Department of History

Micah Muscolino, Assistant Professor of History, specializes in the environmental history of modern China. He began studying Chinese history as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, and went on to receive a PhD from Harvard University in 2006. Before coming to Georgetown, he taught for two years at St. Mary’s College of California. His first book, which focuses on the environmental history of China’s marine fisheries, will be published by the Harvard University Asia Center in 2009. He is currently starting work on his second book project, which will investigate the ecological dimensions of refugee migration in China during World War II

Alphonse Otieno, a Visiting Instructor, was born and raised in western Kenya and received his Bachelors degree in Political Science and History from the University of Nairobi.  He pursued further studies at Miami University of Ohio, where he received a Masters in History, and earned his PhD at Northwestern University, where he studied African and environmental history.  His research focuses on the connection between the process of forest preservation in local areas, shifts in forest policy at regional and national levels, and global environmental ideas.  During fall 2008, Professor Otieno will teach a survey course on African history, and in the spring of 2009, he will lead a seminar on the environment, the people and the state in Africa.

Kyle B. Roberts is a Visiting Assistant Professor who teaches courses on religion, colonial and nineteenth-century America, and Atlantic History.  Professor Roberts spent 5 years in the museums at Harvard University before his interest in public history inspired him to pursue graduate work in History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his PhD in 2007.  The desire to make the past accessible to broad audiences and to use such non-traditional sources of evidence as material culture and the landscape influences both his teaching and research.  He is currently at work on a book that explores the relationship between religion and the development of New York City entitled, Evangelical Gotham:  Religion and the Making of the Antebellum City, 1783-1860.