Robert Corban is an Instructional Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History at the University of Mississippi.
Research Interests
Professor Corban works on the economic, political, and environmental histories of Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean. His first project, “Bitter Harvest: The Militarization of Agriculture in Mussolini’s Italy,” provided a new interpretation of the making and breaking of the war economy in Italy and the Italian Empire. His second project, “The War for Empire,” promises the first in a series on the Second World War in Italy. This research has been carried out with the support of the Mellon Foundation, the War & Peace Initiative at Columbia, and the Department of History at UM.
In his teaching, too, Professor Corban brings the most recent research on experiential learning as well as a mass of sources from local, national, and international archives to bear on the “big questions” about the course and development of capitalism, the rise and fall of empires, and the causes, conduct, and consequences of modern war. He, together with colleagues in Southern Studies, the Honors College, and the Croft Institute, has taken students to the sites of the Second World War in the South and the Slow Food Movement in Italy and he is set to take another group to Europe in 2026-27.
Biography
Born and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, Professor Corban received his BAs in History and Sociology from the Honors College at UM in 2013. After a decade at Syracuse University, Columbia University, and the European University Institute for his MAs, MPhil, and PhD, he was thrilled to return to Oxford, where he lives with his better half and their dog, Luna.
Courses Taught
- HIST 1210 Intro to European History Since 1648
- HIST 3420 History of Germany Since 1890
- HIST 4710 The Second World War
- HIST 4980 Undergrad Research Seminar in History
- HONR 1010 Freshman Honors I
- HONR 1020 Freshman Honors II
Education
MPhil History, Columbia University in the City of New York (2018)
Ph.D. History, Columbia University in the City of New York (2025)
M.A. History, Syracuse University (2015)
B.A. History, University of Mississippi (2013)