Specialized Minor in Historical Studies

Overview

The specialized minor in Historical Studies pairs formal disciplinary training in one of the NSSR’s PhD-granting programs with training in Historical Studies. Embodying the interdisciplinary ethos of NSSR, the specialized minor encourages cutting-edge research that synthesizes the methods and approaches of multiple fields. It is open to NSSR PhD students whose dissertations feature a strong historical dimension in terms of both subject matter and methodology. 

Students pursuing this specialized minor receive their formal degree in their primary, PhD-granting field. They may be eligible, however, for academic employment both in that field and as historians, and their work is typically marked by rigorous efforts to bridge disciplinary knowledge, methods, and cultures.

Curriculum

While the specific coursework and degree requirements will vary by the student’s PhD-granting department, doctoral students are expected to complete the following for the specialized minor:

• GHIS 6133—Historiography and Historical Practice
• GHIS 6134—Historical Methods and Sources
• A PhD-level exam administered by Historical Studies in addition to the exam/field statements required by the student’s main department.
• Inclusion of at least one Historical Studies faculty member on the student’s dissertation committee. This faculty member should be added to the committee at an early stage in the PhD degree progress.

More details of these requirements can be found in the Historical Studies Student Handbook.

Learning Outcomes

A student who has completed this specialized minor should:

• Be conversant in different schools of historical analysis and modalities of thinking in time
• Be able to conduct archival work and other forms of historical research
• Be able to produce PhD-level, conceptually robust historical work in conversation with bodies of theory and reflection in philosophy and the social sciences

Faculty

Federico Finchelstein, Chair and Professor of Historical Studies

Eligibility and Application Process

The specialized minor in Historical Studies is open only to students enrolled in a PhD program at The New School for Social Research. Students may apply to the Historical Studies specialized minor once they are admitted to a PhD program. To apply, students should:

1. Discuss their plans for this degree with a faculty advisor in their PhD field.
2. Identify a Historical Studies faculty member as their Historical Studies advisor and discuss the program with them.
3. Submit the minor declaration form found in my.newschool.edu. For more information, see the “How to Declare, Change, or Apply to a Minor” section on the NSSR Graduate Minors page.

Ultimately, the chairs of both Historical Studies and the student’s PhD-granting department must approve the student’s specific plan for their degree.

For questions about this minor, please contact department chair Federico Finchelstein at [email protected].