The Department offers a wide variety of history courses on diverse cultures and societies around the world from antiquity to contemporary times, as well as covering thematic subjects such as historical theory and methodology, history and sexuality, imperialism and colonialism, histories of science, environmental history, and the history of thought and ideas. Exploring the past provides a context for understanding the present. Indeed, history is a window onto the full diversity of human experience. The study of history also encourages the development of transferable skills in research, writing, and critical thinking, and lays the foundation for careers in a variety of professions, including law, business, journalism, academia, finance, government, the arts, science, education, and medicine.

The Department offers four kinds of undergraduate programs:

• Minor Concentration
• Major Concentration
• Honours
• Joint Honours Component (combined with another component from a second discipline)

In all four of our programs, students are required to take a minimum number of courses at the advanced level in order to build research skills and encourage depth. Additionally, students in the major, honours, and joint honours programs are expected to achieve breadth and diversity in their studies. Please visit the Program website for more details.

Students are encouraged to meet regularly with a departmental advisor to work out a program that suits their specific needs while making sure all program requirements are fulfilled.

Classical Studies provides an in-depth study of the languages, literature, history, and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Students may complete an undergraduate program in Classics by selecting from Classics courses (CLAS), History courses (HIST) that focus on ancient Greece or Rome, as well as courses in several related disciplines in the Faculty of Arts such as Philosophy, English, and Art History. Classical Studies is inherently interdisciplinary.

A complete list of Classics, Ancient History, and related courses is found on the Department's website.

The Department offers four kinds of undergraduate degrees:

• Minor Concentration
• Major Concentration
• Honours
• Joint Honours Component (combined with another component from a second discipline)

The Minor Concentration and Major Concentration provide a useful complement for students in the arts and sciences. The Joint Honours and Honours degrees are designed to train students who wish to make Classics a basis for academic careers. They also offer students the prospect of favourable consideration for graduate and other professional schools.

The Minor Concentration in South Asian Studies – collaboratively offered by the Departments of Anthropology, English, History and Classical Studies, Political Science, and Sociology, as well as the Institute of Islamic Studies and the School of Religious Studies – offers breadth and depth on the history, literature, languages, politics, religions, and cultures of South Asia.

The minor concentration offers two streams:

• Culture and Civilization; and
• Languages (e.g., Persian, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Urdu-Hindi).

The Culture and Civilization stream allows students to explore their interests in Southern Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan), through humanities and social science classes while the Languages stream permits combined study of two South Asian languages (at introductory and intermediate levels) or one South Asian language in depth.

For further details, please contact the advisor for the Minor Concentration in South Asian Studies, Prof. Andrea Farran (andrea.farran [at] mcgill.ca).