History

Research overview

Staff in the History department research political, economic, social, cultural, religious, medical, environmental, maritime, naval, military and diplomatic history. We range in time from the early medieval period to the late 20th century. We have particular strengths in the history of Britain and continental Europe, but also focus on the history of the United States, Africa, and India.

A number of research centres are linked with the work of the Department and organise seminar series with regular meetings through the academic year which are an important meeting place for postgraduate students to hear, discuss and present research.

A summary of our main areas of research are listed below. The History Research webpages provide more comprehensive details about current research projects. Details on individual staff research interests and publications can be found on the History staff profiles pages.

Early modern studies

The Centre for Early Modern Studies fosters interdisciplinary links between colleagues working in the early Modern era both from the Department and across the University, and provides a home for the flourishing Early Modern Seminar, which combines papers from staff and research students and organises major conferences. Colleagues involved in the Centre are engaged in research on all aspects of the period between c.1500 and 1800 and expertise spreads from Britain and Europe to the Middle East and North America.

Key areas of activity include:

• religious culture
• social and economic relations
• political and intellectual thought
• gender and sexuality
• space, landscape and national identities
• the history of the book
• theatre and performance.

Imperial and global history

The Centre for Imperial and Global History brings together the strong research expertise of the University's eminent imperial historians. It comprises of one of the largest groups of imperial and global historians currently working in the UK. 

Our strengths in comparing empires and the experiences of empire address a number of leading research themes:

• globalisation's past and present
• comparing empires, connecting empires
• regions in a global context
• humanitarianism, development and the discourse of rights
• law and colonialism
• political economy and the imperial state
• Europe - decolonisation and the legacies of empire.

Maritime history

The Centre for Maritime Historical Studies seeks to promote research into economic, social, political, naval and environmental aspects of the British maritime past from the earliest times to the present day. This is the oldest established centre for this specialism in a British university.

• British maritime history from the Middle Ages to today
• Business history and maritime trade
• Port cities and communities
• Mariners' welfare and education
• Naval history from the Middle Ages to the present day, in particular, the connections between naval, political, social, economic and other histories
• Naval leadership from the late-seventeenth century to the mid-twentieth century
• British naval administration and logistics
• Mediterranean maritime history from the middle ages to the eighteenth century
• African maritime history and African port cities.

The Centre holds termly research seminars (in conjunction with the Society for Nautical Research), an annual international Maritime History Conference and a twice-yearly Strategic Policy Studies Group symposium (with associated publication).

Medical history

The Centre for Medical History draws together scholars from a wide range of disciplines across the University to promote the study of medicine in a social and historical perspective. Centre staff are willing to provide supervision for an MPhil/PhD in Medical History in many areas of research, including:

• English medical history, 1500–1800
• environment and medicine in the modern period
• gender and the family
• occupational health and industrial diseases
• history of psychiatry
• history of sex and sexuality
• history of stress.

Violence Studies

The Centre for Histories of Violence and Conflict brings together a number of internationally renowned academics working on:

• political violence and its social consequences
• changing ideas of permissible violence - in conflicts, between combatants and non-combatants, among social groups.
• regimes of punishment and the treatment of prisoners of war and political detainees
• concepts of 'everyday violence'
• violence, social protest and rights
• violence and emotions
• violence and memory
• insurgencies and civil wars
• 'terrorism' and 'weapons of the weak'
• conflicts of decolonization
• evidence of violence in archaeology and landscapes
• violence and environmental destruction
• violence as an instrument of global politics.

Inter-disciplinary in approach, the Centre supports research and teaching on the effects of armed conflict and punitive violence on societies, social groups, and cultures throughout history.

Medieval studies

Staff members of the Centre for Medieval Studies are engaged in a wide range of research projects, singly or in collaboration with scholars from other institutions. Listed below are our major funded projects currently in progress.

• Anarchy? War and Status in Twelfth-Century Landscapes of Conflict
• Architecture and Asceticism: Cultural Interaction between Syria and Georgia in Late Antiquity
• Bishop John Grandisson of Exeter (1327-69)
• Magic in Malta 1605: The Moorish Slave Sellem Bin Al-Sheikh Mansur and the Roman Inquisition
• The Past in its Place: Histories of Memory in English and Welsh Locales
• The Works of Guillaume de Machaut

The Institute of Cornish Studies

The Institute of Cornish Studies brings together interdisciplinary expertise to examine Cornwall, its history, society, culture, politics, environment and economy. With a strong network of researchers across the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campuses; excellent working relationships with cultural and political organisations inside and outside of Cornwall; and global connections, the ICS is a hub for the study of Cornwall, and our transferable lessons for research and policy about rural and peripheral regions.

Our research themes are:

• Culture, Heritage and Society
• Politics and Government
• Economy and Business
• Environment and Health

See also

• Centre for European Governance
• Egenis: the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences and Society