of history. As the public has shifted toward thinking in terms of global and transregional trends and themes, so has the study of history within the academy. Incorporating such a tendency is not entirely new to the department because, as history professors interviewed acknowledged, Yale has previously offered history classes that were organized thematically. However, many of those were more advanced classes whereas the new sequence is designed as a survey course for students with less exposure to history classes.

Although specialized and regional history continues to be significant, department leaders told the News that the new undergraduate series is meant to reflect global history’s growing prominence. ...