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Sub-Fields

category: History Department, 

 

There are two major sub-fields in the History Department at Western: Gender Studies and Environmental History. While these fields are primarily sub-sections of the American History Department at WOU, elements are also incorporated into other regions of study.

While there is not a specific Gender Studies Degree, if you are interested in studying Women's History, there are a wide variety of courses that emphasize this aspect of Social History. Contrary to common understanding, a University Gender Studies course is not solely a class looking at the history of women. Rather, these classes look at conceptions of gender in society and how the ways in which a culture reacts to these ideas. Consider, for example, your conception of manhood: what does it mean to be "manly?" Is it the same as being "masculine?" Gendered analysis asks questions like these while looking at primary source documents to determine how gender roles in society shaped the document, thereby gaining an understanding of how gender roles have shifted over time. Do Americans today have the same concept of "manhood" that they had during the Civil War? There is also a Gender Studies sequence available in the Asian field of study, which looks at the roles of women in China and Japan. Similarly, there is a course on the role of women during the Middle Ages offered periodically for the European field. The majority of courses dealing with postmodern gendered analysis, however, are offered by the American History faculty.

The University Environmental History courses offered at Western primarily focus on the acceleration of changes to the environment during the late nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries and America's central role in that process. Thus, Environmental History is closely tied to Economic History, the study of the growth of business and the corporate model in American history. The lessons taken from these courses can easily be applied to any other fields of study in history, granting insight into the relationship between urbanization and the environment.

These sub-fields are a very specific focus that can be used to draw generalizations into other topics. For example, you may find that your work with gendered analysis or environmental studies gives you a new perspective on the topic you are working on for your 499 Senior Thesis project on Ancient Rome, allowing you to utilize another series of sources to strengthen your work. This is a useful skill that you will want to develop as a historian, particularly if you are considering History Graduate Studies to further your education.


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