TNH course structure
Curious about what studying the Transnational History MA program entails? This article will introduce you to the program’s structure and the courses available for enrollment.
In this two-year Master’s program, you have to obtain 120 ECTS credits. This means 60 credits per year and 30 per semester on average. You can compile your own curriculum that reflects your personal interests and future career plans.
You will study three types of courses:
- Compulsory courses (66 ECTS credits in total) form the core of the program. They offer insights into key methods, concepts, and approaches in transnational history, as well as academic writing. These courses are designed to equip you with a methodological and conceptual toolbox, along with strong analytical skills—providing a solid foundation for further study in specialized elective courses. Master’s thesis seminars offer structured guidance throughout the thesis-writing process.
- Elective courses (at least 42 ECTS credits in total) cover a wide range of specialized areas and topics, allowing you to focus on fields that match your personal interests and future career plans. These courses are organized into six modules, each exploring key themes in transnational history. You are required to select two modules based on your academic focus. The module in which you write your Master’s thesis is considered the “major”, while the second selected module serves as your “minor”. Students must earn at least 18 ECTS credits from each of these two modules, totaling 36 ECTS credits. The remaining credits can be earned by selecting courses from across all available modules.
- Optional courses (up to 12 ECTS credits) may be taken at any department of Charles University. You may earn up to 12 ECTS credits through these off-field courses. These credits can also be used for elective courses or language study. There is no minimum credit requirement in this category (i.e., all 120 ECTS credits can be earned through compulsory and elective courses alone).
To successfully graduate, you have to write your MA thesis and pass a state exam. The state exam comprises a defence of the Master’s thesis and an academic debate based on thematic areas of questions in the field of Transnational History. This debate will assess your ability to analyze historical processes and phenomena with an emphasis on their transnational contexts from the 19th century to the present.
Detailed course structure
Compulsory courses
- Comparative and Conceptual History
- Research Training in History: Methods, Approaches and Sources
- Academic Writing for Historians
- Transnational History of the Modern World: Concepts, Acteurs, and Processes: The Long 19th Century
- Transnational History of the Modern World: Concepts, Acteurs, and Processes: 20th and 21st Century
- MA Thesis Seminar (Transnational History) I
- MA Thesis Seminar (Transnational History) II
- Research Project Seminar
Elective courses
The selection of elective courses evolves slightly from year to year. While some courses are permanent fixtures taught annually, others alternate and are offered every two years. We regularly introduce new courses, while others may be phased out. This dynamic offer reflects the vibrant nature of our academic community—as we welcome new colleagues and international visiting lecturers, or as our own professors undertake teaching stays abroad. We hope this preview of our curriculum provides a broad sense of the academic opportunities available and captures your interest.
Module 1: Social and Economic Change
- Economic Transformations in the post-Soviet Area
- The Transformation of the Communist Successor Parties in Central Europe and Influence of the West European Leftists
- The Postcolonial Condition in Eastern Europe
- The State and Capitalism in the Euro-Atlantic Space Between Belle Epoque and the Financial Crisis
Module 2: Conflict and Violence
- War and Society
- Human Rights in post-Soviet Space
- Theories of Antisemitism
- Explaining the Yugoslav Wars
- Forms of Violence in the Balkans: From Empire to Post-Yugoslav Conflicts
Module 3: Migration and Minorities
- From the Ku Klux Klan to Trump: African American History and Civil Rights
- Native American History since 1830
- Social Exclusion and the Roma in Central Europe
- Russia: Nationalism, National Minorities and National Problems (since the Late 1980s)
- Transnational Histories from Below: A Microhistorical Approach to Minority Experience
Module 4: Past in Present
- Theorizing Memory: Social and Cultural Remembering
- Cultural Memory and Identity in the Balkans
- Postsocialist transformations on film
- Confronting Violent Pasts: Remembering Genocide, the Holocaust and Colonialism Today
- Ghosts of Yesterday: Nostalgia and the Politics of Memory
Module 5: Ideas, Culture and Religion
- Race and Global Politics
- Hollywood/Europe: A Transnational Film Culture
- Cultural History of Communist Europe
- Cold War Science in Transnational Perspective
- Entangled Modernities: Circulations of Knowledge and Power in the Global South and East during the Cold War
- Art, Politics and Cultures of Dissent in the Former Socialist Eastern Europe
- European Pop Culture: A Transnational History
Module 6: Actors and Power in Global Politics
- Cold War in Documents 1945-1962
- Cold War in Documents 1963-1991
- U.S. and Human Rights
- U.S. and the Global South
- European Internationalisms in the 20th Century
Optional courses
The offer of optional courses is practically limitless, as you can choose from courses taught at your faculty or across the university. You may select any course offered at any department of the university, provided it is open to students from other fields beyond the one for which it was originally designed. Alternatively, you may choose to focus on your core field by selecting TNH electives or language courses, if the broader offer does not appeal to you.
Optional supplementary certificates
Alongside your degree, you’ll have the opportunity to earn supplementary certificates during your studies. Currently, we offer a Certificate in Digital Humanities. This certificate introduces students to digital methods and tools used in historical and social science research, including data analysis, digital archives, mapping, and computational approaches to historical sources. It consists of four specialized courses that cover core concepts and methodological approaches in Digital Humanities, data analysis using R, and the application of AI within the humanities and social sciences.
Courses completed as part of the Digital Humanities Certificate may be recognized within your TNH curriculum. You may count the ECTS credits earned through the certificate toward your optional course requirements, up to the total number of optional credits permitted within the program. This pathway enables you to combine transnational historical perspectives with practical digital research skills that are increasingly important in contemporary scholarship and professional practice.
