Video: 2026 LaFeber–Silbey Lecture – "A World Without Law?"
Watch the LaFeber–Silbey Lecture video - link available in the full article.
Panel explores Indigenous voices in Abiayala/Latin America
Cornell University will host “Indigenous Voices in Abiayala/Latin America,” on April 9 at 4:45 p.m., exploring Indigenous media self-representation in Latin America – known as Abiayala in the Guna language. Held in the in the A.D. White House and organized by Polly Lauer, a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in Romance studies in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, the panel will feature scholars discussing Mapuche and Maya K’ishe’ cultural production, Indigenous languages and broadcasters’ fight to sustain native-language media such as Guatemala’s oldest Maya radio station.
Admitted Class of 2030 seeks real-world impact
Cornell admits the Class of 2030 emphasizing real-world impact, enrolling 5,776 students from 102 countries. At Cornell University, the diverse cohort reflects the land-grant mission and applied learning goals across multiple colleges.
Humanities students take D.C. trip to advocate for funding
Cornell University Humanities Scholars traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for increased National Endowment for the Humanities and National Archives funding, meeting with congressional offices to highlight the impact of humanities programs on education. Their two‑day trip underscored how federal support strengthens community partnerships, language programs, and public humanities initiatives benefiting campuses and local organizations nationwide.
HIST 4084 How to be Modern: Thinking with Max Weber
HIST 4084 How to be Modern: Thinking with Max Weber (HST-AS, SSC-AS (HIST-HEU) Wednesday: 2:00-4:30 plus Independent Research Professor Nicholas Mulder Max Weber (1864-1920) was the sharpest analyst of modernity: a condition marked by a global capitalist economic system, in which individuals are forced to specialize in a profession and calculate rationally without the comfort of religious belief but longing for objectivity in a world overtaken by relativism. But despite Weber’s influence he never produced a major programmatic book or school and left a fragmented body work across sociology, history, law, economics, religion, and philosophy. This reading- and discussion-intensive course examines Weber in the round, exploring both his empirical historical work and why any study of the modern human condition requires grappling with the issues that Weber identified: universalism and relativism, objectivity, rationality, specialization and vocation, transnational comparison, historical development, ideal-types, and motivation.
HIST 2154 Sex and Power in Jewish History
HIST 2154 Sex and Power in Jewish History (also JWST 2851, RELST 2154) (HST-AS) (HIST-HEU, HIST-HPE) Monday and Wednesday: 2:30-4:15 Professor Olga Litvak Jewish men and women in early modern Europe lived their lives within a gendered social order inherited from the Talmudic period. The relationship between sex and power remained fundamental to Jewish communal discipline until the eighteenth century. The explosion of vernacular publishing, increasing economic and geographic mobility and the coming of emancipation challenged existing gender norms and liberated Jewish desire - well, almost. As we will see, modernity has an ambiguous effect on Jewish sexual expression and Jewish sexual politics. It is not clear that the emancipation of Jewish men had the same emancipatory effect on Jewish women. Jewish patriarchy proved unexpectedly resilient. In this course, we will explore why - despite Judaism's reputation for liberal attitudes to sex - neither most Jewish men nor many Jewish women embraced the possibilities of personal liberation from a reproductive regime of rigid self-control and near compulsory heterosexual monogamy.
Escalation playbook: Why limited strikes rarely stay limited
With the the Pentagon seeking $200 billion for the escalating Iran conflict, David Silbey, historian in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, sees a typical escalatory pattern. He analyzes Strait of Hormuz closures, risks, and deployment options shaping U.S. defense policy.
HIST 1965 Introduction to African History
HIST 1965 Introduction to African History (HST-AS) (HIST-HGS) Monday and Wednesday: 10:10-11:25 plus discussion Professor Rachel Sandwell This course will offer a broad overview of African history from the development of early human societies to the modern era, and a critical introduction to how historians approach the writing of African history. We will think about the origins of the discipline and field of African history, the politics of history writing, and the many sites of historical thinking outside the academy. We will consider major events in the continent’s history, including the emergence of early societies and states; religious transformations; innovations in agriculture; the development of regional and global trade systems; slavery; colonization and decolonization; and African intellectual and artistic productions. The course will familiarize students with methods, concepts, and debates that are central to the field of African history.
HIST 1631 Sex, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800
HIST 1631 Sex, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800 (HST-AS) (HIST-HEU, HIST-HPE) Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9:05-9:55 Professor Rachel Weil Why did wives who killed their husbands in early modern Europe get charged not with murder but with petty treason? Did rape victims ever get justice? Why did the witch craze happen when it did? Were female thieves treated with more leniency than male ones? This course considers sexualized crimes, crimes against women, and crimes that women were thought to frequently perpetrate—rape, witchcraft, infanticide, prostitution, crimes against masters and husbands—to see how law interacts with gendered relations of power and the policing of sexuality. We will discuss the reasons why some crimes were associated with women, and learn to analyze primary sources like trial records, news and ballads, and criminal autobiography that reveal cultural assumptions and significance.
