The WHC is thrilled to announce Dr. Jesse Obert will be joining the Center for a two-year term as the Digital World History Postdoctoral Fellow starting in August 2023. Dr. Obert completed his doctorate in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley in May of 2023.
Jesse has always been an interdisciplinary scholar, integrating historical, artistic, literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence into his research. This work frequently engages theoretically with political science, anthropology, disability studies, queer/gender theory, and ancient philosophy. He has worked on various archaeological projects in Greece and Italy since 2009, and more recently has been working as an archaeometallurgist at several sites in Greece. Within this subfield, he specializes in bronzeworking and ancient arms and armor.
Jesse studies the political, economic, and social power of violence in ancient Greece, and the larger influence of warrior identities and inequality on the history of the Mediterranean. His dissertation compiled all the evidence for violence on the Greek island of Crete, where the earliest laws were inscribed in Europe and some of the earliest pieces of bronze armor emerged in the archaeological record. He used network analysis and machine learning within this data set to trace patterns over space and time. He is currently working on the manuscript for his first book, as well as many other smaller projects in the fields of archaeology, archaeometallurgy, Greek history, Platonic studies, military history, and violence studies.
Jesse will use his extensive research and teaching experience in digital history and methods to serve as the lead instructor of the Center’s undergraduate Digital Atlas Design Internship and to contribute to projects at the Center such as the World Historical Gazetteer Project. Jesse will also hold regular office hours starting in the fall 2023 semester to assist faculty and students with interested in incorporating digital methods into their own research and teaching.
Welcome to the World History Center, Jesse!