Historians study the diversity of human experiences over time. We recognize that many aspects of these experiences—race, class, gender, religion, and disability, among others—have particular historical significance because they have served as vehicles for the expression of, and resistance to, power, profoundly affecting people’s daily lives and struggles for equality and justice. As a result historians study not history but histories: the differences, congruences, and dynamic interplay between a diversity of human lives.
The History Department acknowledges that these histories have not ended; we are still living them today. Any legitimate attempt to explore and understand the past thus requires the full, engaged participation of a diversity of perspectives and voices. We are committed to building an inclusive department by supporting members of our community across our rich differences of race and ethnicity, economic status, religion, politics, ability and disability, gender, sexuality, age, and citizenship status. Respect for and engagement with these differences is a shared and essential intellectual and community value.
We also acknowledge the many obstacles that challenge efforts to build such an inclusive and supportive community, and believe that overcoming such obstacles through purposeful action is an urgent need, especially in a public university dedicated to serving a diverse public. For this reason we are committed to recruiting faculty, students, and staff of varied life experiences; providing a full range of courses and pedagogical approaches that engage with a diversity of topics and learners; and cultivating an environment in which all feel that they belong, that they are valued, and that they can teach, work, and learn free from exclusions and inequities that inhibit the exchange of ideas. Through these and other actions history can realize its potential to bridge differences and contribute to a more just society.
The Department encourages students to explore the following diversity-related resources:
As historians, we are committed to the values and principles of free expression, open inquiry, and the freedom to learn.
Our professional training instilled in us the importance of source-based, evidentiary knowledge and the necessity of continuous investigation and discussion as new evidence becomes available. Our training also alerts us to the multiplicity of voices and perspectives inherent in the study of the past. It is our duty to explore the vast scope of human experience and to make those experiences available to our students and the public at large.
The faculty of the history department at UB offers more than 400 years of combined experience researching, writing, and teaching history across time and the globe. Our peer-reviewed research has won numerous national and international prizes, and many of us have taken on leadership roles in our scholarly fields, as public intellectuals in our areas of expertise, and with colleagues in museums and K-12 education.
We believe history is for everyone. We welcome everyone with an interest in the past to join us in exploring it. Our classrooms are open to discussion and debate. We meet controversies and disagreements head-on. We are transparent with our methodologies and interpretations. We recognize that the study of history can be contentious. However, we do not shrink from the responsibility to offer our students a place where they can grapple with the past and its meaning for them and our society.
We strive to represent the vast array of human experiences and voices in our scholarship and teaching. We are driven by the responsibility to present neither an uplifting nor a disheartening assessment of the past, but to follow archival, published, visual, oral, and other sources in elucidating people, places, and events in their full complexity. Since many historical sources document the thoughts and actions of the powerful, we are assiduous in our search for the perspectives of those who are marginalized and silenced. Similarly, our aim is not to elevate the experience of one nation, political community, or ethnic group above another, but to reveal their internal dynamics, their external connections and conflicts, and how these have changed over time. Doing so means exploring not just the triumphs but also the injustices of the past; such history lessons offer crucial guidance for our common project of improving our societies for all people in the present and future.
We draw our strength from a wide-ranging community of professionals dedicated to the study of history in its many forms. We may not always agree with each other about why a past event occurred, or how an individual historical actor should be remembered, but we do agree on this: historians should be allowed to define our research agendas and teach within our expertise without political interference.