Master of Arts/Doctor of Philosophy in History - Comparative Gender and Sexualities History

The University of California at Santa Barbara has one of the nation's strongest offerings in gender history. Over a dozen historians of women, men, gender, sexuality, and culture have generated an exceptionally exciting and wide-ranging program that has attracted scholars and graduate students from every continent. This multitude of gendered research and teaching interests has created core strengths that include not only concentration in the history of a single nation but also comparative, transnational, and interdisciplinary perspectives covering a chronological depth from medieval Europe and colonial New England to nineteenth- and twentieth-century West-Africa, Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, Britain and its Empire, and the U.S.

Students concentrating in the new field of comparative gender history will gain a firm grounding in diverse research methodologies, in historiographies of women, gender, and masculinities, and in theoretical approaches, including culture and representation, materialities, consumer culture and identities, and gender, race, sexualities, family, class, age ethnicity, and nation, empire, and borderlands.

Applicants who have conducted their post-secondary education outside of the United States must have completed an undergraduate degree program equivalent to a University of California bachelor's degree by the beginning of their graduate program at UCSB. Equivalent undergraduate degrees usually include a minimum four years of university work and above-average scholarship. The degree must be awarded by an accredited institution. Satisfaction of minimal standards does not, however, guarantee admission, since the number of qualified applicants far exceeds the number of spaces available. An excellent command of written and spoken English is required prior to enrollment at UCSB. Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or the Duolingo English Test (DET). TOEFL paper-based test (PBT) 550, TOEFL internet-based test (iBT) and TOEFL iBT Home Edition 80, IELTS Academic and IELTS Indicator - Overall Band Score of 7.