Laurent Dubois
Professor of History and Romance Studies, Duke University
- Ned Sublette on the Haitian Revolution, Louisiana and the Making of American Music February 9, 2010
- Hope for Haiti Benefit Tonight at Duke February 5, 2010
- Ned Sublette Visits Duke and Durham February 10th-11th February 4, 2010
- A Story from the Haiti Earthquake February 2, 2010
- The Peters Projection Map & Brief Explanation Courtesy of “West Wing” February 1, 2010
- Egalite for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution January 31, 2010
- February 6th Benefit Concert for Haiti at Duke January 29, 2010
- The Women of Algiers in Their Apartment January 28, 2010
- Orientalism Defined by Edward Said January 26, 2010
- Scheherazade January 21, 2010
- The Earthquake in Haiti Strikes Football February 1, 2010
- Iranian Football Protest January 8, 2010
- Anarchist Football January 7, 2010
- Africa’s Game January 2, 2010
- Against Video Replay December 24, 2009
- Homage to Catalonia December 23, 2009
- Documentary on African Football December 16, 2009
- The Paradoxes of Soccer in the U.S. December 12, 2009
- World Cup Draw Blues December 5, 2009
- Zidane’s “Coup de Boule” Redux November 30, 2009
Hello Dr. Dubois,
I am a new Phd student at the University of Texas at Arlington, and I am doing a biography of you for our “set-up” section for class before we read your book, “Avengers of the New World” in Dr. Garrigus’ graduate course, Revolutions and Transformations. I am wondering if you can provide me with any meaningful information about yourself that could help me explain why and how you got into the studies that you did. Also, who was your mentor in graduate school and how did you come to work with him/her. I have your C.V. but it does not say who your adviser was for your dissertation. Thank you so much for providing me with any information about yourself that you can muster in short notice (my presentation is on Monday). Sorry if this seems strange, and I understand if you are too busy to respond, in which case I would simply say thank you for a detailed webpage and your book is wonderful so far (I have only read the first two chapters). Thank you for your work and I cannot wait to read your next book (How did you become interested in that topic, by the way. It seems like a very strong break from your previous works).
bjb
By: Brad Borougerdi on October 23, 2009
at 2:43 am
Thanks for your message, Brad. I first got interested in Haiti as an undergraduate in the late 1980s, first mainly out of concern (indeed disgust) at the racist attitudes and representations towards them in the U.S. I had a number of amazing teachers at Princeton, where I got my B.A. (including Barbara Browning, James Boon, Cornel West, Toni Morrison, and visiting scholars such as Joan (now Colin) Dayan, Richard and Sally Price, and J. Lorand Matory, who all inspired me in working on the Caribbean, about which I wrote a junior paper and then a thesis. From there, my interests expanded and evolved when I went to graduate school at the University of Michigan. I described this process and how it led to my first book, A Colony of Citizens, in 2005 an interview here: http://hnn.us/articles/18642.html.
My thesis advisor at Michigan was anthropologist Fernando Coronil (now at CUNY), and another key mentor was historian Rebecca Scott. I was also much influenced by Julius Scott as well as the other members of my committee: Ann Stoler, Ruth Behar, and Simon Gikandi.
As for my new book, I think it actually represents much less of a break than it might seem: indeed, it’s a kind of return to contemporary issues that have long interested me, and shaped my work in A Colony of Citizens, about race, citizenship, and empire in France. It focuses a great deal on the Caribbean (a region in which many of France’s best footballers have their roots), but does also expand my work to include more on Algeria, West and Central Africa, and even New Caledonia! So while the object of analysis is of course rather different, in many ways the work is deeply connected to what I have done before.
I hope this helps!
All the best,
Laurent
By: duboisl on October 24, 2009
at 3:16 pm