Zanzibar's House of Wonders and Stone Town Coastline.jpg

Curriculum Vitae

Education

PhD in History at Michigan State University—2021

Dissertation title: (Im)mobility in a Sea of Migration: biographical histories of transnational families in Zanzibar and Oman, ca 1850-2019
Major field: East Africa and African history
Minor fields: global migration, gender and sexuality

MA in History from the University of Vermont—2013

Thesis title: From Ruffles to Rifles: The Multifaceted Modern Woman as Imagined by British Settlers in Interwar Colonial Kenya
Major field: African history; Minor field: British empire

BA in History and Anthropology from the University of Vermont—2011

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

MSU Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship—2021Milton E. Muelder Award—2018-2019
- MSU Department of History endowed award
- $30,000
Fulbright Hays DDRA—2017-2018
- For twelve months of research in Oman, UK, and Tanzania
- $43,200
Fulbright IIE US Student fellowship—2016-2017
- For nine months of research in Tanzania
- $23,000
FLAS Scholarship for Swahili language—2015-2016
FLAS Scholarship for Arabic language immersion in Oman—Summer 2015
FLAS Scholarship for Swahili language immersion in East Africa—Summer 2014
Harold Marcus Scholarship—2013-2016
Critical Language Scholarship for Arabic language immersion in Tunisia—Summer 2012

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Under Review: “Mama didn’t go: Mobility as a gendered and classed privilege, Zanzibar-Oman 1964-1980s,”Journal of Eastern African Studies

Other Publications

“Huxley, Elspeth.” The British Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

“Quinine Capsule.” The British Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

Review of African Appropriations: Cultural Difference, Mimesis, and Media, by Matthias Krings, H-Net: H-Material-Culture, 2016.

“Continuity of Religious Dissimilarity: Enslaved Muslims of the Caribbean,” The University of Vermont History Review, XXI (Fall 2010-Spring 2011), 33-48.

Conference Presentations

“Inventing a paper-thin border: migration policy as an arena of colonial struggle in Zanzibar” at African Studies Association annual meeting, November 2022

“A political issue of some magnitude: Late colonial migration policy and Zanzibari Arab nationalism, 1940s-50s” at Rethinking Late Colonialisms in Africa workshop, September 2022

Panel Chair and Organizer: “New Directions in East African History” at African Studies Association annual meeting, November 2021

“Inventing and ignoring a border between land and sea in colonial Zanzibar” at African Studies Association annual meeting, (deferred from November 2020 to November 2021 for COVID)

“Immobility during mass migration: biography of a murdered family’s things” at a panel sponsored by the Islam in Africa Studies Group at the African Studies Association annual meeting, November 2019

Panel Discussant: “Transcending Boundaries” IGHS Conference at Central Michigan University, March 29, 2019

“Microhistories of Global Oceans: A Comparative Historiography of Atlantic and Indian Ocean Microhistories” at the MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference, Michigan State University, March 19, 2016

“‘We Follow by Jet Planes’: Migration between Zanzibar and Oman in the latter half of the Twentieth Century” at Migration Without Boundaries: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference on Migration, Michigan State University, October 11, 2014

“‘Upholding the Prestige of the Empire in Evening Dress’: Visual Culture of the White Female Body and Imperial Femininities among British Settlers in Interwar Kenya” at the Windy City Graduate Student History Conference, University of Illinois Chicago, November 2, 2013

“Muscular Maternalism and the Memsahib in Colonial Kenya” at the MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference, Michigan State University, October 26, 2013

Teaching Experience

Instructor of record

Visiting Instructor at Middlebury College

Introduction to Historiography: Ways of writing about Africa—Winter 2023
Cultural and Artistic History of the Swahili Coast —Winter 2022

Teaching assistant

Being a GTA at MSU involved independently running 3 separate weekly sections of a course each semester, in which I led discussions, lectured, and created active learning classroom activities. I was responsible for grading and classroom management of 75-100 students per semester.

Graduate Teaching Assistant at Michigan State University

Europe and the World: French Revolution to Charlie Hebdo—Fall 2016, Spring 2019
Latin America and the World—Spring 2015
Europe and the World: Exploration to Colonialism —Fall 2014

Online teaching assistant at Michigan State University

Pandemics: Past, Present, and Future—Fall 2020
Social Science of Sports: Culture and Soccer—Summer 2015, Summer 2016
World History to 1500—Summer 2014

Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Vermont

Introduction to American History 1642-1865—Fall 2012
Introduction to African History since 1865—Spring 2012

Languages

Swahili

French

Arabic

Public Engagement

I hold public engagement to be foundational to my ethics as a scholar. Most important to me is sharing my findings within my research locations, remembering that it is their history and constantly being delighted with the genuine interest that people in Zanzibar and Oman show for my research. But I also prioritize engagement with the American public, not only for the emotive reason that research in its greatest ideal should advance public knowledge but also out of gratitude for the fact that my research has been generously funded by the American taxpayer through multiple large Fulbright grants.

Guest lecture in Swahili at Fuoni Mambosasa Primary School (in Zanzibar) on history of Zanzibar-Oman connections—July 2019
Guest lecture on methods in African history to undergrads at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign—April 2019
Public lecture on historical connections of Oman with Zanzibar at the Center for Omani Arabic in Muscat—May 2018
Public lecture at Limbani Secondary School (in Pemba, TZ) on methods of historical research—October 2017
Interpreter at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum—2010-2011
- Ran tours and engaged the public in learning about early Vermont history

University/Department Service

Ran workshops for the MSU Writing Center—2016, 2019

On applying to Fulbright—2019
On applying to Graduate School—2016
On writing in the humanities—2016

Ran workshops for the MSU Graduate History Association—2015, 2016, 2019

On digital tools for analogue historical research and writing—2019
On grant applications for social research abroad—2016
On preparing for comprehensive exams—2016
On making the most of conferences—2015

MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference organizing committee—2013-2017

Chair of Advertising subcommittee—2015
- Ran advertising subcommittee meetings
- Promoted the conference at MSU, on H-Net, among the pubic within the greater Lansing area, and at regional universities
- Designed flyers and digital promotional materials
- Wrote and distributed Call for Papers
Chair of Conference Organizing Committee—2014
- Responsible for overseeing all subcommittees
- Ran meetings of the full organizing committee
- Chair of fundraising subcommittee—2013
- Raised $8000 from donors
- Ran fundraising subcommittee meetings

Migration Without Boundaries conference organizing committee—2013-2017

Fundraising subcommittee—2016-17
- Raised money from donors
- Advertising subcommittee member—2013-2015
- Promoted the conference at MSU, on H-Net, among the pubic within the greater Lansing area, and at regional universities
- Designed flyers and digital promotional materials