Comparative History, Then and Now (1928-2026)

The Marc Bloch Seminars in Comparative History

Speakers

Isabel Frey Ribeiro
Ph.D. Student in History, Harvard University

Peter E. Gordon
Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Daisy Maslan
Ph.D. Student in History, Harvard University; Graduate Student Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

John Womack Jr.
Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Emeritus, Department of History, Harvard University

Chair

Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
Senior Research Fellow, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Research Professor, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS); Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Join us for the inaugural Marc Bloch Seminars in Comparative History.

What is historical comparison and how can we think about it today? How can we understand its relevance today, as historians increasingly explore global connections and histories that cross national borders? This panel will grapple with the question of what historical comparison was and is, and its contemporary relevance, through a discussion of a classic in the field: the French historian Marc Bloch's 1928 essay, "A Contribution Towards a Comparative History of European Societies."

Participants are invited to read the 1928 Bloch essay before the session. However, pre-reading is not a requirement to attend the seminar. To receive a copy of the essay, please write to Nathan Perl-Rosenthal.

This event is being hosted elsewhere on campus, and not by the History Department. To learn more, please see the original event posting.