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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Question from Sara - Tudor history graduate studies in Canada
Ok, so I am going into my final year of my BA in history, and I am absolutely enthralled with the Tudor history, the only problem is that I live in Canada, and I have looked at previous posts that mention the US and the UK and Europe, but I can definitely NOT afford anything out of the country as much as I would love to. I have been looking at some universities with Early Modern Europe degrees, but they only focus on things much past the Tudor era. Would anyone be able to recommend a university within Canada that, if nothing else, comes at least *close* to studying Tudor history? Anything would be much appreciated, thank you!!
Have you looked into Queens? I'm on a panel with someone doing doctoral work in early modern history, albeit a tiny bit past the Tudors.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked on internet? i'm doing the same thing as you, I'm from Algeria and I have the same problem, no books, no documents. So I checked the internet and I found a lot of interesting facts out there!
ReplyDeletehope I helped
(I'm posting this for PhD Historian who was having trouble with the comment page)
ReplyDeleteThough Tudor history is ever-popular among the general public, it is very much out of fashion among academic historians and university faculties. Fewer and fewer universities in North America are replacing their Tudor specialists when those specialists retire. That's just the unfortunate reality. Graduate programs in Tudor history are going the way of the dinosaur. So yes, finding a program can be very difficult. Allow me to offer two general hints followed by one specific suggestion.
First, look for a person rather than a school. As an undergrad, you took classes in many areas from many professors. But as a graduate student, you will work mostly with just one supervisor. So it sometimes works better to find someone with whom you share specific interests, and to worry less about the school. Try looking at the bibliographies of some of your favorite books on Tudor history and tracking down where the authors are teaching. A simple Google search will provide this. Then access that person's faculty webpage to get a more detailed biography for them, to make sure there is a correlation of interests.
Second, think European thematically, then tailor your own studies to England geographically. For example, let's say Dr ABC studies women's participation in the Reformation in Europe in the 16th century. The theme is women and the Reformation in the 16th century. Your challenge is then to convince Dr ABC that you can work with him/her to supplement his own research to include England. This route is usually a little more difficult to follow (professors are notorious for avoiding "stretching" their interests very far), but can get you around the lack of Tudor specialists.
Specific suggestion: University of Toronto. It has an outstanding program in 16th century European history, and its publishing press is very active in that area. In Canada, you really cannot do better than Toronto.