The Higher School of Economics - Saint-Petersburg (Russia) invites applications to a new International Master’s programme in Applied and Interdisciplinary History: “Usable Pasts”.
Two Years Full-Time. Language of instruction: English.
Full tuition scholarships for international students are available. Deadline: 15 May.
The programme is practical in focus. It covers both research-based training methods and practical skills related to applied history. Applied history embraces methods and practices dealing with identification, preservation, interpretation, and presentation of historical artifacts, texts, structures, and landscapes. One part of the training focusses on material objects in history and their meanings within the framework of heritage and memory studies. The other part encompasses a critical approach to the politics of circulation of historically formed discourses of identity and legitimacy in present-day society. This two-pronged approach to the complex problem of historical legacy and heritage will fill a gap in professional training in history and provide a platform for creating interactive processes that link the historical object, the historian, and the public.
Built on international experience of developing similar programmes, we use methodologies of global, comparative and transnational historical research that facilitate the study of patterns connecting European, Russian, Eurasian and global history. A crucial feature of the programme is its interdisciplinary character. It engages fully in dialogue with research in other disciplines, not just other branches of humanities, but also social and natural sciences, including economics, geography and ecology. For that reason, this exciting and innovative programme invites applicants with undergraduate degrees in history, and also actively seeks to applicants with degrees in social sciences, economics, law as well as the natural sciences and engineering.
The curriculum embraces three focuses of learning:
- Historical memory and historically-informed discourses of public politics and identity politics, nationalism, cultural heritage and nationalization of the past, symbolic representations of history in post-imperial and post-colonial societies, studies of collective trauma and historical justice.
- Historical training with the main focus on historical, cultural, and natural heritage, including public museums and media space; archeology and policy of historical heritage, environmental history, history of science, technological history, urban history, economic history, history and law.
- Methodology of interdisciplinary history and applied historical methods including but not limited to material culture, digital humanities, oral history, database management, historical- geographic information systems and visualization methods.
On the one hand, the programme focuses on preparing students for careers in the public sphere by equipping them with practical skills including skills in digital humanities. On the other hand, it provides a strong background for further academic training for students to apply advanced historical approaches and methodologies that will make them successful in applications to PhD programmes.
The programme is centered in St. Petersburg, which is a UNESCO World site. St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas are uniquely rich in museums, monuments, cultural-natural and archaeological heritage sites that provide unique opportunities for practical training. The history of the metropolitan imperial city and its complex environment provide many opportunities to study variegated practices of preservation of material legacy and approaches to historical memory studies including symbolic representations of its imperial and Soviet past.
See more http://spb.hse.ru/en/ma/apphist/
International admissions
http://www.hse.ru/admissions/
Apply online at: http://www.hse.ru/org/hse/admissions/expresspolls/poll/141934243.html