Welcome! My name is Lars, and I'm a PhD candidate in International History at Harvard University. My current work focuses on the British and French empires in the latter nineteenth century, especially the ways in which these empires expanded economically as a result of interaction between French and British individuals on the colonial periphery. Last year, for my doctoral level examinations, I completed reading fields in economic history, the history of comparative empires, and the history of mental health. Now a Teaching Fellow in the Department of History, I work with students at Harvard College in a variety of educational settings. Last term I taught a course on international financial history, which involved leading discussion and focusing undergraduate analysis on complex processes including banking, bond markets, and the origins of financial crises. This term I am teaching two courses - on the political and economic emergence of Latin America, and on biotechnology, respectively. The latter uses law, economics, and medical ethics to track the changing responses in America to the growth of different biotechnologies, like genetically modified food and gene patenting.
Originally from the West Coast, I have a deep interest in the economies and cultures of the Pacific Rim, and have spent several terms in China learning Mandarin Chinese. I am also proficient in French (hailing, as I do, from Canada), and I'm a big fan of foreign - especially Japanese - film and Asian cuisine. My other interests are broad and varied, including the relationship between pharmacology and mental health in contemporary America; alternative approaches to mind-body wellness; and "agnotology" - or the study of ignorance, especially the ways in which we as humans prevent ourselves from developing knowledge, or sharing information, about the world in which we live.
If you have any questions, or you'd like to get in touch with me for any reason, please don't hesitate to do so. I look forward to hearing from you, either on here or on LinkedIn.