Global & Historical Studies

Global and Historical Studies (GHS) helps students build on the skills that they learn in their First-Year seminar by focusing on people, cultures, and histories outside of the United States. Students take two semesters of GHS and may choose from 12 different topics, which include classes on Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as courses that focus on gender, migration and movement, colonialism and post-colonialism, and the interconnectedness of various cultural regions.

GHS courses prompt students to be more analytical observers of the world and to develop a critical eye to the ways in which people and cultures outside of the United States are often depicted and represented. GHS is intentionally multidisciplinary, and students are asked to interrogate historical events through a multiplicity of sources. In so doing, students will continue to refine and sharpen their writing skills while also developing their ability to use evidence to make cogent arguments, become better readers, and develop the intellectual fluency needed to engage with the world in the 21st century.

Mission Statement

GHS asks Butler students to grapple with the complexity of the world and their place in it. It also seeks to cultivate a global mindset and prepare students to encounter an increasingly interconnected world. In so doing, GHS especially emphasizes the global connections between people, culture, history, and societies. GHS classes also ideally move beyond a simple embrace of multiculturalism and instead seek to advance the university’s mission in diversity, equity, and inclusion. In so doing, GHS uses global history to help students better understand and critique structures of inequality and to identify and challenge sources of global injustice.

GHS Faculty Spotlights

Global & Historical Studies FAQ