Cornell expert warns of strategic backfire, as oil shock looms
“In economic terms, this is already the largest oil supply shock ever," says historian Nicholas Mulder.
Student spotlight: Amorette Lyngwa
Amorette Lyngwa, a doctoral student in history with a focus on modern South Asia from Shillong, India, studies the urban and social history of Shillong through a community-focused perspective.
Cornell Center for Social Sciences names 2026-27 Faculty Fellows
The Cornell Center for Social Sciences has selected 10 faculty members, including several from A&S, as 2026–27 Faculty Fellows, providing course release and funding to support interdisciplinary social science research with real-world impact.
Student Spotlight: Amorette Lyngwa
Graduate Student Spotlight featuring Amorette Lyngwa.
SM-6 missile strain raises strategic risks in wider conflict
Iran’s retaliation to the intensifying war may be swift, but the longer-term risks lie in how prolonged fighting could strain U.S. defenses and tempt rivals like China.
Little changing as Ukraine-Russia war drags toward Fifth year
On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what’s notable is the lack of change in the last year, says David Silbey, a professor at Cornell University who specializes in military history and defense policy.
Global Hubs researchers probe war, how to keep peace
Two Cornell researchers collaborated with colleagues in the United Kingdom in an effort to understand the organized violence of modern war.
Historical marker commemorates Toni Morrison’s time in Ithaca
Cornell faculty, staff, students and community members celebrated the 95th birthday of Toni Morrison, M.A. ’55, by unveiling a new historical marker in front of 513 N. Albany St., where she lived while in graduate school.
Your February 2026 reads
This month’s featured titles by A&S alumni and faculty include a look at the urban-rural divide, a biography of an anti-poverty activist, and a business guide for "winning dream jobs, awards, and elite opportunities.”
LaFeber-Silbey Lecture considers “A World Without Law?”
Scholar of law Philippe Sands will give the LaFeber-Silbey Lecture in History on March 5, considering "Lessons from History and Literature, from Nuremberg to Pinochet and Beyond.”
How WWII changed ideas of racial purity in Japan
The new book explores what happened to “mixed blood” children born to Japanese women and foreign soldiers.
College of Arts and Sciences announces 2026 Klarman Fellows
The 12 early-career scholars will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
History Department Hosts Lively Open House and Trivia Night
History Department Hosts Lively Open House and Trivia Night
In Praise of Sage Chapel, East Hill’s beloved house of worship
Built in an era when the University was under fire for being nonsectarian, it offers respite from a bustling campus.
Tensions with China give Japanese PM an opening for snap elections
Prof. Kristin Roebuck comments on the plans of Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to dissolve parliament next week and call a snap election.
Women in exile shaped South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement
Women played a major role in debates surrounding the fight against apartheid in South Africa, Rachel Sandwell writes in a new book, “National Liberation and the Political Life of Exile: Sex, Gender, and Nation in the Struggle against Apartheid.”
Europe has little leverage to push back if Trump moves to take Greenland
A Cornell historian and military expert doubts a NATO military response to the US annexation of Greenland would not happen, Despite tough talk from European leaders.
In Bukovina, European empires built new worlds out of inherited materials
The region never fit easily among its neighbors, as regimes including the Habsburg Empire and the Soviet Union tried to remake it in their image.
‘Songs In Flight,’ inspired by Cornell-based project, earns Grammy nod
Based on poems by A&S alumna Tsitsi Ella Jaji, M.A. ’06, Ph.D. ’08, the songs by Shawn Okpebholo bring to life individual stories preserved by the Cornell-based Freedom on the Move project.
Your December 2025 reads
This month’s featured titles include fiction from A&S alum Thomas Pynchon ’59, an award-winning poetry collection and a study of a small town.
Cornell Center for Social Sciences awards fall grants targeting $50M in external research support
The Cornell Center for Social Sciences offers multiple grants to help Cornell faculty maximize their research impact. These awards help seed ambitious projects and provide support to teams of faculty applying to major external funding and collaboration opportunities.
Is Silicon Valley driving Trump’s policy on Honduras?
Trump’s interest in Honduras is more about U.S. business interests, than democracy, says professor Raymond Craib, a historian of modern Latin America.
Nexus Scholar alumni profile: Nnenna Ochuru ’25
"I want to further study the politicalization of education."
U.S.-Russia peace plan should be ‘non-starter’ for Ukraine
The leaked peace initiative, which would allegedly require Kyiv to surrender territory and significantly reduce the size of its army and some types of weaponry, is largely an attempt to put pressure on Zelensky, says David Silbey.
