Sofia Barnett is managing editor of the Brown Journal of History, and a senior concentrating in history and English nonfiction. As a historian, Sofia is attracted to intersectional and conjunctural studies of history, as well as historiography and intellectual history — she views history as an inherently interdisciplinary field that must seriously reckon with both praxis and thought. For Sofia, the revitalization of the Brown Journal of History is an opportunity for critical re-imagination.

A history journal is, by design, a historical record of historical analysis and discourse — a sort of meta-history in and of itself. The Brown Journal of History is a vessel through which historical ideas are elevated, questioned, challenged, corroborated, and built upon. By disseminating sharp historical perspectives from diverse thinkers, we can only hope to offer lenses of understanding through which people can make sense of the world. 

Sofia is particularly interested in exploring ideas of historical legitimacy — questions of hegemony, objectivity, intellectual authority, and beyond.

“I chose to get involved with the BJH because I wanted to combine my love of writing and editing with my love of history. My publishing experience until now has been with music and art publications, as well as with nonprofit organizations, so the opportunity to work on the BJH is a refreshing shift. I am grateful to be a part of the revitalization of the BJH and am ready to establish a workflow that will be of use to future editors. As for my interest in history specifically, the intricacies of historical analysis and the interdisciplinary nature of historical scholarship captivates me. History scholars are passionate about their work, and they are eager to engage with others in discussion about it; I want to highlight this collaborative atmosphere in the process of bringing the BJH back. Because each year's issue is focused on a specific theme, the chosen pieces contribute to a larger, collective voice. I hope the chosen pieces will be in conversation with one another, across geographies and time periods. Once things are back up and running, I'm most looking forward to reading everyone's submissions! I believe the BJH will serve as a space for students, faculty, and all who read it to get excited about history, and I am looking forward to creating the space for this excitement.”

"I decided to get involved with the BJH to bring more excitement to the discipline of history on campus. I think history and Brown’s history students have a unique way of analyzing questions that others would benefit from reading.

The study of the past provides everyday value for my life, and I believe it can for everyone. I did not come to college expecting to study history. I fell in love with the discipline for how it approached social phenomena, its power to alter long standing assumptions, and our great history community on campus. The BJH offers this community a platform to share its voice.

More people at Brown should be talking about history and what Brown history students are writing about! I hope the BJH can help to build the path toward that environment on campus."

“I love to talk to my classmates in history courses about what they are planning on doing for their final projects. Many of the classes that I have taken in the history department allow students quite a lot of freedom to write about questions of personal interest, which means that come end-of-semester, people’s personalities and unique intellectual interests start to peek through in pretty exciting ways. I often end up looking back and wondering, “What happened to that paper about Bohemian meade?” or ceremonial burial urns, that had made me not-so-secretly envious of my classmates’ ideas as I was struggling to come up with my own. Coming from all different academic and personal backgrounds, people at Brown who end up working on projects that are in one way or another historical in nature, character or method, have an incredible variety of perspectives to share. My hope is that the BJH can become a forum to display this intellectual diversity.”