Social Science Department Faculty

About Professor Howarth

Whitney Howarth, Assistant Professor of History, specializing in modern world history and the history of India, joined the Social Science faculty in fall 2004.  She received her B.A. in history at Moravian College, Pennsylvania in 1995, and her M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2004) in World History from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Howarth has taught world history at the college level since 1999. Before coming to Plymouth State University, she was a lecturer at Suffolk University, Salem State College and Northeastern University. She also worked as a research fellow at Northeastern’s World History Center, where she assisted in the research, design and development of professional development programs for high school world history teachers, world history workshops and multi-media publications (1995-2004).

Dr. Howarth’s regional specialization is India.  Her research focuses on the nineteenth century and examines themes such as colonization, statecraft, nationalism, and identity formation.  Her doctoral dissertation, “Mission to Modernity: Formation of a Hindu Political Community in late nineteenth century Mysore,” investigates the princely kingdom of Mysore as a nexus of world historical interaction and ideological debate.  She has lived and taught in India on several occasions between 1998-2007 and maintains close ties with development organizations working in South India in those regions struck hardest by the 2004 tsunami.

Dr. Howarth’s other teaching and research interests include women’s studies, post-colonial literature, migrations, sustainable development and globalization. She currently teaches:  India and the World, Sex and Empire in Colonial India, the British Empire in World History, Islamic Empires, Roots of Current Global Conflict, Cross Cultural Contact in World History, Modern World History (1500 to present), and Global Colonial Women (focusing on Algeria, Honduras, India, Afghanistan).  In summer 2007, she was a visiting fellow at Scott College in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, South India where she taught a graduate course on historiography/methods.

Dr. Howarth has presented papers internationally on the violence of nationalism, missionaries as human rights advocates in colonial India, the World Bank and indigenous land rights, and the role of civil rights advocates in modern statecraft.  She is a member of Phi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society), Omicron Delta Kappa (Leadership/Scholarship Honor Society), Phi Kappa Phi (Honor Society for All Disciplines), and the World History Association and the New England Regional World History Association.

Student-centered in her pedagogy, Dr. Howarth enjoys organizing student trips and active learning experiences both locally and internationally. She introduced PSU students to the Sri Laxmi Hindu Temple in Ashland, Mass. and the Islamic Society of Boston, Mosque in 2005.  In 2004, students joined her for the "Becoming American, Maintaining Identity" conference at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH.  In an effort to encourage interdisciplinary scholarship on campus, she co-coordinated a conference presentation of nine student papers entitled "Comparative Colonialisms: An Interdisciplinary Look at the Construction of Knowledge and Nation" in 2004.  In January of 2005, she served as faculty advisor to group of 16 students to the Dominican Republic for the first PSU International Service Trip.  In January 2007 students joined Dr. Howarth for a two week teaching fieldwork experience in the Tanzania as part of her course on Race and Education: Cross-Cultural Perspectives from North American and Africa.  Dr. Howarth is planning a course on the Romanian experience from Cold War and to European Union, and will take students on a trip to Romania in Spring 2009.

Dr. Howarth is the faculty advisor for the History Club and co-advisor for the PSU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.  She co-coordinates the Social Studies Teacher Certification program and the National History Day in New Hampshire Program.  In her spare time she likes to travel, work for social justice and advocate for a more peaceful and sustainable world.

Dr. Whitney B. Howarth CV