Our faculty come from the region and beyond, with a range of backgrounds and specialties. Given the inherently comparative nature of our history program, the research that results from both individual and collective efforts represents innovative methodology and interpretation, especially of the complex history of Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe. Among the projects have been seminars on Comparative Empires, Authority of the Book in Scripture-based Religions, and a Lecture Series on Regional History. The department also publishes occasional yearbooks, working papers, and collected volumes.
In addition, from 2008 the History Department will host one of the three editorial offices (the other two being at the University of Manchester and the European University Institute, Florence) of the refereed journal European Review of History / Revue européenne d'histoire.
Our department also initiates workshops, conferences and research projects through its sister institution, Pasts, Inc., Center for Historical Studies. Many of their findings are published in our yearbooks, refereed journal, East Central Europe/L'Europe du Centre-Est. Eine wissenschafliche Zeitschrift, and our book series with CEU Press, "Pasts Incorporated. CEU Studies in the Humanities."
We welcome visitors in many roles, from delivering lectures and participating in conferences to longer term visits as scholars or teaching professors. To learn more about our activities, visit Pasts, Inc. and our Research pages.
Our curriculum is comparative and interdisciplinary-it transcends spatial and temporal boundaries, challenging canons by means of thorough empirical research and cutting-edge methodological and theoretical reflection.
Our courses are taught by an international faculty, and span the period between 1500 and the present. Our endeavour is to maintain the status of history, in a complex sense — better put as “historical studies” — as a fundamental frame of reference for the transmission of knowledge in the university system, a precondition of political, anthropological, social etc. discourse. The specific history we do becomes interesting through its global linking. With global thinking being more than a theoretical imperative, we seek to contextualize particular histories in conjunction with their neighbouring geographical and historical environment, and to reflect this in our self-definition and aspirations. The goal in doing this is to train, in a systematic and structured way, various kinds of graduates: future scholars, academic leaders and public intellectuals with a broad horizon; and future professionals in all kinds of careers (in the civic and political sphere, in the media etc.) in which the sensitivity, imagination and rigour developed through studies in the humanities is needed in independent as well as team work.
In order to answer these criteria, we offer a course of graduate studies of a considerable breadth, on the MA and the PhD level, one in which the various thematic subdivisions of the field (social, cultural, political, intellectual history etc.) receive adequate coverage both within a temporal (early-modern / modern / contemporary) and spatial (Central / Eastern / Southeast European) matrix; and in which, besides and beyond this, it is possible to concentrate on a number of special subjects, especially ones that, from a wider global perspective, may be regarded as defining the historical identity of the region. (See the list of specializations in our programs: Jewish Studies Specialization, Religious Studies Specialization.)
Besides our own courses, inspired by these endeavours, students can attend classes in other CEU departments, in consultation with their supervisors. All classes are conducted in English, and students are trained to achieve an excellent level in English-language academic writing. Students can also learn other languages, at all levels, in small groups or individually.
We offer two MA programs, in one-year (Master of Arts in Central European History), and, from the 2008-2009 academic year, in two years (Master of Arts in Historical Studies, offered jointly with the Department of Medieval Studies), and a PhD program (Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative History of Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe). Admissions requirements are clear, and decisions are professional and transparent. We encourage inquiries throughout the year, and early applications.
