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Department of

History

Thomas Barton, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, History

Thomas W. Barton, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 2007. He offers a wide sweep of undergraduate courses, including The Medieval World, The Pacific World, Europe’s Discovery and Conquest of the World, Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Spain, Renaissance Europe, and Historians’ Methods. His research concerns the social history of Europe and contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans in the medieval and early modern periods, with a current focus on the case of eastern Iberia and the western Mediterranean.

Education

Ph.D., Yale University (2006)
A.B. summa cum laude, Princeton University, History with a certificate in Medieval Studies (1998)

Scholarly and Creative Work

Barton’s research concerns the social history of European expansion with a current focus on the frontiers with the Islamic world in the Iberian Peninsula. His article “Constructing a diocese in a post-conquest landscape: a comparative approach to the lay possession of tithes” appeared in the Journal of Medieval Studies in 2009. In addition to publishing various short articles for volumes such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages and book reviews, Barton has presented research in numerous academic conferences in the United States and Europe. He is currently at work on a book manuscript entitled The Frontiers of Authority: Conquest and Consolidation in the Crown of Aragon.

Teaching Interests

Barton teaches a broad range of courses at USD, including surveys on the genesis of European society and upper-division topical courses on European interactions around the world. Strongly committed to developing interdisciplinarity at USD, he is currently co-directing the university’s new Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor and serves as a cross-disciplinary thesis advisor and occasional team-teacher in the Honors Program. Barton strives to implement fresh teaching techniques in his classes in order to offer students engaging and active learning experiences.