Alison Frank Johnson

Professor of History, Harvard University; Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Maya Jasanoff

X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Mary D. Lewis

Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

David Spreen

Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

This History Seminar showcases the most exciting work in the field of modern European history. Deliberately broad in scope, the presentations cut across traditional geographic and methodological boundaries. They combine polished papers and “work in progress” and feature scholars in all career stages.

Seminar Events Calendar

History Seminar and Harvard International & Global History Seminar — Rethinking France's Age of Abolition through the Prism of Family History

October 29, 2025
3:45pm - 5:45pm

Miranda Spieler – Professor, American University of Paris
Chair David Armitage – Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University; Faculty Associate & Seminar Co-chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Erez Manela – Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History, Harvard University

History Seminar — Europe without Borders: A Conversation with Isaac Stanley-Becker

March 9, 2026
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Isaac Stanley-Becker – Staff Writer, The Atlantic
Chair and Discussant Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — Between the Sheets: Sexuality, Classified Advertising, and the Moral Threat to Press Freedom in France

October 1, 2025
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Hannah Frydman – Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literature, Harvard University
Chair Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — How the Algerian War Made Modern Counterinsurgency

April 7, 2025
4:30pm - 5:45pm

Terrence Peterson – Associate Professor of History, Florida International University
Brooke Durham – Assistant Professor of History, Boston University
Chair Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — The Solidarity Economy: Non-profits and the Making of Neoliberalism after Empire

March 25, 2025
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Tehila Sasson – Associate Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford
Chair Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — The Legal Work of the Ottoman Empire: Taming Autonomy through Law

October 30, 2024
4:00pm - 5:15pm

Aimee Genell – Assistant Professor of International History, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
Chair Alison Frank Johnson – Professor of History, Harvard University; Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — May Ayim Near and Far: A Conversation

March 20, 2024
4:00pm - 5:15pm

Tiffany N. Florvil – Joy Foundation Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Associate Professor of History, University of New Mexico
Chair David Spreen – Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

Mahindra Humanities Center & History Seminar — Geoff Dyer in Conversation with Maya Jasanoff

November 14, 2023
6:00pm - 7:30pm

Geoff Dyer – Author
Chair Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — Bystander Society: Conformity and Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

November 1, 2023
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Mary Fulbrook – Professor of German History, University College London
Chair David Spreen – Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

History Seminar — Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism

September 27, 2023
4:30pm - 6:30pm

Philip Stern – Associate Professor of History, Duke University
Chair Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Mahindra Humanities Center Writers Speak Series & History Seminar — Nadifa Mohamed in Conversation with Maya Jasanoff

April 11, 2023
6:00pm - 7:30pm

Nadifa Mohamed – Author
Chair Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire

April 6, 2023
4:30pm - 5:45pm

Kojo Koram – Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, Birkbeck University of London
Jamie Martin – Assistant Professor of History and of Social Studies, Department of History, Harvard University
Chair Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — The Seventh Member State: Algeria, France, and the European Community

November 15, 2022
4:30pm - 5:45pm

Megan Brown – Assistant Professor, Swarthmore College
Chair Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

History Seminar — Capitalism in Chaos: A Conversation with Máté Rigó

October 19, 2022
4:30pm - 5:45pm

Máté Rigó – Assistant Professor of History, Brandeis University
Chair David Spreen – Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

The History Seminar — Citizens After Empire: Balkan Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe

March 4, 2020
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Emily Greble – Associate Professor of History & Associate Professor of German, Russian and East European Studies, Vanderbilt University
Chair Alison Frank Johnson – Professor of History, Harvard University; Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

The History Seminar — Nazism: A Dark Comedy in Liechtenstein

November 6, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Edith Sheffer – Senior Fellow, Institute of European Studies, The University of California, Berkeley
Chair Maya Jasanoff – X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Alison Frank Johnson – Professor of History, Harvard University; Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History, Harvard University; CES Resident Faculty and Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University

Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — American Liberalism in France: The French Reception of Rawls, 1971-2010

October 30, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Mathieu Hauchecorne – Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Paris 8
Chair David Armitage – Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History & CES Faculty Associate & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University

The History Seminar — Gurus, Women, and Yoga: The Spiritual World of Hindu Universalism

September 23, 2019
5:30pm - 7:00pm

Ruth Harris – Professor of Modern European History, University of Oxford

The History Seminar — Outpost of the French Empire: Caribbean Connections and Racial Slavery in French New Orleans

September 10, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Cécile Vidal – Professor of Atlantic World History, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
Chair Mary D. Lewis – Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History, CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University and Alison Frank Johnson – Professor of History and CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University and Maya Jasanoff – Coolidge Professor of History and CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University

Event Series

History Seminar

Chairs

Seminar Events Calendar