Pacific and Asian History

The distinctiveness of the Department of Pacific and Asian History lies in our direct engagement with Asian and Pacific societies on fundamental questions of identity and meaning. By emphasizing the resonances of past and present, the work of the Department forms an essential link between the College of Asia and the Pacific and the societies that it studies. A vigorous historical research presence in the College provides a temporal perspective on current developments in the Asia and Pacific region, contributing to the deep understanding of contemporary political, social and economic processes.

The Department's research fields include colonialism, modernity, postcolonialism, and globalization; the construction and subversion of global, national, local, diasporic, and other identities (including class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and religion); the nature of borders; the character of violence; visual representation and newly emerging electronic media; the articulation of history and memory in national and popular cultures; relations between majority and minority cultures and societies; the history of ideas and technologies; shifting discourses on relationships between human society and the natural environment.