UW Department of History

Happy Husky Giving Day! UW History is off to a fantastic start, and our total will continue to grow throughout the day thanks to the generosity of our alumni and friends.

Visit our page to show your support:
https://together.uw.edu/i/hgd/Campaign/department-of-history?refGuid=3bb6786f-49b6-4fd8-a308-40bc682afea2&refName=College%20of%20Arts%20%26%20Sciences

This Thursday, April 23, is Husky Giving Day, the one day each year where Huskies from far and wide come together to support the programs and organizations that make the University of Washington so special. History will be focusing on its Friends of History Fund, our go-to for meeting the day-to-day needs of the department. Friends of History has helped fund the development of new courses to expand our curriculum, attract top talent, support new and continuing research by faculty and students, as well as create opportunities for the public to engage with history such as our popular History Lecture Series. Early giving is now open!

Visit the link below to show your support of UW History:
https://together.uw.edu/i/hgd/Campaign/department-of-history?refGuid=3bb6786f-49b6-4fd8-a308-40bc682afea2&refName=College%20of%20Arts%20%26%20Sciences

It is with great sadness that we report our cherished colleague and friend, Vince Rafael, has passed away.

It is hard to summarize Vince's enormous impact on the fields of Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian diaspora history and the study of empire and colonialism. As a specialist in Filipino history, his scholarship spanned the early modern and modern periods, from the sixteenth century to the Duterte regime. It was ambitious, deeply researched, imaginative, and richly theoretical. Vince was the author and editor of seven books and countless articles and book chapters, many of which shaped fields beyond Southeast Asian history and Southeast Asian diaspora history. I remember vividly how reading his first book, Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society Under Early Spanish Rule, as a graduate student taught me to ask better questions about evangelization practices in the Andes, my own area of focus. Vince also trained a substantial number of graduate students at the University of Hawai'i, UC San Diego, and the University of Washington, many of whom have gone on to impressive careers of their own. He participated extensively in academic life in the Philippines as well as the United States. His last public talk was in Manila in December.

Vince lived the life of an intellectual. He approached the world with curiosity and found excitement and satisfaction in the study of the past and the present. He loved to explore ideas with others and did so enthusiastically. He will be greatly missed in our department.

We send our sincerest condolences to Vince's wife, Lila Shahani, and to his friends and family.

Are you watching the Winter Olympics? In addition to watching the current games, UW History students are getting an in depth look at the history of the modern Olympics through our newest course. Check out the article on our website to learn more.

https://history.washington.edu/news/2026/02/11/modern-olympic-games-inside-historys-newest-course

Check out our interview with UW History professor Mark Letteney on his new book Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration, coauthored with Matthew Larsen. Letteney will be giving the opening lecture of the 2026 History Lecture Series on Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Kane Hall. The series focuses on the theme of incarceration and will be examining the practice from ancient times to our present day. You can learn more about HLS by visiting events.uw.edu/HLS2026.

Deciphering Ancient Graffiti on the Remains of Prison Walls: Professor Letteney on his new book Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration | Department of History | University of Washington UW History graduate student Joana Bürger recently sat down for a conversation with Mark Letteney, archeologist and professor of ancient history affiliated with the history department, the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, and the comparative religion program, to talk about the publication of his la...

Prof. Mark Letteney will give the opening lecture of the 2026 History Lecture Series on Wednesday, February 4 and will examine ancient incarceration through vignettes: reading letters that prisoners wrote on papyrus, investigating spaces where they were held, and analyzing depictions of captives in monuments, law-courts, and homes.

Join us on Thursday, January 22 at 6:30 p.m. for our second SJCS faculty book launch. This event features faculty Mark Letteney and his new book “Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration” which he co-authored with Matthew D.C. Larsen. Professor Letteney will be joined by UW professors Joel Walker (History) and Sarah Levin-Richardson (Classics) to discuss the book and answer questions. Light refreshments will also be served.
See more or RSVP: https://jsis.washington.edu/events/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D192725245

Incarceration is a hotly debated topic in the United States, a country that has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world. Looking at the practice from a historical perspective, what can incarceration teach us about who we were and who we are now? What might histories of incarceration, and the histories of those who have been incarcerated, tell us about power dynamics, belonging, exclusion, struggle, and hope across societies in the past and present?

Join UW History for the 2026 History Lecture Series, where we will explore the practice of incarceration, tracing its change over time from antiquity to our modern world.

For more information or to register, visit: https://events.uw.edu/event/HLS2026/summary

Check out the conversation Professor Charity Urbanski recently had with visiting professor and Costigan Distinguished Lecturer Christopher Bonura on his new book A Prophecy of Empire.

A Prophecy of Empire, a conversation with Christopher Bonura The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was one of the medieval world’s most popular and widely translated texts. UW History professor Charity Urbanski sits down ...

LGBTQ people have always been present, in every society and every time period around the world, but their stories are often missing from history books. UW History hopes that the following resources will bring a greater recognition and understanding of LGBTQ history and its often intersectional role in civil rights movements.

https://history.washington.edu/news/2025/10/15/resources-lgbtq-history-month

Last night's PBS News Hour had a very familiar face on it, UW History's own Professor Christopher Tounsel. Tounsel is a historian of modern Sudan who has worked throughout this war to not only provide context but also to bring awareness to the conflict.

Sudan's cultural heritage becomes a casualty in its civil war Sudan’s civil war has become a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering scale, marked by famine, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence. Over three years, an estimated 150,000 people have been killed, and nearly 13 million have been forced from their homes. But the destruction of Sudan’s cultural he...

Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. UW History has long been a home to academics whose research focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean, offering an array of courses covering the rich histories of these regions. Click below to enjoy a selection of scholarly works and other media compiled by UW History faculty Vanessa Freije, Ileana Rodriguez-Silva, and Adam Warren which illustrates the complex histories and experiences and vibrant cultures of Latin Americans in the U.S.

https://history.washington.edu/news/2025/09/24/uw-history-honors-hispanic-heritage-month