Richard Harrod

Richard Harrod is a historian focusing broadly on the social and political history of the nineteenth and twentieth-century Middle East and Indian Ocean, with special concentration on the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf, particularly the regions that are present-day Yemen and Oman. He received his PhD in history from Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) in 2026.

His dissertation, “Oil, Onions, and Education: A Social History of Development in Oman from the 1950s to the 1980s” focuses on the reactions of Omanis to the great social and economic changes that took place in their society in the latter half of the twentieth century as a result of the search for—and eventual exploitation of—oil. His project utilizes a combination of political, social, environmental, and oral history methods and examines three principal groups: oil workers, farmers, and educators. It situates their achievements and challenges within the context of a new history of the formative developments of Oman’s government, and the geographic spread of its state apparatuses.

Richard earned a BA in history and classics from Monmouth College (Illinois), an MA in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Chicago, and an AM in history from WashU.