Department of History

Departmental strategy, goals and future plans

The Department’s overarching aim is to shed light on our world today through an understanding of the past. Our researchers are inspired by the convictions that we cannot understand our present unless we understand how we got here and that history speaks to the challenges we face now. 

Staff

The Department has pursued an ambitious staffing strategy, continuing its investments in established areas of strength, such as modern Africa and medieval and early modern British and continental European history, while expanding into South Asian and reinforcing East Asian and American history. It has added scholars of Black British history and gender and sexuality, and it has built up thematic strengths that break down chronological, geographic, and disciplinary barriers to research, including in transnational and environmental history, the history of science and technology, and economic and social history. 

Links to teaching

The Department launched a new interdisciplinary MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies. In each of the three years of the History degree, the Department embeds research-led teaching into core modules. At second year, for example, staff lead modules in their area of research expertise, allowing them to immerse students in cutting-edge research questions and methods: 

• Liam Liburd’s research on British fascism allows him to deepen students’ understanding of the links between British and European fascism and between fascism and imperialism.  
• Drawing on his research, Tom Stammers uses innovative visual and material sources, such as prints, monuments, clothing and memorabilia, in his teaching on the French Revolution. 
• The work undertaken by Justin Willis with government, think tanks, and NGOs on elections and political violence in contemporary Africa directly informs his teaching on power, legitimacy, and democracy in modern African societies.

Impact and engagement activities

The Department is deeply committed to nurturing local engagement and community outreach in recognition of its embeddedness in the North East. Local and regional links include an annual program of public-facing events called History Now! and links with regional schools, archives, libraries, and museums, such as Julie-Marie Strange’s work to develop a pop-up ‘Global Beamish’ exhibition with Beamish Museum that will tour the North East in 2022. 

Indications of the contemporary relevance of what we do include: 

• Kevin Waite’s research on a Confederate monument on the Pacific coast of the US, which triggered the monument’s removal and excited widespread comment in the national media. 
• Helen Roche’s research on elite Nazi schools generated a wave of media attention on the connections to British schools in the 1930s, including articles in The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, and Daily Mail, as well as radio interviews.