Historian to explore state of American sports in 2025 Seymour Lecture
Author and historian Kevin Baker will examine the paradox at the heart of modern American sports: while there are more games and sports than ever before, access has become increasingly limited and costly.
Medical anthropologist to deliver annual Society for Humanities lecture
Stacey Langwick, associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts & Sciences, will speak on "Healing in a Toxic World: Reimagining the Times and Spaces of the Therapeutic."
Plan to conduct nuclear tests comes with enormous risks, says Cornell expert
Where and how the tests will happen are important questions, says military historian David Silbey, as last confirmed nuclear test by the United States was in 1992.
New digital collections preserve, examine Cornell history
Newly published digital collections at Cornell University Library explore areas of Cornell history. Freely accessible online, the three new collections were digitized from materials held in Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections.
Election of Japan’s first female PM isn’t a win for women, says Cornell historian
Sanae Takaichi’s election may seem surprising in a country that ranked lowest among OECD nations in women’s political representation as recently as 2023, but it is not a victory for gender equality, says professor Kristin Roebuck.
HIST 2213 World War II: History and Culture
HIST 2213 World War II: History and Culture (ETM-AS, HST-AS) (HTR) Tuesday and Thursday: 1:25-2:40 plus Independent Research Professor Ruth Lawlor What was the Second World War? How do people in different countries remember it today? In this class, we will explore the military, political, economic and cultural history of the Second World War—and the wars within wars—from the perspective of its diverse participants, including the national governments of the major belligerents, partisans, colonial soldiers, women snipers and soldiers, indentured laborers and combatants everywhere. Through an examination of secondary literature, novels, films and primary source, the class begins with the worldwide crisis of capitalism and imperialism in 1931 and concludes with the suppression of anti-colonial revolts across the so-called “revolutionary crescent” in the 1940s, culminating in the partition of the Korean peninsula in 1953.
Gaza ceasefire is a resounding policy victory for Trump
The president's leadership was a key factor in getting the deal done, says professor emeritus Barry Strauss.
European History Colloquium - Holly Case
Professor Holly Case from Brown University will be speaking at the European History Colloquium on Friday, October 17 at 12:20 at 115 Sibley Hall. Her lecture is titled "Slurry to Melody: On Bela Balazs, or, How History Makes Order out of Chaos". For a copy of the paper, email: cf476@cornell.edu
Cornell ‘Swifties’ bond over musical superstar
The Cornell Swift Club will ring in a new Taylor Swift era with a late-night album release party for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
HIST 4345 Ancient Empires: From Persia to Rome, 550 BCE to 14 CE
HIST 4345 Ancient Empires: From Persia to Rome, 550 BCE to 14 CE (also CLASS 4645, NES 4345) (HST-AS, SCD-AS) (HPE, HEU) Thursday: 2:00-4:30 plus Independent Research Professor Talia Prussin This seminar explores how ancient empires developed and were administered as well as how the experience of empire in the modern world and the writing of its history in the ancient world are intertwined. Which ancient empires receive scholarly attention? How are those empires’ histories told—and do those histories change when we reflect on lessons from modern colonialism? In this course, we look at the Achaemenids and the Seleucids in Western and Central Asia as well as Carthage in Northern Africa and Western Europe to situate Classical Athens and the Roman empire within the history of ancient empires in the latter half of the first millennium BCE. Major themes will include ethnicity and identity among imperial elites, citizenship as power, and economic institutions as means of territorial control.
HIST 4243 Public History in Place: Interpreting the Environment
HIST 4243 Public History in Place: Interpreting the Environment (also SHUM 4243) (ALC-AS, HST-AS) (HNA) Tuesday: 2:00-4:30 plus Independent Research Dr. Amanda Martin This class moves beyond the traditional disciplinary confines of academic history to examine museums, archival collections, parks, monuments, podcasts, op-eds, maps, and more as sites of historical inquiry, memory, and knowledge production. We will think critically about what it means to craft place-based and environmental history narratives for a “public” audience. Throughout the semester, we will also consider the following questions: Who counts as a historian? To whom are historians responsible when they conduct archival research and craft narratives? What makes history in/accessible? Who are the actors in environmental history (humans, or also non-human animals and plants)? This course will also reconsider what it means to write place-based histories by incorporating site visits (including a park, an archive, and a museum) into our coursework.
