BA in History at SGT University | Study History, Careers & Admissions

Studying History in a Changing World: Why the Past Still Matters

The world continues to face political conflicts, controversies, wars, civil unrest, and social and political movements. At another level, societies are changing at an unprecedented pace; transformation is immeasurable and multifaceted.

TIt makes one wonder: Why do conflicts occur, wars take place, revolutions happen, empires rise and fall, populations move, and why do some societies develop fast while others don’t?

The answer is more crucial today than ever before. However, when it comes to pursuing a UG degree program that could equip one to explore these answers historically, while developing a promising career, students grapple with a simple but important question: Why study the past when the world is obsessed with the future?

What’s the Relevance of History Today?

History is not merely the study of past events; it examines the social, political, and economic transformations that have shaped societies over the centuries. History explores genealogies of culture and people, the trajectory of ideas and how they translate into action, examines the reasons conflicts occur, unearths human experiences and memories that produce and reproduce community identities, and helps unfold layers of innovation and technology that have transformed the world around us. Thus, to engage with the present, we must first comprehend how we have got here.

Historian Romila Thapar, in her influential essay “The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History,” argues that the past is never simply “there” waiting to be discovered by us. Rather, it travels with us in different forms as societies interpret and reinterpret the past to explore their contemporary realities. It is evoked to make sense of our existence and our belonging to a community or nation in a modern sense. The past, therefore, is about how the present chooses to remember it.

However, for this very reason, the past is a complex and often contested domain. Globally, societies invoke past events, monuments, religious traditions, and cultural memories frequently to negotiate their collective existence and place in the present.

But whose narratives gain prominence? Which source supports it? Whose voices are present, and whose are absent? Historical enquiry also reminds us that there isn’t a single history, but histories. It is because different communities remember events differently, while political ideologies influence narratives, and cultural memories shape collective consciousness.

In an age of misinformation, selective memories, and competing narratives, the task of historians is challenging and most significant.

Why Pursue a BA in History at SGT

At the Department of Liberal Studies and Social Sciences, History is not about memorising dates; it’s about understanding transformations. Students develop the ability to understand patterns, to evaluate evidence, question assumptions, identify biases, and to distinguish between fact, interpretation, and opinion. They are equipped to ask difficult questions: What’s the source? Who produced it? Who does it speak for?

Our history program equips students to engage critically with these questions through Problem-Based Learning and case study methods. Our lectures are not confined to textbooks or classrooms. It’s alive in monuments, public museums, oral traditions, memoirs, travelogues, films, digital media, and everyday experiences. Our students engage with primary sources, debates, and methodologies as they explore how knowledge is produced, challenged, and revised.

The Career Pathways

Our history graduates develop strong analytical and problem-solving skills that are valued in every field of social sciences and humanities. Our graduates explore career opportunities in education, public policy, civil services, journalism, law, heritage management, museums, archives, publishing houses, tourism industry, international relations, and much more.

History matters because it equips us to make informed choices through which we shape our future.

Dr. Nazima Parveen
Associate Professor & HoD
Department of Liberal Studies and Social Sciences
School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Liberal Studies