Columbia University Statement of Purpose Kevin Peng

History has been my interest since I was very young. Throughout my elementary and

high school years, I have always been fascinated with the historical study of not only many of

our world’s peoples and their culture but also their tales of the past and their progression to the

present. Because of this passion, I decided to pursue a degree of history in my undergraduate

education. After graduating from University of California, Irvine, with a B.A. in history, I

entered graduate study in Claremont Graduate University in order to further my intellectual

interests in history.

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate education, I acquired a great deal of useful

experiences that I am confident will form a strong basis for the next phase of my academic

exercise into the Ph.D. program. During my time at the University of California of Irvine, I was

enrolled in the Campuswide Honors Program, which provided a rigorous yet enriching

environment that helped me to advance my understanding of history in its many aspects. I also

embarked and completed a research project for the Undergraduate Research Opportunity

Program, or UROP, with Professor Emily Rosenberg of the History Department on a paper

entitled “American Exceptionalism and the Iraq War.” This research paper examined American

exceptionalism, the idea that the United States was a special nation based on unique values such

as individualism, egalitarianism, and laissez-faire capitalism, and its relationship with the

planning and execution of the Iraq War. The completion of this project and the presentation of

the paper at the annual Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program symposium have helped

give me valuable training and experience in conducting historical research and presentation

skills.
 It was also from my UROP experience that I was enlightened with the understanding of

how the beliefs of our past and our everyday thinking can have a great effect on public policy

and history. This research has let me wondering on whether more insight can be shed on the

relationship between American cultural beliefs and our national history and policies that concern

our lives. I have continued to pursue this desire in my graduate studies at Claremont, where I was

exposed to a variety of archives and worked in analyzing their relevance to the field of American

cultural history. For example, in one of my classes we analyzed several treatises and novels on

various topics of 19th Century American life. After participating in discussion with my peers and

professor as well as concentrated study, I became enlightened in the interesting American

cultural history of that era. At the same time, I learned that this history was embedded in events,

from significant ones like John Brown’s raid to minor events like the murder of a New York

prostitute in the 1800s, and in 19th century everyday practices such as burial procedures during

the Civil War and aftermath.

However, my study of the relationship between cultural beliefs and national history and

policies was not restricted to the realm of United States history. I discovered that the interlinked

and constantly changing relationship between these two forces was at play in other parts of

history as well. For example, in one of the classes I took under Professor Robert Dawidoff, we

were focused on the subjects of homosexuality, homophobia, and the phenomenon of non-sexual

male bonding known as homosociality. In the class’s heated discussions, I gained new insight

and an appreciation of the way that ideas of gender and of masculinity have played a role in

shaping entire histories of peoples and the actions that comprise of these histories. At the same

time, I learned that this historical process was not uniform but far more nuanced, capable of

being influenced by differences in cultures and changes in the historical chain of events. In the
university’s annual conference in 2009, I was exposed to discussions conducted by various

professors and students on diverse and insightful subjects such as the ability of movies to define

war memories and the history of Civil War military pensions and their effects on American

politics. This conference was an eye opener to the multifaceted nature of historical study and has

further enlightened me to real-world tools of historical analysis, giving me the motivation to

participate in future historical conferences. This experience and my studies at Claremont have

inspired me to further dedicate myself to the study of history and focus my efforts towards

American cultural history. I seek a Ph.D. program that will help me better the social and cultural

history of the United States and use these results to help us as a people understand and navigate

the events of the present for a better future.

The academic environment at Columbia University has a lot to offer for my graduate

education goals to advance to my Ph.D. degree. It has one of the top graduate programs in

history in the nation, offering a broad education in many areas of scholarship. Such a high

quality academic program would give me a rigorous environment that can help me improve my

skills and talents in historical analysis and give me new knowledge of the continuing changing

history of our world and understanding of their implications on our everyday lives. In addition,

Columbia University offers the American Studies program, giving students the opportunity to

understand the United States through forms of cultural expression such as history, literature,

politics, and art. This meshes with my intellectual interests and strong background in American

history, with courses and faculty that deal with both cultural history and its relationship with

present day American history. Along with my undergraduate education, the research experience

from both the UROP project and my graduate studies and my insatiable passion for history have

built a good basis for me to join the Columbia University Ph.D. research program.