HIST 4076 History of US-China Relations, 1949-2025
HIST 4076 History of US-China Relations, 1949-2025 (also ASIAN 4076, CAPS 4076) (HST-AS, SSC-AS) (HAN) Tuesday: 2:00-4:30 plus Independent Research Professor Peidong Sun How did the U.S. and China reach this precarious moment? Are they on the brink of a hot war, or can diplomacy still prevent the worst? Is a cold peace even possible? This course critically examines the history of U.S.-China relations from 1949 to 2025, exploring the key diplomatic, economic, military, social, and ideological developments that have shaped bilateral ties. Beginning with early Cold War hostility (1949–1972), the Korean War (1950–1953), and the prolonged diplomatic estrangement (1953–1972), the course traces pivotal moments such as Nixon’s historic rapprochement (1972-1979), the cautious engagement of normalization (1979–1989), China’s economic rise and global integration (1990s–2008), and the evolving tensions of interdependence often described as ‘One Bed, Two Dreams’ (2008–present), shifting security dilemmas, and ongoing trade and technological competition. Special attention will be given to the contemporary landscape of strategic containment, rivalry, and the price of competition and cooperation. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students will analyze primary sources, academic literature, government reports, and firsthand accounts to assess how U.S.-China relations have evolved within a broader global context. Discussions will engage with pressing issues, including military tensions in the Indo-Pacific, economic decoupling, and the future trajectory of the bilateral relationship in an era of geopolitical uncertainty.
HIST 3953 Cold War Europe
HIST 3953 Cold War Europe (GLC-AS, HST-AS) (HEU) Tuesday and Thursday: 2:55-4:10 plus Independent Research Professor Cristina Florea This course explores the Cold War's profound impact on Europe, examining how the continent became the primary battleground for competing ideologies and visions of world order in the aftermath of World War II. We trace Europe's transformation from wartime devastation to division along the Iron Curtain, analyzing the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Berlin Crisis and construction of the Berlin Wall, and the development of distinct political, economic, and social systems in East and West. Topics include Marshall Plan reconstruction, Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe, European integration movements, popular uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, détente and Ostpolitik, dissident movements and human rights activism, and the cultural dimensions of ideological competition. Through primary sources, scholarship, and film, we examine how ordinary Europeans experienced life under surveillance states, consumer capitalism, and the constant threat of nuclear conflict. The course concludes by analyzing the peaceful revolutions of 1989, German reunification, and the Cold War's lasting impact on contemporary European politics, from EU expansion to current tensions with Russia.
HIST 2812 History of Scientific Images
HIST 2812 History of Scientific Images (also STS 2812) (HST-AS) (HPE, HEU) Tuesday and Thursday: 10:10-11:25 Professor Jeremy Schneider Science needs images. Natural history books contain drawings of plants and animals, physics books diagrams of atoms, and medical books depictions of the human body. But what makes these images “scientific”? Why aren’t they just a work of art? In this course students will examine the history of scientific images from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. We will investigate: When did science begin to value the use of images? What purpose were scientific images meant to serve? How have technologies of production changed over time? Students will uncover who the creators of scientific images are and examine how image-making has redirected the course of knowledge. The class is addressed to anyone interested in history, art, culture, and the sciences.
HIST 2690 History of Terrorism
HIST 2690 History of Terrorism (ALC-AS, HST-AS) (HEU) Tuesday and Thursday: 11:40-12:55 plus discussion Professor Claudia Verhoeven This lecture course examines approaches to the study of terrorism, especially in the global north. It will cover 1) the history of terrorism as it developed over the course of the modern era (in the process distinguishing terrorism from other forms of modern political violence, e.g. partisan warfare, state terror, etc.) and 2) the ways terrorism has been perceived, presented, and remembered by contemporaries and subsequent generations. Questions, therefore, will include the following: How has terrorism been approached by political theory, history, literature, etc.? How have these approaches constructed terrorism as an object of scientific investigation? How were terrorists perceived and represented by their contemporaries (in the press, literature, the arts)? How did terrorists represent themselves (in political pamphlets, autobiographies, fiction)? Readings will include archival materials, manifestos, memoirs, and novels, as well as classic pieces of political writing (e.g. Lenin, Schmitt, Arendt).
HIST 2353 Civil Rights vs. Human Rights in the Black Freedom Struggle
HIST 2353 Civil Rights vs. Human Rights in the Black Freedom Struggle (also AMST 2353, ASRC 2353) (HST-AS) (HNA) Monday and Wednesday: 2:55-4:10 plus Independent Research Professor Russell Rickford This course explores the changing meaning of American freedom and citizenship in the context of the long struggle for black liberation. Relying on social and political history, it confronts the promise, possibilities, and limitations of civil rights and human rights in the twentieth century. We examine various “rights” discourses and their role in reconfiguring our legal landscape and cultural mores, molding national and group identity, bestowing social and moral legitimacy, shaping and containing political dissent, reinvigorating and redefining the egalitarian creed, and challenging as well as justifying the distribution of wealth and power in the U.S. We examine the attempts of subjugated groups to transcend narrow social definitions of freedom, and we confront the question of formal political rights versus broader notions of economic justice in a national and international context.
Moldovans showed “clarity about what is at stake” in pro-EU party vote
The Moldovan people still have a very clear memory of what life was like as a Soviet republic, says professor Cristina Florea after the pro-EU party decisively won a parliamentary election there.