Ranging from the emergence of Native America to the history of the present, the US History strand allows you to discover the richness and dynamism of past and contemporary American historical writing and develop intellectual familiarity with advanced research in American history. In addition to emphasising the unique intellectual and methodological contributions driven by the American historical profession, this course emphasises American history’s openness to inter-disciplinarity and to global intellectual currents that have shaped the discipline of history as a whole. This deep historiographical grounding equips candidates to undertake their own research design and master the long-term development of historical writing in the field of American history.
Recent US history graduates have taken up posts at Stanford University, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University College London, Northumbria University and the University of Birmingham.
Core classes in Historical Methods will introduce you to the historiography and current debates in American history and provide you with rigorous training in historical research, writing, and argumentation. Classes cover the major developments in historical writing from the professionalization of the discipline at the start of the 20th century through to the end of the century, focusing in particular on recent developments and debates.
In the Skills components of the course you have the opportunity to improve your knowledge of European languages, to attend library information sessions, and also training sessions organised by Oxford University Computing Services to learn about text analysis software, GIS or statistical packages
