Prospective Students

Students in History & Literature—Harvard’s oldest concentration—learn to analyze cultural objects in historical contexts and comprehend historical contexts through cultural forms. How do films, novels, TV shows, fine art, and works of popular culture come alive when understood as participants in larger social or political struggles? How are big, influential ideas—about self and nation, identity and power, diaspora and language—negotiated through cultural materials? And how can we shed light on the past by considering the objects, practices, customs, and ideas of a particular time and place? To answer these questions, History & Literature students adopt an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on historical and literary methods of research and analysis, taking courses from across the humanities and social sciences that can be used to fulfill concentration requirements. Thanks to the flexible nature of History & Literature's requirements and the strength of its advising structure, many students pursue Joint and Double Concentrations. 

While taking courses from around the college, students develop their interests through History & Literature's tutorial structure, working closely with a member of the Tutorial Board.