History, Classics, and Religion
Welcome to the Department of History, Classics, and Religion!
The Department of History, Classics, and Religion offers a full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in Classics (including Classical Archaeology), Religious Studies, and History. Classics is the interdisciplinary study of the ancient cultures and civilizations of the Mediterranean world, particularly those of Greece and Rome. History is the study of change over time within and across human societies, from any period and any part of the world. Religious Studies is the critical study of religious beliefs, practices, texts, institutions, and communities. Our courses and degrees help students develop their abilities in critical analysis, creative thinking, and effective oral and written communication. Our award-winning instructors and researchers teach nearly 9000 students in about 200 classes per year – and we welcome you to join us!
Programs
Undergraduate Programs
BA in History
The BA in History will give you an understanding of our society by studying the conflicts, ideas, and relationships that shaped global societies over time. Our History professors are passionate and creative teachers, eager to help you explore and understand the past and to develop your skills as researchers, thinkers, and communicators.
BA in Ancient and Medieval Studies
This interdisciplinary program allows students to explore past societies in the pre-modern period. Take courses from Anthropology, Classics, East Asian Studies, English, History, Philosophy, Scandinavian Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies to explore the peoples, places, and cultures of the Islamic world in the Golden Age, Greco-Roman antiquity and an emerging Europe, as well as ancient and medieval Africa, India and Asia.
BA in Classics
The BA in Classics will give you a broad perspective on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, particularly those of Greece and Rome. Read some of the most influential texts from the Greco-Roman world (in English or in the original languages), and study the material culture of ancient civilizations whose influence remains profound in the modern era. Classics courses help students develop their abilities in critical analysis, creative thinking, and effective oral and written communication.
BA in Religious Studies
The BA in Religious Studies program provides you with the skills to critically study religious beliefs, practices, texts, institutions, and communities. We ask: What is religion? How has it functioned in societies past and present? How do religious groups answer the enduring questions of human existence? An undergraduate degree in Religious Studies will prepare you to do research, think, ask questions, and communicate your ideas.
Graduate Programs
MA and PhD in History
We offer graduate studies at both the PhD and MA level (course-based or thesis-based MA programs). Our faculty supervise on fields in Canadian and global history related to their geographic or thematic areas of study. Our coursework exposes students to diverse areas of historical inquiry and emphasizes training in the theory and methods of History as a discipline, as well as writing and research skills with a wide application beyond academia.
MA and PhD Programs in Classics
We offer PhD and MA programs in both Classical Archaeology and Classical Languages, as well as an MA program in Ancient Societies and Cultures. Our faculty supervise projects on a full range of topics relating to Ancient Greece and Rome. The training our students receive ranges from learning ancient languages to participating in archaeological fieldwork and provides a thorough foundation in the discipline of Classics, along with valuable research and writing skills.
MA and PhD in Religious Studies
Our MA and PhD programs offer advanced graduate training in the interdisciplinary study of Religion from an academic, non-affiliated perspective, and are suitable for students of any or no personal faith background. Our faculty, as well as affiliated colleagues in other programs, supervise projects on a range of world religious traditions, particularly Islam and the religions of South and East Asia. Students gain experience in the diverse methodologies applied in Religious Studies, in addition to transferable writing and research skills.
Call for applications
2-Year Killam and notley postdoctoral fellowships
HCR Department application deadline: Monday, December 2, 2024
The Department of History, Classics, and Religion, University of Alberta, invites applications for an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a Grant Notley Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship, both tenable for two years.
Winter Term 2025
T 9:30 a.M. - 12:20 P.M.
HIST 419: Topics in soviet history: gender and Socialism in Russia
Did you know that socialist Russia was the first country to legalize abortion in 1920? It was the first step of the Bolshevik agenda to create a new world in which women will be equal to men. However, as the Soviet project matured, the authorities made many concessions to patriarchal gender order. In this course, we will examine an evolution of the Soviet gender project and see how the Soviet state and Soviet people dealt with issues such as reproduction, homosexuality, ideas of masculinity and femininity and some others. My course aims to demonstrate deep and inherent links between gender issues and political and economic contexts, as well as to demonstrate the plurality of human experience. This will help students to avoid generalizations and simplistic narratives about socialism and the history of the Soviet Union and socialist thought.
Instructor: Timur Mukhamatulin
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the WG Hardy Classics Museum
Founded in 1975, the WG Hardy Classics Museum includes artifacts from ancient Greece, Roman Europe, Egypt, Persia, and South and Central Asia. Free to visit, it has around 200 objects on display and is the only museum of its kind in the province.
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Educational Diversity
Our department is an incubator for educational diversity in Alberta. Ukrainian Studies, Islamic Studies, Chinese language and history, and the study of Canada’s First Nations and Indigenous/ settler relations in the Fur Trade era are only a few of the areas of study pioneered here.
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Distinguished Alumni
Our alumni have distinguished themselves all over the world and in many different professional spheres. They include lawyers and judges, educators, politicians, business and industry executives, public servants, and leaders in the non-profit sector.
EDI Statement
The Department of History, Classics, and Religious Studies is committed to a climate of safety and acceptance for all its members and guests. We see great strength in diversity of ability, class, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation, but those strengths can only be realized in the absence of structural oppressions. We are committed to revealing and dismantling these barriers.
News + Events
Nov 1 Talk: "Classics in the Anthropocene? Studying the Image and Meaning of the Sun in Roman Art and Religion"
Please join us for our second department Colloquium Series 2024-2025, "Classics in the Anthropocene? Studying the Image and Meaning of the Sun in Roman Art and Religion", by Professor Steven Hijmans, Department of History, Classics, and Religion in Tory 2-58, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 1.
Giving
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